Tradecraft: Henry Cavill Keeps Spying After U.N.C.L.E.

When he's not Superman, he's a spy. It looks like Henry Cavill plans to keep right on spying after playing Napoleon Solo in the upcoming Man From U.N.C.L.E. feature. Through his production shingle, Promethean, the actor has optioned a series of action-oriented espionage novels by Duncan Falconer. According to Deadline, "John Stratton is an operative of the SBS [Special Boat Service, the Naval equivalent of the more famous SAS] who works with the Intelligence Detachment in Northern Ireland." The movie, envisioned as the first in a franchise, is simply titled Stratton, but according to Falconer (via HenryCavill.org) is based on his novel The Hostage. The plot of the novel involves the IRA, a mole in MI5, a captured U.S. Navy SEAL and a deadly terror plot against London. For the movie version, according to the author, the antagonists have been changed to Islamic fundamentalists and Paris to Rome. Surprisingly, that means Cavill will limit his spying to the same locations he covered as Napoleon Solo. According to the trade, Stratton will shoot in Southern Italy, Rome and London, all locales seen in Warner's The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Shooting is scheduled to begin in the spring.

First Image From Warner's The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Movie

We saw a small, blurry version of this still last fall, but now Warner Bros. (via Dark Horizons) has released a great big, high-res version of the first official photo from their forthcoming feature version of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Stars Henry Cavill (who plays Napoleon Solo), Armie Hammer (as Illya Kuryakin) and Alicia Vikander are pictured in a lush Roman setting showing off the movie's Sixties fashions. (I love that director Guy Ritchie chose to retain the TV series' Cold War setting!) The Man From U.N.C.L.E. opens in August.

Rare U.N.C.L.E. and Vaughn Screenings in Los Angeles

Los Angeles spy fans can look forward to seeing some exciting, rarely screened Sixties spy movies on the big screen this weekend! Quentin Tarantino's New Beverly Theater will show a double feature of two Man From U.N.C.L.E. movies, The Spy With My Face and One Spy Too Many, on Friday, November 21 and Saturday, November 22. The first film starts at 7:30, the second plays at 9:25. On Saturday there will also be a matinee program beginning at 3:15. Best of all, both films will be shown in 35mm IB Technicolor prints! The prints come from Tarantino's personal collection, and I doubt either one has played in L.A. since the Sixties.

The Spy With My Face (1965) is the feature version of the Season 1 episode "The Double Affair" padded out with newly shot material that eventually ended up (used differently) in other episodes. Eurospy vixen Senta Berger (The Quiller Memorandum, Our Man in Marrakesh, Peau d'espion) brings the va-va-va-voom. One Spy Too Many (1966) is the re-edited feature version of the 2-part Season 2 opener "The Alexander the Greater Affair," co-starring Rip Torn, Dorothy Provine (Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die) and Yvonne Craig (In Like Flint). Like The Spy With My Face, One Spy Too Many features some footage not seen on TV, mostly involving Craig. It also excises the worst subplot from the TV episodes, featuring Alexander's parents.

Perhaps even more exciting than the U.N.C.L.E. movies is another Robert Vaughn spy flick of that era (also an IB Technicolor 35mm print!), The Venetian Affair (1967), which plays on Sunday, November 23 and Monday, November 24 at 7:30pm. (There's also a Sunday matinee at 3:15.) Why is that more exciting? Well, if you read this blog regularly, then you'll probably know why I think so. Because it co-stars my favorite Eurospy babe of all, Elke Sommer (Deadlier Than the Male, The Prize)! And Luciana Paluzzi (Thunderball, OSS 117: Murder For Sale) and Boris Karloff (Black Sabbath) don't hurt either. It would have been great if that had been paired with the David McCallum vehicle Sol Madrid to continue the U.N.C.L.E. theme, but I guess Tarantino doesn't have that one in his collection. There is a Sixties spy show connection though, as it's paired with Hickey and Boggs (1972), the private eye movie that reunited the I Spy duo of Robert Culp and Bill Cosby. I guess the timing on that one isn't ideal (especially the promise of a "special bonus after [the] feature"), but it's still a good movie worth watching. Speaking of bonuses, the New Bev always plays a selection of themed trailers from Tarantino's collection accompanying the feautres, so these shows probably promise loads of cool Sixties spy trailers. All in all, it's an excellent weekend ahead for spy fans! Personally, I plan on hitting both screenings.

