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EXCLUSIVE: I’m hearing that George Clooney is in the process of withdrawing as the star of Steven Soderbergh’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Still trying to get a clear sense of the reason for the exit of Clooney, who is Soderbergh’s former partner and did the Ocean’s Eleven films and Out of Sight with the director. I’m told that Warner Bros intends to stay on track for a February 2012 start for the movie, which is based on the 1960s light spy drama starring Robert Vaughn and David McCallum. Soderbergh is putting U.N.C.L.E. together as he prepares for the release of Warners’ Contagion, which stars Matt Damon and is being released Sept. 9.
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Very interesting. Can’t wait to hear the reason behind this move.
George Clooney is WAY TOO OLD TO PLAY NAPOLEON SOLO!!!
Seriously, what were they thinking.
Now watch it go to Jeremy Renner. Why not, he’s in every other movie coming out in the next 12 months.
I think Jensen Ackles from ‘Supernatural’ would be a PERFECT Solo.
I agree Jensen would definitely to a great job.
Yes, because it’s perfectly rationale to recast Clooney with a CW actor. And Paris Hilton can play David McCallum’s part and they can film the whole thing in your basement. Genius!
RealityCheck- Jensen Ackles is extremely underrated. John Hamm is on AMC, another TV star so why is he any better?! JA is more than capable of turning in a fantastic performance.
That’s and interesting choice. He was very good in the play version of A Few Good Men with Lou Dimond Phillips.
James Toback was behind this. I just know it.
Ya…Toback…and Clooney…a formidable pair. let’s see and original work from those guys.
Good move.
Both Clooney and Soderbergh are talented filmmakers, and I am guessing good friends…but, after three Oceans films, George doesn’t need to do The Man From Uncle with all the potential projects he most certainly has from which to choose as an actor, director and/or producer.
No harm…no foul…..
Don’t forget Solaris!
Wasn’t Soderbergh supposed to retire anyway? (not complaining, loved The Informant! and Contagion looks interesting, just curious)
Or THE GOOD GERMAN.
Solaris was a real sleeper hit. I got 40 winks out of that movie.
I just don’t know where they can go with the material. Doing it “seriously” has been covered by the Bourne and new Bond films, and doing it “light/fun” takes you somewhere between Get Smart and Mission: Impossible. It’s all been done.
Actually doing it “light/fun” in the non-comedic but still larger-than-life vein of the early Bond movies (GOLDFINGER, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME) might be the way to go as nobody seems to be doing that anymore.
Right now it’s one of two extremes: either bullshit satire like GET SMART and AUSTIN POWERS or else faux-angsty bullshit like BOURNE and MISSION IMPOSSIBLE and QUANTUM OF SOLACE.
So like an Ocean’s Eleven, except the gang of cool, in-shape handsome guys (and gals) are Government Spooks instead of Crooks? Sure, why not.
*Ding* you nailed it. And this could be Hamm’s big-screen break thru. Cast one of those emo/hipster kids as Kuryakin for maximum demographic appeal. And Michael Gambon as Mr. Waverly. And keep it in the ’60s. Awesome.
Jon Hamm as Napolean Solo?
Good call, Joan. I like the idea…
That’s actually a good idea. He’d be very fitting for the part.
As for Clooney, he’s not getting any younger, Italian villas are expensive to keep, and the only films on his resume to hit that $100+ million mark that an actor needs to stay on the “A-List” are the Ocean’s movies he did with Soderbergh. He probably needs the UNCLE movie more than the movie needs him.
But now that Joan has mentioned Jon Hamm, I now can’t see anyone else in the role.
I had presumed that Clooney would be in the Napoleon Solo role, but maybe Soderbergh thought he’d be better as Mr. Waverly?
Admittedly, I have a soft spot for “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”, but I really don’t see the need to bring yet ANOTHER 1960s television to the big-screen. What’s next – “Hogan’s Heroes”? As stated above, a lot of this series’ ground has been covered before, and we certainly do not want another film the caliber of the Wilson/Murphy “I Spy”.
Regarding U.N.C.L.E., perhaps Soderbergh should take a cue from a line a Clooney/Coen Brother film (“Intolerable Cruelty”) – “Let it go, pal, walk away.”
Great. That was my one hope of this movie being watchable. I would like to be glib and say that THRUSH was behind this decision but seriously, I was secure that with Clooney in the movie, it would be watchable and probably not an embarrassment. My interest in the movie just dwindled to nil.
This looked promising with George – a nice little hit for the guy. Too bad was looking forward to it
Everyone can guess all they want as to the reasons.
Truth be told, Clooney as a spy is never a bad idea. (With the possible exception of THE PEACEMAKER and that wasn’t his fault.)
Maybe he’s just had his fill of playing those roles.
What we’re all waiting for, Mr. Clooney, is an off the wall comedy.
(Seriously.)
You should rent “Oh, Brother Where Art Thou?”
Soderbergh has been calling it quits for the last 3years, he has become the Dame Nellie Melba of Hollywood.
Is this the launch of a
new franchise or simply a one-off? There’s a lot of actors who could do fine in the one-off version but not nearly as many you can build a franchise around. I’d love to se Soderbergh collaborate with Daniel
Day Lewis, who is in the ballpark of Clooney’s age
Warners is over Clooney. Think about it. Soderbergh didn’t use him in Contagion. They booted him off Argo for Affleck. They are booting him of of UNCLE for Gosling. They booted him off Replay for Will Smith. And they wouldn’t make Ides of March so he had to go to SONY. Smokehouse is getting smoked.
