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.