The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: original series & films

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  • doubleoegodoubleoego #LightWork
    Posts: 11,139
    Yes, THRUSH, that nasty, international band of renegades.
  • Posts: 3,333
    It looks like @delfloria and @AlexanderWaverly have restored my faith in this movie. So it sounds like it has "dry humour" which is exactly the kind of humour I like. Thanks, Cavill for correcting the monosyllabic Hammer on this. :)
  • doubleoego wrote:
    Yes, THRUSH, that nasty, international band of renegades.

    "Let's see how nasty they're going to be tonight, hmmm?"

    (By coincidence, rewatched that episode last night.)
  • Posts: 1,860
    Henry Cavill to Film Man From U.N.C.L.E. in Rome Next Month

    According to an article on Armie Hammer inCiak Magazine (Italy's leading movie magazine), the Man from U.N.C.L.E. movie will be filming in Rome next month.
    Henry Cavill is slated to play the lead role of American agent, Napoleon Solo, and Armie Hammer will be his co-star as Soviet agent, Ilya Kuryakin. The film is directed by Guy Ritchie. Ciak Magazine also directly confirmed to us that this exciting filming news came to them from their Los Angeles correspondent Marco Giovannini.


    The info is correct except they don't start production until Sept.

  • Posts: 802
    timmer wrote:
    He looks like a good fit for Illya.
    ArmieHammer.jpg
    I am still trying to come to terms with Cruise as Solo though. But Cruise does manage to surprise. eg he pulled off Anne Rice's Lestat, in Interview With the Vampire, despite Rice envisioning someone like a young Rutger Hauer.
    He's also pulled off Ethan Hunt and Jack Reacher, so who knows. At least Cruise's presence guarantees big budget and marketing campaign.
    Cruise I think has regained his former status as world's biggest box-office star, or close to it.

    @timmer it's a sacrilege to say that this sofa jumping loon 'pulled off' Reacher.
    His performance was laugh out loud funny and had zero credibility. He should stick to 'Oprah' and leave this stuff to the real men.

  • Posts: 1,860

    The latest:

    A very British affair
    By Giles Hardie July 12, 2013, 3 a.m.
    British invasion

    The Man from U.N.C.L.E. movie should be as American as apple pie and, with Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney and Tom Cruise all attached at various points, it was.

    Now, the adaptation of the 1960s US TV show is looking decidedly British, with Guy Ritchie directing and Henry Cavill playing Napoleon Solo to Armie Hammer's Illya Kuryakin.

    Surely you can't get more American than the stars of Man of Steel and The Long Ranger right? Wrong. Cavill's actually a Brit from Jersey, and while Hammer is American, he was raised in another British isle, the Cayman Islands.

    ''We got a lot of BBC and British entertainment down there, Blackadder and all that stuff,'' Hammer says. ''I grew up on it.''

    The actor has learnt to laugh about work on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. remake, because the project has seen him swapping partners like socks: ''As soon as I say Henry Cavill it'll be someone else.''

    Cavill is committed though, looking forward to a change of pace from Man of Steel, particularly with the girls.

    ''Absolutely. Keep in mind the characters are so vastly different,'' he says.

    ''Napoleon Solo, he's a charmer, where Superman is the exact opposite - he's charming by nature but he's not someone who goes out there to charm people or women.''
  • Posts: 1,860
    [img][/img]Armie-HammerIllyaposter_zps018e3259.jpg

    A bit of art to go with the article above.
  • doubleoegodoubleoego #LightWork
    Posts: 11,139
    Nice. Looks similar to McCallum
  • Posts: 1,860
    Latest update:

    Henry Cavill Proves Once Again What A Gentleman He Really Is
    In the past Henry has always been very cordial with TMZ. But the last few times he's passed through LAX, TMZ has been really pushing it. That was the case yesterday, as Henry flew out of L.A. (we're guessing on his way to London to begin preparing for The Man from U.N.C.L.E.). While TMZ tried to get him to say something scandalous or just plain silly, Henry maintained his decorum. Always the nice guy. Respect.


  • Posts: 1,860
    More:

    Rose Byrne is the latest to (maybe) join a big screen musical adaptation, with Variety reporting she is in early talks to take the role of Grace in Will Gluck’s adaptation of the classic orphan tale “Annie.” She is also up for a role in “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” but budget cuts on that film could delay or cancel that deal altogether.

