Guy Ritchie To Direct 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Starring Tom Cruise

[The Mirrorball Man]

Re: Guy Ritchie To Direct 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Starring Tom Cruis

I'm surprised that they've opted for someone so much younger than Tom. But, even more so, I'm surprised that they've opted for someone so much TALLER than Tom! There's a good 10 inches between the two - 5'7" versus 6'5". The poster is going to look like Arnie and Danny DeVito in Twins!

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is much taller than Tom Cruise and no attempt was made to hide that in Oblivion.

 

[Aragorn]

Re: Guy Ritchie To Direct 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Starring Tom Cruis

Just thought of another movie -- Pain and Gain. Mark Wahlberg is Tom Cruise's height, Dwayne Johnson is 6-5. Not a big deal there either.

 

[Supervisor 194]

Re: Guy Ritchie To Direct 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Starring Tom Cruis

I hope this film comes together--I love the original series (especially the far superior season one) and have been hoping for a big screen revival. David Tennant would have been my choice for Solo, but I'm sure Cruise will be just fine.

 

[Christopher]

Re: Guy Ritchie To Direct 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Starring Tom Cruis

I hope this film comes together--I love the original series (especially the far superior season one) and have been hoping for a big screen revival.

I'm working my way through season 1 now. I'm not encouraged by what I've heard about the later seasons.

David Tennant would have been my choice for Solo...

Now, that's an intriguing choice. He could capture Vaughn's playful, impish quality and theatrical delivery, while also bringing some emotional depth and weight.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Re: Guy Ritchie To Direct 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Starring Tom Cruis

Just thought of another movie -- Pain and Gain. Mark Wahlberg is Tom Cruise's height, Dwayne Johnson is 6-5. Not a big deal there either.

I don't remember saying it was a big deal. It just struck me as an amusing juxtaposition is all.

What also made it stand out to me is that unlike the other examples mentioned, Cruise is an A-list megastar; Walhberg isn't really in the same league. As for the Avengers, well, that was an emsemble group piece, with our heroes frequently off doing different things in different places, while TMFU will have two leads, presumably sharing a lot of time onscreen together. The contrast will be quite apparent.

But I guess it's to Tom's credit - quite a few egotastic movie stars would have nixed being cast opposite someone who will make them look tichy onscreen, particularly where Cruise is the big name and Hammer the up-and-comer with considerably less clout and box office appeal (as yet). As with Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, where the studio insisted that Jeremy Renner be included as a co-lead/possible replacement, Cruise has shown that he is quite content to put the good of the movie first as oppose to his ego.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

Re: Guy Ritchie To Direct 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Starring Tom Cruis

I'm working my way through season 1 now. I'm not encouraged by what I've heard about the later seasons.

I've seen the show on DVD myself, so here's what I've gleamed about it, quality-wise:

Season 1: Great all-around, through it can be a little corny in spots.

Season II: Good, but some episodes will test your reality quotient a lot.

Season III: Disaster all around-the show was on opposite the shitty Batman show, so it's plots were neck and neck with the crappy plots of the Batman show (the episode where Solo & Kuryakin have to prevent a stink bomb from hitting Las Vegas is one of the series's lowest points ever.) Only good episode is the one about the man running for POTUS (guest starring Richard Anderson [the future Oscar Goldman] as said candidate, whose wife is kidnapped and replaced by a clone.) Show was headed towards cancellation as a result of this dick move.

Season IV: Back to what Season I was, but way too late to save it due to the foolish excesses of Season III; show was canceled.

'The battle (between good and evil) ends once and for all in favor of good.'

 

[Christopher]

Re: Guy Ritchie To Direct 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Starring Tom Cruis

Hey, now -- the '66 Batman was awesome, at least for the first season or two. Although when Lost in Space tried to mimic its campy quality, the result was awful. Imitations are rarely as good as the original. So I guess I'll have to wait and see how TMFU handled it.

 

[scotpens]

Re: Guy Ritchie To Direct 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Starring Tom Cruis

Hollywood has been disguising actors' and actresses' relative heights for generations.

Indeed. In the spy-spoof series Get Smart, Don Adams looked a couple of inches taller than Barbara Feldon in waist-up shots. In long shots, you could see clearly that they were the same height (actually Barbara was taller by about half an inch).

Of course, when Alan Ladd was paired with Veronica Lake in the 1940s, there was no need to fudge their relative heights. They were both shrimps!

I've seen the show on DVD myself, so here's what I've gleamed about it, quality-wise:

Season 1: Great all-around, through it can be a little corny in spots.

Season II: Good, but some episodes will test your reality quotient a lot.

Season III: Disaster all around -- the show was on opposite the shitty Batman show, so its plots were neck and neck with the crappy plots of the Batman show (the episode where Solo & Kuryakin have to prevent a stink bomb from hitting Las Vegas is one of the series's lowest points ever.)

The Man from UNCLE was always slightly tongue-in-cheek from the very beginning, but the third season was deliberately played for heavy-handed camp humor (as you said, in a misguided attempt to compete with Batman). IMHO, the show reached its nadir with "The Hot Number Affair," an episode set in New York's garment district and guest starring Sonny and Cher. She played a model. He played a dork.