As always at The New Bev, the cost of one $8 ticket covers both features. Tickets are available for pre-order from Brown Paper Tickets, or at the door the night of the show.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Feature Film Officially Set to Begin Filming Next Week With Hugh Grant as Mr. Waverly

We've followed the various twists and turns in the road to make a feature film version of the Sixties TV classic The Man From U.N.C.L.E. for at least three years (when first David Dobkin and then Steven Soderbergh were set to direct, the latter with George Clooney starring), but it's been an even longer road than that. (As far back as the mid Nineties, there were rumors of a Quentin Tarantino version, and later Matthew Vaughn.) Things finally seemed to solidify somewhat in December 2011 when Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) came on board to direct, but even then it wasn't a smooth ride. We've followed the drama in the trades as various stars were approached and in some cases even attached (most famously Tom Cruise) before drifting away. Even as the final cast shaped up over this past summer, there was still no official announcement from Warner Bros. Today that changed. Today, the studio finally issued a press release officially confirming that filming commences September 9 on a Man From U.N.C.L.E. feature film starring Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) as Napoleon Solo, Armie Hammer (The Lone Ranger) as Illya Kuryakin and Hugh Grant as U.N.C.L.E. boss Alexander Waverly.

We've known for a while about Cavill and Hammer and Grant was announced a few weeks ago, but this is the first confirmation I've seen that Grant will be playing Waverly... and that's the first bit of casting on this project that really excites me! I'm certainly not up in arms or anything about Cavill or Hammer, but neither choice struck me as especially exciting either. This one does. I wouldn't have pictured Grant filling the shoes of the great Leo G. Carroll, but now that it's done I can totally see it. (Especially following Grant's heavily made-up appearance in the Seventies portion of Cloud Atlas.) Best of all, though, the press release also officially confirms that the film will be set in the 1960s. This was the case when Soderbergh was attached (working from a script by The Bourne Ultimatum's Scott Z Burns), but I was afraid no other director would have the chutzpah to set a modern action movie in the Sixties. Still, it looked in recent months like Ritchie was doing just that, and Hammer made allusions to the film being a period piece in interviews, but it's wonderful to have that officially confirmed. The Cold War setting is the aspect that has me most excited about this project. We've seen a comedic recreation of the most fertile period in spy film history in the excellent OSS 117 movies, but I, for one, can't wait to see a straightforward action spy movie set in that era but shot with modern techniques. (Assuming, that is, that this U.N.C.L.E. film is a serious movie and not a comedic take, like Starsky and Hutch.)

Ritchie is not using the Burns script, but rather one that he penned with his producing partner Lionel Wigram. Wigram and Ritchie produce along with John Davis and Steve Clark-Hall; one-time directorial candidate David Dobkin remains attached as executive producer.

Here is the plot description provided in the press release:

Set against the backdrop of the early 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. centers on CIA agent Solo and KGB agent Kuryakin. Forced to put aside longstanding hostilities, the two team up on a joint mission to stop a mysterious international criminal organization, which is bent on destabilizing the fragile balance of power through the proliferation of nuclear weapons and technology. The duo’s only lead is the daughter of a vanished German scientist, who is the key to infiltrating the criminal organization, and they must race against time to find him and prevent a worldwide catastrophe.

There are some details in there likely to alarm U.N.C.L.E. TV purists, but I'm thoroughly encouraged, personally. It makes complete sense for the American and Russian agents to come to U.N.C.L.E. from their respective countries' secret services. And as Wigram points out, this is a new take. "Guy and I have long loved these characters," he says, "and wanted to start from scratch with our own take and create a film steeped in the 1960s for today’s audiences." That sounds just fine to me. Beyond the origins, the plot sounds very much like it could come from an actual episode of the show, or from any number of spy movies produced during that decade. And that's as it should be. It sounds like it will involve the traditional U.N.C.L.E. rival THRUSH (the international criminal organization), and it sounds like it will involve an "innocent" (the TV show had a gimmick of teaming Solo and Kuryakin with a civilian - usually a beautiful woman - week after week) in the scientist's daughter.

Also confirmed in the cast are Alicia Vikander (Anna Karenina), Elizabeth Debicki (The Great Gatsby) and Jared Harris (Moriarty in Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes sequel). I really liked Debicki in Gatsby, and I've been a fan of Harris ever since his wonderful performance in the criminally underrated 1994 vampire film Nadja (a remake of Dracula's Daugher). Plus, he's now a Hammer star! Presumably Harris will be playing either the missing scientist or the villain... or possibly both, should those characters prove to be one and the same.

New Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Trailer

There's a new trailer out for ABC's upcoming comic book-based spy series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Via Dark Horizons.) Unlike the last one we saw, this spot incorporates footage from episodes beyond the pilot. Perhaps it's the choice of music, but to me this looks much more like a Joss Whedon show than a S.H.I.E.L.D. show. Personally, I love both Joss Whedon shows and S.H.I.E.L.D. comics, so that's not any sort of accusation, merely an observation. I'm fully aware that this show won't be a direct translation of the 1960s Steranko comics I love so much, but I do hope that it finds clever ways to embody their spirit! Those comics themselves, products of that decade's spy craze, owed a lot of James Bond and The Man From U.N.C.L.E., but Jim Steranko mixed in spandex and superheroics and surrealism and psychedelia to create a really unique, anything-goes take on spy-fi. As previously announced, Steranko's entire run on the series (which started out in the anthology comic Strange Tales before graduating to its own title) will be reprinted in a single volume this fall to tie in with the ABC show. For more background on the comic and the history of the fictional spy organization, read my full S.H.I.E.L.D. primer here.

Tradecraft: Henry Cavill Is the Latest Actor Mooted for Napoleon Solo

Man of Steel star Henry Cavill, who screentested for the role of James Bond in 2005, is the latest actor to be linked to the role of Napoleon Solo in Warner Bros.' Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie, Deadline reports. Tom Cruise exited the project, which is being directed by Guy Ritchie, last week. Armie Hammer (The Lone Ranger, The Social Network) is still attached to play Illya Kuryakin. Robert Vaughn and David McCallum originated the roles of Solo and Kuryakin on the Sixties TV show. Before you become too attached to the idea of Cavill (The Cold Light of Day) as Solo, however, consider how many actors have been linked to this part over the past few years whose deals never came to fruition. Cavill certainly seems more age-appropriate to the role as portrayed on TV, however! Man, I just want to see this movie get made....

Tradecraft: Cruise Quits U.N.C.L.E.

I can't believe Deadline actually labels this story as a "shocker." Given the development history of this movie version of the Sixties TV classic, it pretty much seemed preordained. But the trade blog reports that Tom Cruise has dropped out of Guy Ritchie's The Man From U.N.C.L.E. He's the latest in a parade of high-profile actors seeking to fill the shoes of Robert Vaughn to either leave the project (like George Clooney), pass on it (Matt Damon, Bradley Cooper), or be passed over by the studio despite the director's wishes (Channing Tatum, Joel Kinnaman). I can't help but picture the massive bodybuilder Ingo from "The Alexander the Greater Affair" picking up each of these would-be Solos and carrying them bodily out of the room as he does to Vaughn in that episode.

Just last week we were hearing that Cruise might shoot both the U.N.C.L.E. movie and a fifth Mission: Impossible movie back-to-back this year. But, crucially, despite extended negotiations, it had never been announced by Warner Bros. nor Cruise's camp that the actor had actually, officially signed onto the project. (Whereas Paramount issued a press release earlier this month touting his commitment to M:I-5.) And therein lies the rub, according to The Hollywood Reporter, who report that Cruise was able to drop out because "his deal never closed." Both trades lay the blame on the tight scheduling of the two Sixties TV-based tentpoles. While it would have been conceivable to shoot both movies back-to-back were he simply starring, Deadline reports that Cruise has been very active behind the scenes on the Mission: Impossible films (which he also produces), and he likely wanted time to prepare elaborate stunt sequences to rival the awe-inspiring Burj Khalifa sequence in Ghost Protocol.

Where does this leave The Man From U.N.C.L.E.? The Hollywood Reporter asserts that Armie Hammer remains firmly attached to play Illya Kuryakin (the role originated by David McCallum on the TV show), and that Swedish actress Alicia Vikander remains in talks to play the female lead. Deadline claims that Warner will now "go hard" looking for another A-lister to take Cruise's place. Go hard? Gee, I thought that's what they'd been doing for the past several years! But I'm glad that for now the project appears to be holding together. I hope they secure a new lead quickly, lest it all fall apart again. I still want to see this movie happen! Cruise didn't seem like a good fit to me for Napoleon Solo, and it seemed unfair that he topline two different series derived from revered Sixties spy shows. But I did appreciate that his attachment guaranteed a start date. I'd be thrilled if director Guy Ritchie ends up roping in his Sherlock Holmes star Robert Downey Jr., as Downey has conquered most genres by this point but still doesn't have a spy movie under his belt. Or perhaps someone will finally realize that it's been Jon Hamm they should have gone to all along... Hopefully we'll hear something soon, because Deadline reports that the studio is still aiming to start shooting by the fall.

