Steven Soderbergh Drops ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’
You may have followed the breadcrumb trail of casting reports forSteven Soderbergh’sThe Man From U.N.C.L.E.up to this point, but here’s the thing: it is no longer Steven Soderbergh’sThe Man From U.N.C.L.E. Warner Bros. has worked for years to make a new film version of the old cold war TV spy series, and the director who created three fun films based on a Rat Pack heist movie seemed like the go-to guy to make it happen. ButGeorge Clooneyhad todrop out of the lead rolefor physical reasons and in his absence no other casting solution could be agreed upon.
So, after months of back and forth, with Warner Bros. wanting the movie to be cheaper than Soderbergh thought appropriate, and no locked leading men, Steven Soderbergh has moved on.
The Playlisthas an impressive rundown of the entire process, but here’s the list of important details.
The director’s timeline over the next year looks like this:Haywireisreleased in January. There’s room to shoot a movie beforeBehind the Candelabra, his film aboutLiberace(starringMichael DouglasandMatt Damon)will shoot in summer 2012, just asMagic Mikeis released. That’s whereU.N.C.L.E.was going to go. After that, it’s ‘adios, directors chair!’ for Soderbergh, at least until he gets the itch once more.
(WB picked upMagic Mikenot long ago, and I wonder if buying that cheap film was part of a strategy to keep Soderbergh on U.N.C.L.E. when he was obviously waffling. And if that was the case, what will the studio do with the film now? It has such obvious counter-programming summer beefcake appeal that I don’t see WB dumping it.)
The good news is there’s now a big empty spot on his schedule whereThe Man From U.N.C.L.E.used to rent space. Will Soderbergh come up with another film to shoot there?
And what ofU.N.C.L.E.? WB has the Soderbergh and Scott Z. Burns script to work with, but as the Playlist says, that is probably so tuned to Soderbergh’s specific style that much would have to be rewritten for another creative team. The movie will probably happen eventually, and maybe it will even mange to shoot next year. But for now nothing is set.
