Jared Harris and Noomi Rapace talk 'Sherlock Holmes'

You can’t have a Sherlock Holmes without a Moriarty, and while the character was hinted at — shown as just a hand emerging from darkness — in 2009’s “Sherlock Holmes,” the master villain comes center stage in the new “Sherlock Holmes: a Game of Shadows,” embodied with quiet cunning by British actor and “Mad Men” star Jared Harris. But while Harris admits he was a big fan of the first movie, he hadn’t considered that shadowy hand would eventually belong to him.

How was taking on this monumental literary figures, one of the biggest villains of all time?

It was a great opportunity, so the ambitious part of you recognizes that. The other side of you goes, “Yes! But how the f--- are you going to do it?” That’s the bit that’s scary. And then of course, I got the script and they went, “Ignore your part. It’s not going to be like that. You won’t say any of that, and we’re going to figure it out.”

Did you look to any previous incarnations of Moriarty while preparing?

I looked at the books — I’d read them before, but not with that focus — and I didn’t find that particularly helpful in terms of the Moriarty who appears in those two stories. Given that they sort of threw a hand grenade into the traditional Sherlock Holmes — because I loved when I first movie — the Moriarty had to be in keeping with that. But at the same time you’re aware that after what Mike Myers did with super-villains playing Doctor Evil, in a post-Austin Powers era, that there’s that pitfall on one side, and then there’s the pitfall on the other side of there’s no point in just repeating what other people have done in playing the part, because that’s boring. And if you can go onto YouTube and see other people’s brilliant portrayals of Moriarty — including Laurence Olivier and Eric Porter and other people like this — so it has to be something else.

After the first film, there was a lot of speculation as to who would play the part. As a viewer, did you picture yourself in the role?

Never, never. No. I mean, I’d heard there was all these names that were printed in the press. I have no idea if they were true or not. I know they were looking for a star, but I don’t know who they were out to or who they tried. But I did not think for a second watching that movie that I would be in the next one. It never occurred to me that it would be a possibility. I mean, I remember when the first one was casting in London, I gave my agent an earful for not getting me up for the first one.

You’ve done some fight choreography with Robert Downey Jr. in this. Are you going to apply any of that to your role on “Mad Men” next season?

Ah. (laughs) That’s not up for me to decide, that’s up to Matt Weiner. The actors have no input into the writing or what happens to the story or the characters at all. That’s all Matt Weiner. I can’t tell you anything about the stories for the new season. I can talk with you all night long about episodes from seasons one through four as much as you like, but I can’t tell you about season five. We’re all looking forward to it.

And you’re playing Ulysses S. Grant in Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln.”

They’re halfway through. They finish around Christmastime. What can you say? It’s an opportunity to work with Steven Spielberg and Daniel Day Lewis on a Tony Kushner script. I mean, it’s just awesome all around, really. I can’t think of an actor in the world who doesn’t want to work with Spielberg.

Noomi Rapace comes to Hollywood

After gaining international acclaim for her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish film versions of the “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and its two follow-ups, Swedish actress Noomi Rapace is landing in Hollywood with a bang with her first English-language film, “Sherlock Holmes: a Game of Shadows.” And next year she’ll be seen in Ridley Scott’s much-anticipated “Prometheus.” Not too shabby for an actress who says she didn’t speak English three years ago.

Rapace says the transition has been decidedly easy, thanks in large part to working with collaborators like Robert Downey Jr. and Guy Ritchie. “I don’t remember a single situation when I came on set and Guy said, ‘This is what I want you to do exactly,’” she explains. “He always asked me, ‘How do you want to do this?’ or ‘How do you see this?’ And that’s the way I love to work, in a very searching, creative, open way.”

She’s also not afraid of getting physical, with was convenient considering Ritchie’s frenetic take on Sherlock Holmes. “I like doing fight scenes and more physical scenes. I always enjoy that and try to do as much as they allow me to do — the stunt stuff and more complicated things,” she says. “O course you’re bruised and your body is aching and you hurt yourself a lot sometimes, but that’s kind of a part of it. I’ve done fight scenes and stuff like that before, and I find it quite amusing.”