In a lengthy article on Variety talking about the ups and downs of getting a movie made based on the popular ’60s spy show show The Man From U.N.C.L.E., a project that’s gone through many incarnations, directors and stars over the past few years, they’re reporting that plans are set to start shooting in early September with director Guy Ritchie confirmed at the helm and Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) and Armie Hammer (The Lone Ranger) starring in the roles of U.N.C.L.E. agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin, respectively.
Warner Bros. hopes to turn the film into a franchise despite the falling out of Tom Cruise in late May and a paring down of the production budget to $75 million. Plans are to shoot the film in Ritchie’s native London and in Italy working from a script written by Ritchie with his Sherlock Holmes collaborator, writer and producer Lionel Wigram, acting as the origin story to tell how the two spies, one American and Russian, first met and started working together. Those roles were originally played by Robert Vaughn (Solo) and David McCalllum (Kurayakin) in the original series.
You can read the full extended story about how this project came together despite having been in development hell and losing previous directors and stars like Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney over at Variety.
