You would think that throwing on a three-piece suit would be a lot easier than squeezing yourself into skintight spandex, but Henry Cavill doesn’t agree. The Enola Holmes star is no stranger to a lengthy costume fitting having suited up three times as the DCEU’s Superman and spent dozens of hours in the makeup chair to play Geralt of Rivia in Netflix’s smash hit The Witcher.
The 37 year-old is also more than familiar with period pieces having previously appeared in The Count of Monte Cristo, Tristan & Isolde and starred in a main role in all four seasons of TV’s The Tudors. Now, Cavill has once again won the affection of fans the world over for becoming the latest actor to play Sherlock Holmes, even if his performance was deemed to be so overly emotional that the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are pursuing legal action against Netflix.
It would be fair to say that he’s certainly the biggest name to play the character in terms of sheer size, and he certainly looks ready to burst out of the literary icon’s ensemble at any given moment. In fact, in a recent interview, Cavill admitted that he’s a lot larger than the average Victorian gentleman and suiting up as Superman came much easier than stuffing himself into the famous detective’s tailored outfit.
“I think it was pretty uncomfortable for Consolata Boyle, the costume designer. It’s like, ‘How am I going to make these clothes fit?’. Like, come on, this is not the right build for a Victorian man. You know what? It’s no different from trying to squeeze it into a tight blue suit. In fact, they fit a lot more easily.”
There’s probably an Enola Holmes outtake somewhere where Cavill goes full Lou Ferrigno and simply flexes his way out of the costume, but being trapped in a tight-fitting suit does at least help inform his take on Sherlock as a stuffy and uptight man about town, even if he’s a warmer and more affectionate take on the character than audiences are used to seeing.