Tradecraft: Tom Cruise to Shoot Both The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Mission: Impossible 5 This Year?

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Tom Cruise "will star in and produce Mi5 and is expected to shoot the movie in the fall after filming Warner Bros.' The Man From U.N.C.L.E." (I'm pretty sure that's their own abbreviation for Mission: Impossible 5 and not any official nomenclature.) The trade also asserts that Jack Reacher writer/director Christopher McQuarrie is indeed still in talks to direct Cruise's fifth Mission, even if Drew Pearce has been signed to write it. I still can't believe that Cruise is now toplining two different film franchises based on classic Sixties spy series! It seems like some sort of conflict of interest or something. But I'm nonetheless delighted that these two movies may well shot this year, and presumably both come out in 2014! That will make next year quite a year for spy fans.

Tradecraft: More U.N.C.L.E. Casting

So is this Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie finally really happening? It kind of looks that way! Despite a lack of any official announcement from rumored star Tom Cruise or studio Warner Bros., the trades continue to report on potential casting for Guy Ritchie's film version of the classic 1960s spy show. The Hollywood Reporter reports that A Royal Affair star Alicia Vikander is "in negotiations" for the female lead in the film. At 25, she seems too young to be a romantic interest for 50-year-old Cruise, so maybe she'll be flirting with Illya Kurakin (Armie Hammer) instead of Napoleon Solo? The trade reports that the actress will be playing an original character, and not one from the series or its spinoff, The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. According to THR, "Vikander will play a British agent who has a thing for cars." That's all we know. What I want to know most about this production are 1.) who is writing it? Are they using the Scott Z. Burns draft that Steven Soderbergh was working from when he was attached to direct, or is there a new script? And 2.) is it still set in the Sixties, like the Soderbergh/Burns version? I sure hope so!

Tradecraft: Cruise Officially Accepts Another Mission; McQuarrie Boards Ice Station Zebra Remake

Deadline reports that Tom Cruise has officially signed on for Mission: Impossible 5—or whatever they end up calling it. That's certainly not a surprising development (especially considering that the last entry, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, set franchise records by grossing almost $700 million worldwide, and garnered some of the series' best reviews), but it does make things official. We already knew that Paramount was keen to do another one, and last we heard frequent Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie (who wrote and directed the Cruise vehicle Jack Reacher) was the top choice to direct. But there's been no official announcement confirming McQuarrie's involvement, and indeed another story in today's trades calls it into question. According to The Hollywood Reporter, McQuarrie has just signed on to take on another iconic Sixties spy title—Warner Bros.' previously announced Ice Station Zebra remake. (The busy writer/director has also long been linked to a third spy project, Paramount's Tom Clancy reboot focusing on the black ops specialist John Clark.) Last we'd heard about that project (which was over a year ago), David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express) was writing with an eye to direct, but things must have changed because the trade reports that McQuarrie will now handle both those duties. The original Ice Station Zebra, based on the Alistair MacLean novel, marked a rare starring role in a feature film of that era for consummate Sixties TV secret agent Patrick McGoohan (alongside Jim Brown, Ernest Borgnine and Rock Hudson). Its plot was heavily steeped in the Cold War, and today's trade story makes no mention of whether this new version will retain the period setting or update it, but I would guess the latter. The trade does speculate, however, that "the deal may impact the development of Paramount's Mission: Impossible 5, which McQuarrie is rumored to be the favorite to direct. Cruise is back to star in the action tentpole but there is no clear timetable for either movie project." Well, whoever ends up helming the next Mission: Impossible movie, my primary hope remains that he or she maintains the bright palette and clearly-filmed action sequences Brad Bird brought to the franchise in Ghost Protocol (far and away my favorite of the film series)... and most of all that they continue the closer connection to the TV show established in that installment! (Including the emphasis being on a team rather than an individual agent.) Today's story makes no mention of whether any of Cruise's Ghost Protocol costars were on board, but I really hope to see them all come back.

Meanwhile, as we heard last week, Cruise also remains attached to another movie based on a classic Sixties spy TV show, Warner Bros.' The Man From U.N.C.L.E. But there's still been no official announcement confirming his involvement in that one.

