‘Enola Holmes’: How Millie Bobby Brown Impressed Henry Cavill

When Henry Cavill plays Superman or Geralt in The Witcher, he’s pretty impressive. When he made Enola Holmes, Cavill was impressed with his costar, Millie Bobby Brown. Cavill plays Sherlock Holmes and Brown is his sister, Enola. 

Cavill was a guest on the Happy Sad Confused podcast on Sept. 24. He told host Josh Horowitz about the many ways in which Brown impressed him. Enola Holmes is now streaming on Netflix.

Henry Cavill is not the star of ‘Enola Holmes’

Normally Sherlock Holmes would be the star of his own movie. In Enola Holmes, he plays second fiddle to Enola and that was just fine by Cavill.

“I don’t know if it was the different take on the character that necessarily drew me to it,” Cavill told Horowitz. “It was the story itself, it was the messaging in the story, it was the way that Sherlock is utilized in this story to affect the new generation via Enola Holmes. I loved that, I loved it, I love what it’s trying to tell people, I love what it’s saying.”

Henry Cavill worried about Millie Bobby Brown at first

Hollywood can be rough on child actors. There’s a whole documentary about them, and the industry is full of stories of kids who suffered for pursuing fame too early. Cavill was concerned Brown was losing out on her childhood between Stranger Things and Enola Holmes. 

“When I first met her, the initial thought was oh no, this human being isn’t getting to experience childhood because they’re so mature,” Cavill said. “They’re so different from every other teenager I’ve met. I just thought oh, that’s such a shame. Two seconds later I was like oh no, she’s still a teenager.”

How Millie Bobbie Brown impressed her ‘Enola Holmes’ costar

Once Cavill learned Brown could live in both adult and childlike spaces, he was doubly impressed by her. They had good times on the set of Enola Holmes.

She does this amazing flip flop between the two where she’s an incredibly mature person who speaks like they’re 35 years old, who talks about characters, talks about performances, talks about directors or storytelling or whatever it may be. And then she starts talking to you about Love Island and trying to get you to do Tik Tok dances. She’s such a marvelous person to be around. The energy coming off her is infectious. She’s going to have a massive impact on this industry. I’m just happy to be part of her story.

Henry Cavill, Happy Sad Confused podcast, 9/24/2020

Millie Bobby Brown need not worry about competition from Henry Cavill

Cavill admitted Brown tried to teach him Tik Tok dances. However, he abstained. 

“No, I don’t want to encroach upon Millie’s space,” Cavill said. “I don’t want to cramp her style. I don’t want to make her look bad so I’m leaving the Tik Tok to her.”