Clooney Ankles U.N.C.L.E.; U.N.C.L.E. Incorporates Real World Events

Clooney Ankles U.N.C.L.E.; U.N.C.L.E. Incorporates Real World Events

As previously reported, George Clooney was expected to star in Steven Soderbergh's upcoming big-screen version of the classic Sixties spy series The Man From U.N.C.L.E.–presumably as ace U.N.C.L.E. agent Napoleon Solo, the character originated by Robert Vaughn. As fit as Clooney undeniably is, by the time filming starts next year he will be the same age that Vaughn was when he reprised the role in the reunion telefilm The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair (review here)! So perhaps it's for the better that Deadline is reporting today that Clooney "is in the process of withdrawing as the star of Steven Soderbergh’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E." Of course, the big danger in losing Clooney is the risk that the film will fall apart without a bankable lead. Luckily, Soderbergh has good relationships with a lot of actors, so hopefully he can line up someone just as good and maybe a little more age-appropriate. So who else could be Napoleon Solo? Matt Damon? Michael Fassbender? Both have recently worked with Soderbergh. Then there are the stars of Soderbergh's current movie to consider, Channing Tatum and Alex Rider star Alex Pettyfer. They'd sort of fit as Napoleon and Illya... if the script were rewritten to accommodate much younger stars. (Who are actually closer age matches for Vaughn and David McCallum.)

Meanwhile, Cinema Blend reports that this version of U.N.C.L.E. will utilise its previously revealed Sixties setting to incorporate actual historical events into the story. Writer Scott Z. Burns told the website, "All those shows are called, like, 'The Terbuf Affair' or whatever." (Other good examples include "The Moonglow Affair," "The Iowa Scuba Affair" and of course "The My Friend the Gorilla Affair.") "Our affair comes from something that was actually going on in the world at the time." That's intriguing, but I sure hope it's not the Cuban missile crisis, yet again, so soon after it was done in the excellent period spy movie X-Men: First Class! (Also, I would hope that a Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie would be set a few years later than that.) When asked if the film version would pay homage to specific episodes of the series, all Burns could promise was, "I think if people know the show they’ll recognize tiny little things." He also said that the script is done, and was hopeful that casting will begin soon and production could start in the spring. (That was before Clooney dropped his bombshell, though.)