Tradecraft: U.N.C.L.E. Tom Finds His Illya

It looks like the Tom Cruise version of Warner Bros.' troubled, long-gestating Man From U.N.C.L.E. feature film is indeed moving forward. And the studio may have found the Illya Kuryakin to Cruise's Napoleon Solo, according to Deadline. The trade blog reports that The Social Network and Lone Ranger star Armie Hammer "is set" to play the Russian secret agent originated on the classic Sixties TV show by David McCallum. The age difference between Cruise, 50, and Hammer, 27, is interesting. While McCallum was brought onto the show as a young heartthrob with teen appeal, he was only a year younger than Robert Vaughn, who played Solo. Presumably the new dynamic will be more of a mentor/student relationship rather than equal partners. Sherlock Holmes helmer Guy Ritchie is attached to direct. I'm still curious to know if Ritchie's version is set in the 1960s, which was Steven Soderbergh's plan for the franchise when he was set to launch it. Personally, I hope so! (At the very least, that will help differentiate U.N.C.L.E. from Cruise's other spy franchise based on a Sixties series, the contemporary Mission: Impossible.)

Tradecraft: Tom Cruise Circles U.N.C.L.E.

Will Ethan Hunt open Channel D? The Hollywood Reporter reports that Tom Cruise is "in early talks" to star in Warner Bros.' looooong-in-the-works feature remake of the classic Sixties spy show The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Following a lengthy period of development by Steven Soderbergh (in which many actors were approached, from George Clooney to Channing Tatum), director Guy Ritchie and producer Lionel Wigram (the duo behind Robert Downey Jr.'s Sherlock Holmes franchise) are attached to the current incarnation. Like Soderbergh before them, they've already been through a long list of actors, none of whom have stuck. (Most notably, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were approached to play series heroes Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin.) According to the trade, "Sources have said that if the Cruise casting doesn't gel, Ritchie would be forced to move on to a new movie project." (His name frequently comes up as a directorial candidate for the next James Bond movie, but only in rumors.) On the one hand, I really want to see this movie made, so I'd like to see Cruise accept this mission if that's the only way it can happen. On the other, though, Cruise already has a popular movie franchise based on a Sixties spy series! Should the same guy topline both Mission: Impossible and Man From U.N.C.L.E. film franchises? He can't be all the spies! Or can he? One thing I find encouraging about this prospect is that it might indicate that Ritchie's U.N.C.L.E. movie, like Soderbergh's, remains a Sixties period piece. I didn't think that anyone else but Soderbergh would attempt a Cold War action spy franchise. The OSS 117 movies have recreated that era of filmmaking so well as parody, but we have yet to see a serious contemporary action spy movie set then (though X-Men: First Class did it very successfully with superheroes), and, personally, I'd love to see that. I have no knowledge that this is actually the case (I don't even know who's writing Ritchie's version; Scott Z. Burns penned the Soderbergh script), but it just seems unlikely that Cruise would pursue two franchises so potentially alike unless there were a big difference between them... like the period in which they were set. And I could actually see Cruise looking good decked out in Mad Men attire. But I can't quite see him as Napoleon Solo. Like George Clooney when he was attached in 2010 (early in the Soderbergh process), Cruise is now closer in age to Robert Vaughn when he reprised the role in the reunion telefilm Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair than when he originated it in the Sixties!

New Spy DVDs Out This Week: Covert, Invisible and Totally Haywire

Despite my attempts to get back on a weekly schedule for this spy DVD round-up, I've gotten way behind again. Lots of truly great spy DVDs came out in April, and I will go back to them very soon. But for now, in another effort to get back on track, I'm skipping ahead to this week, when we have three cool new spy offerings. A good field agent should be covert, invisible, and possibly just a little bit haywire. This week's releases have all three covered.

Steven Soderbergh's long-in-the-works action spy movie Haywire hit DVD and Blu-ray this week, and I truly hope it finds a wider audience at home than it did in theaters, because I really enjoyed this one. MMA fighter Gina Carano makes a star-making debut (thanks largely to Soderbergh, who tailored the entire movie to her talents) as Mallory Kane, a freelance secret agent hung out to dry by her superiors and caught up in an international conspiracy involving private security companies, the CIA, MI6 and Chinese dissidents, among others. The fact that the conspiracy itself doesn't ultimately make a whole lot of sense doesn't matter one iota, because this is not a Tinker, Tailor sort of spy movie. It's an action spy movie, in the school of Bond and Bourne. Actually, despite Soderbergh's citing the early Bond movies as his primary influence, it really plays like a 90s Cynthia Rothrock action movie as envisioned by a first rate director and packed with top shelf talent. And I mean that as a total compliment. Haywire a whole lot of fun, and Soderbergh concocts one action scene after another that you haven't seen before. Co-stars Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas and Antonio Bandaras are all fantastic, but it turns out Carano didn't really need that kind of back-up, because so is she. And unlike some other female action heroes, she's completely believable kicking the asses of men twice her size. The film left me with no reservationst hat Carano could lick all comers in the movie's cast which is no small feat when that cast contains the combined might of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Magneto, Jack Colton, Desparado and a G.I. Joe! The disappointingly scant extras on both versions include the featurettes "Gina Carano: From MMA to Haywire" and "The Men of Haywire" as well as trailers; the Blu-ray also has a digital copy. That's too bad, because I would have really loved to hear a Soderbergh commentary track discussing his spy influences, or seen all the deleted material generated by significant reshoots, or the original ending. Oh well. Retail is $29.95 for the DVD and $39.99 for the Blu-ray, but both are currently available for half that on Amazon right now. Read my full review of the film here.

