How many franchises can one man tackle? With Tom Cruise, there is absolutely no telling. He already has the well established Mission Impossible franchise, as well as Jack Reacher, which I found to be a pleasant surprise. Now, it seems Cruise is hovering Guy Ritchie’s new spy-thriller The Man from U.N.C.L.E. So, basically Tom Cruise is considering playing a spy… Again.
As the report states, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. has been in development hell due to casting for quite sometime. Steven Sodebergh (Ocean’s Eleven, Haywire) once was attached to the project and had several potential leads including George Clooney, Michael Fassbender, Joel Kinnaman, Johnny Depp, and Channing Tatum. None of these guys committed so Sodebergh exited the property. Then Steps in Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes, Snatch) to revive momentum for the project. Up until now, Ritchie hasn’t appeared to have any casting leads for the movie, but if Cruise signs on, I would expect development to speed up for the film.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was a television show that ran for 4 years back in the 60’s. Here is a description of the series provided by IMDB:
Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin are the two agents of the United Network Command for Law Enforcement, who fight evil (primarily an organization of Bad people called, THRUSH) and use charm, wit, and a never ending assortment of gadgets.
As awesome as it would be to see Guy Ritchie and Tom Cruise work together, I seriously do not want to see another spy film from Cruise. Yes, he plays the part well, but we already have seen him do it several times. How many different ways can you play a spy before you pigeon-hole yourself? Hopefully, Ritchie finds someone new who can bring life to the property.
What do you think about Tom Cruise possibly joining The Man from U.N.C.L.E.?
Source: Slashfilm