Stephen Soderbergh Leaves The Man From UNCLE, Starts Sniffing Out New Gigs

by Brendon Connelly, source: Bleeding Cool.com

After eighteen months of development, Stephen Soderbergh has decided not to direct Warner Bros. do-over of The Man From UNCLE. The director and studio have apparently come to a parting of the ways over casting and the budget.

Apparently Soderbergh was keen on either Michael Fassbender or Joel Kinnaman for the lead role, at least since George Clooney stepped down with back problems. Warner Bros. would not okay either Fassbender or Kinnaman for UNCLE, but did then cast them in other high profile projects – something The Playlist says “never sat well” with Soderbergh.

Bradley Cooper Is Steven Soderbergh’s Man From UNCLE

by Brendon Connelly, Source Bleeding Cool.com

Now, only one of our spies is missing. Bradley Cooper has been offered the role of Napoleon Solo in the upcoming Man from UNCLE movie. Steven Soderbergh is still shopping for an actor to play Illya Kuryakin, Solo’s Russian counterpart.

The film is scheduled to shoot in the spring, before Soderbergh closes out the current phase of his creative career with a HBO biopic of Liberace and retires to home, apparently to watch Raiders of the Lost Ark five times a week, always in black and white.