After falling victim to clashing schedules and possibly spy-saturation with Tom Cruise, Warner Bros. and director Guy Ritchie have acted quickly to lock in someone else for The Man From U.N.C.L.E. The studio has turned to a face that promises to be very prominent in its future: Man Of Stee****l’s Henry Cavill.
Cavill is now in talks to star in the film, which already features Armie Hammer and Alicia Vikander.
If he locks in a deal, Cavill and Hammer (which sounds to us like a small-town solicitors’ firm or possibly a pair of mismatched cops) would be Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin, the two top agents of the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement, who fight evil in the form of… Look, you know what? We’re done with the THRUSH jokes. We’ve scratched that itch.
According to Variety, Cavill actually took a meeting about the role Hammer landed when Cruise was still attached, so this might just be a belated case of the stars aligning.
Ritchie is developing the film and looking to get shooting in the autumn. The studio will be hoping for more luck this time out after a torturous previous attempt to get the project on screen, suffering through cast changes and director switches.
For more on Cavill and** Man Of Steel**, this is your last chance to check out the current Empire, which features both. It’s only in shops for a couple more days, though it will still be available via the iPad.