Also out this week, from Universal, is Covert Affairs - Season Two, a 4-disc, 16-episode DVD set. This USA spy show starring Piper Perabo, Christopher Gorham, Kari Matchett and the great Peter Gallagher (though never quite enough of him) got even better in its second season, and one impressive Berlin-set episode made my Best of 2011 list. There are even more actual foreign locations in Season 2, from Istanbul to Paris to Stockholm, and their presence really elevates this series above other spy shows that dress up Burbank as whatever locale that week's script calls for. Like Season One, Covert Affairs: Season Two is packed with bonus material. Extras this time around include deleted and alternate scenes, a gag reel, Piper Perabo's Comic-Con Intro (from last year's panel) and a featurette I'm particularly looking forward to called "Covert Affairs on Location." SRP is $39.98, but the set is nearly half that on Amazon right now!

Finally, this week also brings us the long-awaited and thrice-delayed 1970s spy version of The Invisible Man: The Complete Series starring former Man From U.N.C.L.E. David McCallum and co-starring former Man of the World Craig Stevens. McCallum plays the invisible agent of the private security think tank KLAE, who's also the inventor of the formula that rendered him invisible. The 4-disc DVD set from VEI includes all 13 episodes of the short-lived series and retails for $24.98. If you want to see Illya's Seventies Purdy bob in high definition, however, you may want to hold off. The Blu-ray release has been delayed even longer, but is still in the cards for a release next month at the same price.

Upcoming Spy DVDs: Washington: Behind Closed Doors (1977)

This is cool! On June 5, Acorn Media will release a 1977 spy miniseries that earned man from U.N.C.L.E. Robert Vaughn an Emmy that I'd never heard of before. Washington: Behind Closed Doors is based on the 1977 Roman à clef The Company by former Nixon aid and Watergate figure John Ehrlichman. The novel is Erlichman's fictionalized account of the events leading up to the Watergate scandal, and follows veteran CIA agent turned Director of Central Intelligence Bill Martin (loosely based on real-life DCI Richard Helms) as he attempts to keep secret a report exposing the Agency's past misdeeds. To do that, he crosses paths with figures based on Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, J. Edgar Hoover, Henry Kissinger, Hubert Humphrey and Nixon aide H.R. Haldeman. As far as I can tell, the miniseries downplays some of the novel's Kennedy-era spy intrigue (revolving around an event based on the Bay of Pigs) in favor of the then white-hot-relevant Watergate stuff, but it still sounds fascinating! Cliff Robertson stars as Martin, Jason Robards plays the Nixon-like President Richard Monckton, and Vaughn plays the Haldeman figure. Andy Griffith co-stars along with spy vets Stefanie Powers (The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.) and Barry Nelson (the original James Bond in the '54 Casino Royale). Here's the studio's official description:

CIA director Bill Martin (Cliff Robertson) knows that an incoming president means a new direction for the country—and another set of eyes on the top secret Primula Report. Martin tries to build a rapport with his new boss, but President Richard Monckton (Jason Robards) is more interested in settling old scores and cleaning house with the help of the FBI. Against the backdrop of a war in Southeast Asia and antiwar protests at home, this high-intensity political drama tells the story of an increasingly paranoid president, an administration under siege, and a reckless group of White House aides desperate to hold on to power.

This sounds great! I can't wait to see it. The 3-disc, 6-episode set will retail for $59.99 (though it will no doubt be less on Amazon), and includes an 8-page bonus booklet "with articles on the historical background of the program, the Vietnam War, peace movements in America, Nixon’s visit to China, and the Watergate scandal; plus brief biographies of the political figures of the period." Due to music rights issues, alterations have been made to the original soundtrack. Oh well. That's a small price to pay to have this well-regarded all-star miniseries on home video for the first time in any format!