    It’s unclear which role Byrne is up for in Guy Ritchie’s new take on 1960s comedic spy series “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” but she would be joining a cast that already includes Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer andAlicia Vikander. Though with the budget being cut, it’s unclear where the film now stands, with or without Byrne. It has been a particularly rocky road even predating the current filmmakers’ involvement, after all.

    From wdwpro.com by Linda Ge.
  • Posts: 1,860
    There will be a new UNCLE interview with Cavill out later this week.
  • Posts: 1,860
    [img][/img]004_zps13797b89.jpg


    Hammer could have the right stuff as well as Cavill.
  • Posts: 3,333
    Budget cuts? I'm trying to find another source to these alleged budget cuts on TMFU but haven't found any. It's quite possible that due to most of this year's tent-pole movies having bombed, or in the process of bombing, that WB feel it necessary to trim back on over expenditure but I can't see the movie being cancelled after getting the green light. After all it's an espionage franchise with Bond and MI being extremely successful so WB would be foolish to halt proceedings at this late stage.
  • Posts: 802
    Loved TMFU back in the day. The casting looks good and I'm excited that Guy Ritchie is directing. He did a great job with Sherlock.
    Personally, I hope he makes it a period piece — then we could keep all of the gismos that were such an integral part of things.
  • Villiers53 wrote:
    Loved TMFU back in the day. The casting looks good and I'm excited that Guy Ritchie is directing. He did a great job with Sherlock.
    Personally, I hope he makes it a period piece — then we could keep all of the gismos that were such an integral part of things.

    That's apparently the case, based on some of the comments Henry Cavill has made in interviews.

  • Posts: 1,860
    It is set in the sixties and is a straight forward spy thriller with a touch of humor. Much like the early Bonds. Two super spies from opposing countries up against an international terrorist organization. What's not to like.

    The latest:

    Sherlock Holme's Production Designer Oliver Scholl has joined UNCLE.


  • I'll be glad when filming starts.

    There's a lot of fragmentary information out there, some people re acting harshly when there's not a lot to react to yet. Yes, we know about the leads. There are some hard-core fans who don't want any kind of new version and jump on each fragment that emerges.

    I don't know if it'll be good or not. But I'm tired of the debate. At this point, I just want to see something.

    Anyway, thanks to Delfloria for his updates.

  • Meanwhile, if the movie does turn out to be good, it'd be great to attract some new fans. Henry Cavill certainly has a following. That could be a start.
  • doubleoegodoubleoego #LightWork
    Posts: 11,139
    I can't understand why any fan at least of the first series anyway will be do opposed to an UNCLE movie at all, especially if its a period piece. I for one have extremely high hopes for this.
  • doubleoego wrote:
    I can't understand why any fan at least of the first series anyway will be do opposed to an UNCLE movie at all, especially if its a period piece. I for one have extremely high hopes for this.

    The argument (which I don't share) is basically nobody other than Robert Vaughn and David McCallum should ever play the roles, that any new U.N.C.L.E. won't be a pure vision of the show, U.N.C.L.E. should never be touched.

  • Posts: 1,860
    Those fans don't get the fact that without reinventing a property, like 007 or Star Trek, it will simply cease to exist in the publics mind. Especially as the old fans die off. I guess they just don't want to share "their" show.

    BTW those same fans usually complain about the "Return of UNCLE" TV movie which starred the original cast as not being up to snuff either.
  • delfloria wrote:
    Those fans don't get the fact that without reinventing a property, like 007 or Star Trek, it will simply cease to exist in the publics mind. Especially as the old fans die off. I guess they just don't want to share "their" show.

    BTW those same fans usually complain about the "Return of UNCLE" TV movie which starred the original cast as not being up to snuff either.

    A less-severe argument goes like this: It would have been OK had they done a "next generation" approach with new agents, but nobody else should play Solo or Kuryakin."

    You could have done that late '80s-early '90s (Sam Rolfe was trying to get a cable series going with that approach at the time he died in '93). Speaking only for myself, I wasn't especially interested in that idea. I wanted to see Solo and Kuryakin, not agents X and Y.



