Moriarty Will Menace Holmes…in the Guise of Brad Pitt?

Does Brad Pitt fit in this picture? 

There’s a lot of speculation going on in this report from the MTV Movies Blog, but it’s fun speculation, so let’s review it.

In the Sherlock Holmes stories, the character Professor Moriarty has traditionally been the detective’s archnemesis. However, in Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, Lord Blackwood is the villain. Suddenly, though, Ritchie confirmed to MTV that Moriarty will, after all, be making “some kind of appearance.” He also said that the actor would likely not be credited.

Now add to this the fact that Ritchie has been in London shooting additional scenes, AND Brad Pitt recently flew to London. Ah ha!! Is Pitt playing Moriarty? Warner Brothers has hastily announced that Pitt is not joining the cast of the movie, but as MTV points out, if he’s not credited you could say he is not joining the cast with a fairly clear conscience.

It seems fairly obvious that they’re trying to set up a sequel that features Moriarty (it seems like there is a great deal of confidence already in “Sherlock Holmes”). Will it be Pitt? Would he be a good choice? I can’t say for certain, but that casting would up the already impressive star power of the film. If he is cast, they might want to make the character American; for all his virtues, Pitt has never been much for accents.