Tradecraft: Guy Ritchie Ponders U.N.C.L.E.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie at Warner Bros. might not be dead yet, despite Steven Soderbergh recently exiting the project. Deadline reports that the studio is in talks with their Sherlock Holmes director/producer team of Guy Ritchie and Lonel Wigram to come aboard the feature adaptation of the classic Sixties spy series. The trade blog seems to indicate that Scott Z. Burns' script (developed with Soderbergh) is still in play, so it's just possible that we might yet see a Sixties-set U.N.C.L.E. movie. (I'd expected the period element to go out the window with Soderbergh.) I could see Ritchie applying the same sort of period makeover on the Cold War that he did to Victorian times with Sherlock Holmes. In fact, I suspect the result might resemble the Sixties as Steranko portrayed it at the time in the pages of his Nick Fury comic... and that would not be a bad thing at all. It definitely won't be the same as Soderbergh would have done it, but I believe Ritchie capable of delivering a cool Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie. Here's hoping! Of course, the big question goes back to casting, the issue that ultimately stalled Soderbergh's take. With Ritchie and Wigram involved, the obvious frontrunner would seem to be Robert Downey Jr. He's definitely overexposed these days, but he's actually a much better choice for Napoleon Solo than some of the other names we heard bandied about recently...

Tradecraft: Soderbergh Cries Uncle to Warner Bros. on U.N.C.L.E. Feature

Tradecraft: Soderbergh Cries Uncle to Warner Bros. on U.N.C.L.E. Feature

This isn't one bit surprising, and it certainly looked like the direction things were heading with all the trouble Steven Soderbergh had casting a leading man. Now, sadly, The Hollywood Reporter reports that the director has exited Warner Bros.' attempted big screen reboot of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Personally, I see this as bad news. I was excited to see a Soderbergh-directed U.N.C.L.E. movie, and I was really happy that he and his collaborator screenwriter Sott Z. Burns had decided to set their U.N.C.L.E. movie in the Sixties. I really want to see a serious Sixties-set spy movie! It seems unlikely to me that any other director would attempt something so bold, so I fear we've lost that approach with Soderbergh. The whole future of the movie seems up in the air now. Though without Soderbergh, I'm not sure I want to see it happen anyway. (Unless they can attach another really exciting director.) The trade credits The Playlist with breaking the story, and that website has more information on the long chain of events that led to this collapse. I'm sorry I ever doubted the initial George Clooney casting, because at this point a Clooney/Soderbergh pairing seems like it would have been the best scenario. This disappointment is only the latest in a long history of failed attempts to bring The Man From U.N.C.L.E. to the screen. Quentin Tarantino, Matthew Vaughn and David Dobkin had been involved in previous attempts.

What Can Haywire Tell Us About Steven Soderbergh’s Man From U.N.C.L.E. Movie?

What Can Haywire Tell Us About Steven Soderbergh’s Man From U.N.C.L.E. Movie?

Many spy fans will no doubt watch Haywire (review here) as some sort of indicator of what director Steven Soderbergh has up his sleeve for his feature film version of the Sixties spy TV classic The Man From U.N.C.L.E. With this line of thought, we venture immediately into the purely speculative realm… but sometimes rampant speculation is fun, right? My own guess would be that Haywire is not very indicative of what to expect from Soderbergh’s U.N.C.L.E. While the director’s stated affinity for early Bond movies no doubt inspired him in making both films, I’d be surprised if he repeats himself in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.  Repetition is one thing that Steven Soderbergh’s career has not been marked by—three Ocean movies notwithstanding. It’s fun to imagine that in the future film historians might look back at The Informant!, Haywire and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. as Soderbergh’s late career (apparently, if he goes through with these cockamamie retirement plans) “spy trilogy.” When they do, I’m willing to bet that The Man From U.N.C.L.E. will be as stylistically different from Haywire as Haywire is from The Informant! While Soderbergh puts his own unique stamp on every action sequence in Haywire, it is clearly a film of the post-Bourne era. (Not stylistically, so much, but in terms of the sheer number of action scenes and how quickly they come.) I suspect that Soderbergh’s U.N.C.L.E. film will unfold at a somewhat more leisurely (though certainly not languid) pace. Although… it would be pretty cool to see a Cold War-set period film deliver the same kind of high-octane action sequences as Haywire, with modern fight choreography, against a Sixties Technicolor backdrop, wouldn’t it? And even more so if the film were shot using Sixties techniques like rear projection and miniatures (a sort of serious take on what Michel Hazanavicius does in the OSS 117 parody films), contrasting starkly with that sort of action? I certainly think so. And there’s some precedence for that approach in Soderbergh’s filmography; The Good German (review here) was shot to approximate the techniques of the 1940s, from its crisp black-and-white cinematography to its distinctive Michael Curtiz-inspired camera movements. Now I think I’ve convinced myself that Haywire-meets-The Good German would be the right approach to present The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in a brand new light, and for the director to do something new, yet still in his wheelhouse... but we’re really no closer to knowing what Soderbergh actually has in mind. Hm. Yes, sometimes rampant speculation is fun! But not very productive, I guess.

