Ritchie Is U.N.C.L.E.'s New Daddy

Director Guy Ritchie is poised to take charge of a planned film adaptation of the 1960s spy television series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. says Deadline  Ritchie and his production partner Lionel Wigram would board the project as producer.

The pair have worked together on both Sherlock Holmes and its (just-about-to-be-released) sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows and are now setting up their own production company.

Steven Soderbergh left the film last month due to budgetary and casting issues--The studio set a low $60 million dollar budget proposal for what is supposed to be the first in a franchise trilogy.Soderbergh felt the figure wasn’t enough for a ‘60s set period spy film that’s set on four continents, and with a March date looming, he could no longer wait for the studio to refine numbers. Casting has always been a concern; Channing Tatum was just the latest actor in the mix---Newly minted Sexiest Man Bradley Cooper was in talks for this but he left the table--Ryan Gosling, Alexander Skarsgård, Joseph Gordon-Levitt Robert Pattinson Leonardo DiCaprio Ryan Reynolds were on the list at one point once George Clooney was gonna play the role but left the pic after injuring his back. Once that happened the wanted younger (read CHEAPER) actors in the leads

Soderbergh has since moved on to direct the thriller, The Bitter Pill.

The original 60's U.N.C.L.E series saw Robert Vaughn and David McCallum as two agents of the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement (U.N.C.L.E.), who fought the forces of Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity (T.H.R.U.S.H.).

Scott Z. Burns wrote the latest script draft of U.N.C.L.E and had planned to keep the 60's setting.

David Dobkin, Jeff Kleeman and John Davis are producing the action comedy...