Maybe he dropped out of the project so he can be Lex Luthor in the new Superman movie.
Change this to Our Man Flynt and I’m there. Clooney would rock as Flynt
That’s too bad. I loved the old and show and was looking forward to this. Clooney is such a classic old school movie star. But he seems to have little interest in flexing that muscle and making big, fun entertainment. I was really excited about this combination and him doing this.
I hope he changes his mind.
Clooney looks like a tired ass zombie these days. He can barely move. The American anyone? Glad he’s out of this project. But why is Soderbergh wasting his time doing a piece of dreck remake like this? Nikki, are there ANY non-remakes being greenlighted by Hollywood anymore? Apparently not.
Maybe Nespresso made Clooney an offer he couldn’t refuse.
It seems Soderbergh has his interns slamming Clooney and his production company. Bitter, party of one.
Perhaps Clooney is just to busy bangin models to deal with this “mediocre, been there done that a million times over” script.
You guys slam DiCaprio for not taking risks, and when Clooney decides to pass on a tired recycled theme you slam him? You poster seriously lack credibility.
I’m sure rather than sitting by a beach and thinking how did I get so rich, Clooney is sitting and reading this board and hearing your thoughts. Hah!
Clooney is doing shit movies these days. I still would like my money back for The American.
Soderbergh owes me a netflix rental for the Girlfriend Experience. He should be forced to come over to my living room and stare at me for 90 minutes so he can feel the life he sucked out of my soul.
I had not heard about this one. Nostalgia is OK, but a bit of originality would also be nice. It was fun when it was on, but would seem a bit dated today. The Russians are allies, Bin Laden is dead and Gadaffi is on the run. Who would be the enemy. Clooney likes to play himself in movies, but he is not as suave as his publicist would have us think. Isn’t Depp remaking the Thin Man (another unnecessary re-make, but that is what Depp is doing mostly these days, joined by DiCaprio and now maybe Clooney–who seems to have come to his senses)
Right, Bin Laden IS dead James but since al Quaeda is still in business and still targeting innocent civilians, maybe the villain ought to be al Queda.
Better that than the garden variety RUSSIAN bad guys we’ve been seeing so much of lately.
My retarded buddy Fob says that making al Quaeda the villain in a screenplay would be much too obvious — that it’s basically just lazy writing so why do it? But my feeling is that it isn’t lazy or remotely obvious because al Quaeda NEVER seems to be the real villain.
(Two exceptions leap to mind: The movies TRAITOR and THE KINGDOM. And that’s it)
What passing-for-clever writers will do sometimes is make al Quaeda the RED HERRING of a story. Like they’ll contrive some plot where it LOOKS as if the bomb was set off by the Islamists but we learn it REALLY got set off by a twisted American militia group or some crazed branch of the Pentagon trying to frame the Arabs and touch of a nuclear war… or some such crap. (How many variations of this bullshit idea in the last seven years)
During WWII, the primary villain on the silver screen were the people we were actually fighting — the Germans and the Japanese. During the Cold War it was of course the Russians.
But we are ten years and thousands of deaths into our war with Muslim extremism and where are all the al Quaeda villains? They’re in the newspapers, of course. And they’re all over CNN. But they sure ain’t at the multiplex.
Who should be the villians? THRUSH, of course, same as always. UNCLE never used the Soviets as villians- heck, Solo’s partner WAS a Russian.(UNCLE itself was essentially part of the UN, and pointedly international)
THRUSH was an organization of (in the show’s words) ” rich and powerful men who manipulate world events to their own advantage”- an idea as valid today as it was then.
Wow,I don’t care how frightening Contagion is. Or how good Man From U.N.C.L.E. can be.George Clooney,does anyone care that the Up keep on that Italian Villa in Capri is not cheap.He’s like an aging basketball Player. soon he’ll wind up Playing in The european League.Expanding His real estate and Restuarant Holdings with business partner Brad Pitt.
Really that’s not a Bad Idea hooking James Toback and George Clooney.They could do a Light Comedy in The style of “Get Shorty” callled “401K”.
Wow! so much animosity towards Clooney. Say what you want, the guy is a bonafide movie star, one of the most notable in the last two decades that we have. He has made some great, important films (Good NIght, Good Luck, Syriana) and unlike other actors he has actually produced films that leave audiences with impressionable impacts. Who the eff cares if he is in his late forties or fifties, he’s gorgeous, he’s talented and he picks for the most part great projects. He tries to get his audience to think. He has not caved in to do commercial movies that are the easy way out. There is no formula for a successful film and at least he tries instead of sitting on his ass.
loved the show as a kid…didn’t realize it was so cheaply made until years later.It is one of the few shows that could be adapted to today.Cloony would be good as Solo, but maybe this is a movie to launch new talent. It shot David Macallun & Robert Vaughn from journeyman actors to stars for awhile.It was hard to jump to movies in those days. few made it. Just James Garner & Steve McQueen.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was NOT all “light” spy drama. Watch the first and fourth seasons to see non-light spy drama. (Don’t watch the awful, clownish third season, if you want my critical view. OK, it’s sometimes funny, but sheesh…gorilla suits, abominable snowmen?) I digress. MfU was at its best when it took itself seriously and didn’t try to appeal to a tween audience. I read that Soderbergh has focused on the first season. I’m psyched!
Clooney is indeed very old for the script as it is hinted. If they are playing it in the show-present or a little earlier, Solo was no more than 30 years old. Same for Kuryakin.
Don’t disappoint me! I remember first broadcasts surprisingly well.