America's Next Top Man From U.N.C.L.E.: This Week it's Channing Tatum

America's Next Top Man From U.N.C.L.E.: This Week it's Channing Tatum

The unending Solo Sweepstakes continues this week with a new Napoleon Solo candidate du jour, and, honestly, I'm surprised it's taken this long to come around to this particular contender: Channing Tatum. The reason I would have expected his name to come up earlier is not because I think he'd be perfect for the part (though I have to admit, I can't really grasp what, exactly, the part is, since it's clear by this weird list of candidates that their Napoleon Solo is not the Napoleon Solo I know and love from the TV series), but because Tatum has become something of a regular for director Steven Soderbergh, who's helming the big screen remake of the classic series. So he seemed like something of a logical choice, and now Deadline reports that he's in line for the job. Tatum has a supporting role in Soderbergh's upcoming all-star spy thriller Haywire (read my review here), and he co-stars in the director's next project, Magic Mike, a male stripper drama based on Tatum's own experiences in that profession starring former Alex Rider star Alex Pettyfer. If Tatum is indeed cast as Solo, I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see blond Pettyfer's name come up as a potential Illya Kuryakin—provided he can manage a Russian accent.

At 31, Channing Tatum is at least the same age that Robert Vaughn was when he originated the role of U.N.C.L.E. superspy Napoleon Solo. His biggest action role to date was in G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra. I haven't seen that, and I haven't seen either of his Step Up dance movies. He impressed me, however, with his brief appearance in Michael Mann's Public Enemies, and I think the trailer for 21 Jump Street looks pretty funny. Frankly, I'm less bothered by the notion of him in the role than Bradley Cooper. What he lacks, however, is marquee value. With Channing Tatum toplining and a brand name that means nothing to most under-30 cinemagoers, the pressure will really be on Soderbergh to deliver the goods. And that's not a bad thing, either.

Bradley Cooper Refuses U.N.C.L.E.

Bradley Cooper Refuses U.N.C.L.E.

If TheWrap is to be believed (via Dark Horizons), then Bradley Cooper has passed on Steven Soderbergh's Sixties-set feature film remake of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. He had recently been rumored as a frontrunner for the role of Napoleon Solo, the part made famous by Robert Vaughn on the classic 1960s TV series. Contrary to some reports on the net, Cooper is not exiting the project as George Clooney did previously, as he was never officially attached; he's simply passing. Reportedly, Johnny Depp and Matt Damon have also passed. It's odd to me that so many actors are shying away from what should be a great role for a great director. I hope that's not indicative of the script. I suspect it may instead be indicative that these guys are simply not right for the part, and that they (or their agents) realize that. None of these choices scream "Napoleon Solo" to me, and I won't shed any tears over Bradley Cooper. In fact, all of these other candidates have made me a lot more supportive of the originally attached star, Clooney, who I had at first dismissed as too old! He's still got more Soloesque savoir-faire than any of these other guys. Perhaps it's time for Soderbergh to listen to the voices of fans online and arrange meetings with Jon Hamm and Micheal Fassbender (who he recently worked with in Haywire). We know both of these guys can fill a tailored Sixties suit pretty well...

Tradecraft: Is Bradley Cooper the New Napoleon Solo?

Tradecraft: Is Bradley Cooper the New Napoleon Solo?

Variety reports that Bradley Cooper is the new frontrunner to play Napoleon Solo in Steven Soderbergh's Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie. The trade reports that Matt Damon and Johnny Depp both passed on the part (to which George Clooney was originally attached), and Cooper's agents worked hard to position him for the part of U.N.C.L.E.'s top agent. The offer is now out to him and he's expected to accept, with shooting set to commence in March before Soderbergh helms his Liberace biopic for HBO. The spy role would bring Cooper's career full-circle, since he first rose to stardom on a spy series playing Will on J.J. Abrams' Alias. I really liked him on Alias, and I was sorry when Will left the show... but, honestly, I can't picture the Hangover star filling Robert Vaughn's shoes as Napoleon Solo. Hm...