Armie Hammer has been recruited to co-star opposite Tome Cruise in director Guy Ritchie’s big screen adaptation of the classic 60s television spy series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Cruise is set to star as the suave Napoleon Solo and Hammer will play his partner the Russian agent Illya Kuryakin.
Originally, the project was set up with Steven Soderbergh set to direct and George Clooney set to star. Clooney departed when a neck and back operation left him not fit for the physicality of the role. Soderbergh departed soon afterwards. It is unclear right now whether the screenplay developed by Soderbergh with writer Scott Z. Burns is being carried over or if Ritchie is bringing in hos own scribe.
This strikes me as a bit of an incongruous pairing, given the actors’ height discrepancies. Perhaps that will be played for some humor, given that the original Man From U.N.C.L.E. series had a strain of light humor that ran through it.
Via Deadline.
Tom Cruise? Oh my, so does ring as Napoleon Solo for me.
Not…..not ring. Grrrrr