  • edited July 2013 Posts: 4,622
    Yes, I am happy to see Solo and Kuryakin recast. In fact I am not even fussy about a period pierce. I'd be happy with the Bond approach, ie cast them in the present time.
    I am just hoping though that they stick with the persona as established by Vaughn and McCallum, much the way I wish post-Lazenby Bond actors had been cast and coached with the Connery persona in mind. And I do have reason to believe that this is what they will do.
    But the fact that Connery was preceded by Fleming's book-Bond, gave the successors, Dalton, Craig etc, latitude to go back to source and re-envision the character based on a fresh Fleming interpretation. Yawn.Connery and Young nailed it. Connery's Bond should have been the permanent Bond screen-template IMO
    Uncle isn't "burdened" by having any literary roots though. Vaughn and McCallum are the original source material.
    Hank and Armie, just give us your best Vaughn and McCallum impersonations. Thank you.
    And memo to future Bonds. Please give us your best Connery impression.
    This approach has worked for the new Star Trek crew. It's a good thing.
  • edited July 2013 Posts: 172
    timmer wrote:
    The genre is '60s spyfy as pioneered by Bond, and also echoed by the Avengers (John Steed, Emma Peel Avengers, not Marvel's caped heroes)
    Napoleon Solo is very much a Bond derivative.
    Uncle is smart, classy, stylish, campy, witty and edgy, but very importantly with a palpable danger/suspense vibe when done right.
    Think the best of Bond vs Spectre, or Bond vs Goldfinger.

    this movies basically James Bond for television, and this movie could be a good potential franchise,but i want to ask you fellow member who fans of the original series when this film came out if you said this show was good and got big hyped like James Bond franchise, then how come this series only last 4 season??

  • Posts: 3,333
    You could level the same argument at Star Trek: The Original Series which got cancelled after only 3 Seasons, @chuck007.

    From memory it had more to do with the whole espionage thing having been played out and waning towards the end of the Sixties. Also, it didn't help matters that the series adopted the campy Batman approach in later seasons, a trait mirrored in other Sixties dramatic shows that followed the same template in pursuit of TV ratings only to be axed a short while afterwards.
  • Posts: 172
    bondsum wrote:
    You could level the same argument at Star Trek: The Original Series which got cancelled after only 3 Seasons, @chuck007.

    From memory it had more to do with the whole espionage thing having been played out and waning towards the end of the Sixties. Also, it didn't help matters that the series adopted the campy Batman approach in later seasons, a trait mirrored in other Sixties dramatic shows that followed the same template in pursuit of TV ratings only to be axed a short while afterwards.

    Then the producer of the upcoming movie must work extra hard to promote this film to wide younger audiences, because the original TMFU not resounding enough to younger audiences IMHO. Star trek in the other hand, has more influence on popular culture until now (and has 5 spin-off),Star trek doesn't need to promote it extra hard because the show has many cult followers and has wide range of demographic audiences. i don't think TMFU has many cult followers like Star Trek. ( I'm a fan of Star Trek TNG btw :) )
  • edited July 2013 Posts: 3,333
    I'm sure the promotion will be strong when the time comes. After all, you only have to look at the launch of Mission Impossible, another movie franchise based on a 60's TV series, to know that they can reach a new audience if it's done right. If the movie is good then in all likelihood it will be successful, if it's poor then I expect the BO takings to be the same. The only reason I gave Star Trek as an example was the way you linked its cancellation as a measure of its lack of popularity, when in fact TMFU lasted many more years than Trek and the shows were successfully released as feature films at cinemas across Europe. The only reason that Trek got picked up again was due to Star Wars creating a sci-fi boom in the late 70's and the studios not having anything in development. Sadly there was no spy renaissance until Brosnan came along and breathed new life into it, which was why we got Mission Impossible, Spy Kids, Bourne, Salt and countless others.
  • Posts: 172
    bondsum wrote:
    I'm sure the promotion will be strong when the time comes. After all, you only have to look at the launch of Mission Impossible, another movie franchise based on a 60's TV series, to know that they can reach a new audience if it's done right.

    Mission Impossible more iconic than The man from uncle (if we compare tv series), at least in my country people know more about Mission Impossible characters than TMFU, hope the producers of current project know what to do, if not its just like another Planet of the apes IMO.
  • Posts: 3,333
    Really? More iconic? What country are you from @chuck007?
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    @chuck007 is from Indonesia.
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