Originally this film was to be directed by Steven Soderbergh and star George Clooney but then Clooney got injured and could not commit to a role in this film. Soderbergh then moved on to Bradley Cooper but then he dropped out of the project, and finally Soderbergh did as well due to any number of reasons. Now the film is to be directed by none other than Guy Ritchie. That's probably the best idea he's had in a while as his two Sherlock Holmes films haven't been the greatest ideas anyone has ever had.
The two directors couldn't be more different so the film now is obviously going to be way different from Soderbergh would have done. Personally I think Soderbergh's film would probably be better because I can imagine being done in the style of the Ocean's Trilogy.
The Man From U.N.C.L.E was a show running from 1964-1968 created by Norman Felton, Sam Rolfe, and Ian Fleming. UNCLE was an acronym standing for United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. The show focused on agents Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum. The show is notable for it's drastic change in tone with every season. Season One was completely different from what Seasons Two and Three were. Three ended up being a lot more campy and Season Four brought the show back to a more serious tone.
Napoleon Solo
I think Richie might cast an actor who he's already worked with before so I think I'm going to have to go with Jude Law on this one.Law these days seems to only get supporting roles but he's proven himself a very good actor in leading roles. Currently he's playing Dr. Watson in Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes series but i think it's time he was given another lead role.
Probably his biggest lead role was in 2004's Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow, a film many didn't like all that much but a personal favorite of mine. It's a film I truly believe is worth another look because it did a whole number of things right and had probably one of the most surprising climaxes ever. Sure he's no Robert Vaughn but still he could do the role justice.
Illya Kuryakin
Ilya was originally played by Scottish actor David McCallum so why not cast another fellow Scotsman in the role? An actor that immediately came to mind was Ewan McGregor whom many will obviously remember as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy. Since then though he's done an enormous amount of stuff including Angels & Demons (Which I found him to be very good in his role) and Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer.
Alexander Waverly
Waverly was the head of UNCLE played English Leo G. Carroll. For the role I think it'd be neat to have Robert Vaughn since he was on the show as Ilya. David McCallum is obviously committed to NCIS right now so it's probably only going to be Vaughn who will be able to make a cameo. It'd be a cameo sort of like Bernie Kopell did in 2008's Get Smart.