 

[Melakon]

Re: Guy Ritchie To Direct 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Starring Tom Cruis

I was a big UNCLE fan when it first aired, I was even using a reel-to-reel tape recorder during the first season. I've often considered getting the series dvd's, but I know the 3rd season is god-awful and they couldn't save it in time during the 4th. I had a bunch of the novels, the Man From UNCLE magazines that had short stories, the AMT UNCLE car, and the Aurora model kits of Solo and Illya. I saw at least two of the feature-length films they assembled in theaters. It sort of primed me for Trek fandom.

I don't know enough about what actors are hot-or-not these days, but age casting shouldn't be a big problem. Vaughn was older than McCallum by only 10 months.

And Illya during the cold war? In one interview I read, it was either with Norman Felton or Sam Rolfe (probably Rolfe), it was suggested that if the Soviets had ordered Illya to kill Solo and come home, he would have done it without a second thought.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Re: Guy Ritchie To Direct 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Starring Tom Cruis

Female lead added:

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=103980

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Re: Guy Ritchie To Direct 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Starring Tom Cruis

Tom Cruise has left the production to focus on Mission: Impossible 5. Here's the full story.

 

[Christopher]

Re: Guy Ritchie To Direct 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Starring Tom Cruis

This is good news. I have nothing against Cruise as an actor -- despite any issues in his personal life, he's quite a dedicated professional on the job and I respect his approach to his work -- but he's the wrong person to play Napoleon Solo, and it's better if TMFU and M:I have different lead actors so they're differentiated better.

I suppose it's too much to hope that they'll get David Tennant to replace him, though.

 

[Starkers]

Re: Guy Ritchie To Direct 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Starring Tom Cruis

This is good news. I have nothing against Cruise as an actor -- despite any issues in his personal life, he's quite a dedicated professional on the job and I respect his approach to his work -- but he's the wrong person to play Napoleon Solo, and it's better if TMFU and M:I have different lead actors so they're differentiated better.

I suppose it's too much to hope that they'll get David Tennant to replace him, though.

Now that's an interesting idea...

 

[DarthPipes]

Re: Guy Ritchie To Direct 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Starring Tom Cruis

So it Cruise is going to start in UNCLE, is he going to turn it into a one-man show/egofest like he did with the Mission Impossible series?

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Re: Guy Ritchie To Direct 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Starring Tom Cruis

So it Cruise is going to start in UNCLE, is he going to turn it into a one-man show/egofest like he did with the Mission Impossible series?

See my post above: he's not going to star in UNCLE anymore.

 

[Christopher]

Re: Guy Ritchie To Direct 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Starring Tom Cruis

^Also, the most recent M:I film, Ghost Protocol, was not a one-man show, but much more of an ensemble piece than the prior three films. As for ego, note that M:I:III climaxed with

Spoiler: M:I:III ending

Cruise's character rendered completely helpless and needing his wife to save him and defeat the villain all by herself.

I'd think a lead actor would have to pretty generous and unselfish to be okay with a story ending that way.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Re: Guy Ritchie To Direct 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Starring Tom Cruis

I think Jon Hamm would be an excellent Solo but, leaving aside the unlikeliness of two leading men called Hamm and Hammer(!) toplining a movie, I think the studio will be looking for a big-name star to add weight to the as-yet-unproven Armie Hammer, who plays Kuryakin. The Lone Ranger is likely to be a hit but it's Johnny Depp who will be putting bums on seats, not Armie and I think that this film will follow a similar path of pairing him with a proven draw.

George Clooney, previously in the running, is probably too old to co-star with Hammer - they'd look like father and son or uncle and nephew.

With Guy Ritchie having given them a hit in the Sherlock Holmes movies, might they go back to RDJ (who wouldn't be perfect for the role but would be as good as Cruise, IMHO) or has he already too many franchises to juggle?

 

[Christopher]

Re: Guy Ritchie To Direct 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Starring Tom Cruis

^Clooney's only four years older than Downey. They're both more than two decades older than Hammer. So shouldn't they both be about equally eligible/ineligible?

 

[Captaindemotion]

Re: Guy Ritchie To Direct 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Starring Tom Cruis

^I think it's George's grey hair (which to his credit, he rarely dyes). Makes him look older, more distinguished. Downey looks kinda lived-in but has a boyish quality to him.

Anyway, I'm more thinking in terms of the sort of actors the studio might be looking at than my own preferences. There aren't too many actors out there who can topline a franchise and would suit this role. Christian Bale is too intense but Jake Gylenhall might fit the bill - though Prince of Persia would suggest he's not that big a draw. James Franco maybe? Both Oz The Great and Powerful and his Planet of the Apes movie put bums on seats, even if he wasn't necessarily the big draw there.

If they wanted someone of Cruise's mettle, the safest option might be to go colour-blind and cast Will Smith (I don't think the show has a big enough following to result in the internet meltdown that often accompanies such casting).

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Re: Guy Ritchie To Direct 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Starring Tom Cruis

I wouldn't be surprised if they postpone production. Most of the big names will already have their dance card full for shooting in the fall.