It's been all quiet on Baker Street lately, but not for too much longer. According to Dr. Watson himself, Jude Law, cameras will start rolling on Sherlock Holmes 2 substantially earlier than the mooted December start date.

Talking us through his chockers-looking schedule for the rest of the year, Law revealed that principal photography will kick off in the autumn. "It looks likely that we're going to shoot the second Sherlock Holmes in October," he told Empire's own Damon Wise, suggesting that Guy Ritchie and his writers aren't too far off a completed script and some intriguing casting announcements.

So who will be stepping into Mark Strong's brogues to provide Victorian London with a little violent psychopathy? “I don't know yet where the story will go,” Law told us, “but there are a lot of Sherlock Holmes novels to choose from.”

Law was making an appearance at the 45th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival to accept the prestigious Festival President's Award, a very fetching metal and glass statuette, and introduce a screening of Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley, the film that arguably put him on the movie map. But in his downtime, he was able to fill us in on the projects he has in the pipeline: after a relative break from the spotlight this year, he's about to start three very impressive movies back to back.

"I've had a long period of doing nothing, which has been self-imposed and wonderfully rewarding, I have to say, but mostly so because I've got a very busy second half of the year coming up. I'm working with [Martin] Scorsese on his new film Hugo Cabret, which I believe is his first film for children. I don't want to give too much away, but I play Hugo Cabret's father." Then comes Sherlock Holmes 2, followed by Steven Soderbergh's actioner Contagion. "It's an ensemble piece about the spread of a H1N1-type disease on an international scale. So it's going to be a very busy second half of the year; very lazy first half of the year.”

When Empire visited the set of the first Sherlock Holmes two years ago, there was some concern from the key players that the film would make enough money to convince Warners to make another. Law, however, claims he was unaffected. “I had so much fun making Sherlock Holmes that the question of how much money it would make just wasn't one of my priorities,” he told us. “Of course I was really pleased it was such a success but mostly because that will give me the opportunity to work with Robert and Guy again.”