Downey Jr: 'Bromance is a passé term'

Robert Downey Jr has insisted that "bromance" is the wrong term to describe his new film Sherlock Holmes.

The actor is currently shooting director Guy Ritchie's adaptation of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story, while the filmmaker is said to have written the sleuth as gay.

The Iron Man star recently revealed that he and Jude Law, who co-stars as his sidekick Watson, share a great screen chemistry.

Downey told MTV: "I think bromance is passé. We are two men who happen to be roommates who wrestle a lot!"

Law added: "You could say this is a buddy film. Whether [Holmes and Watson] will or won't stay together and whether they will or won't drive each other around the bend before the end of the case is very much front and centre in the story."

Ritchie explained that the detectives are more like an old married couple, saying: "As a heterosexual couple that at moments could seem gay, they play it off very well. These guys are sort of in love with each other. It's real mate-ship."

US film critic Michael Medved earlier claimed that the gay element of the movie will not be "appealing" to audiences.

Sherlock Holmes will be released in cinemas on December 26.