There once was a time when the big screen adaptation of the classic spy series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was going to be a Steven Soderbergh film starring George Clooney as Napoleon Solo. But when the star went down with a back injury and the director decided not to make the movie, it gave Warner Bros. a chance to retool the project with some new players. And that's exactly what they've done.
In December of 2011 we learned that Sherlock Holmes director Guy Ritchie was attached to the film, and now, more than a year later, we're hearing that the filmmaker may have found his new star. Deadline reports that Tom Cruise is now in talks to star in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Based on the 1960s series of the same name starring Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, the story follows two agents from the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement and their battle against the evil organization THRUSH. The news story doesn't specify, but presumably Cruise will play the role of Napoleon Solo and the project will continue to look for its Illya Kuryakin, Solo's blond Russian partner.
Deadline notes that Cruise has been looking for another potential franchise, despite the fact that his slate is already packed with a good number of them. Following the impressive success of Ghost Protocol, another Mission: Impossible movie is in the works (potentially with Christopher McQuarrie directing) and in February it was announced that the door is still open for a Jack Reacher sequel.
Cruise will next be seen in Joseph Kosinski's Oblivion, which comes out next month, and will follow that up with Doug Liman's All You Need Is Kill, due out in March of next year.
