In a move sure to worry those of us who sat through the abysmal “The Avengers” and “Thunderbirds” remakes, another attempt is being made to launch a “Man From U.N.C.L.E.” adaptation, this time courtesy of producers John Davis and Jeff Kleeman of Warner Bros. David Dobkin, director of the better-than-it-deserved-to-be “Wedding Crashers,” has long been attached to this film, but with his upcoming work on “The Change-Up” and commitment to comic book adaptation “R.I.P.D.,” this seems unlikely. A relative cinematic newcomer, Max Borenstein, has been hired to pen the work, which speaks more confidently to the finished product. His “life story of rock legend Jimi Hendrix” aka “JIMI” ended up on last year’s Black List. Here’s hoping a little more weight is placed on the screenplay than on the direction.
This, of course, is not the first time that any attempt has been made to adapt the spy double-act TV show of the sixties. “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” has had a somewhat checkered past. The show itself spawned a spin-off in “The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.” and a rather sad TV “return” some 15 years later that couldn’t reignite interest in the series after a lackluster third series. But at its time, it was the height of sixties cool, always riding the fine line between realistic spy drama and science-fiction identity crisis. A lightweight “The Prisoner” crossed with the finest Connery-era Bond, if you will. Another cult TV show that has gone on to influence many of today’s greatest artists — try reading Grant Morrison and Chris Weston’s “The Filth” without thinking about it.
Back in 2005, however, it was being chased to the screen by Warner Bros, who inherited the rights from Turner Broadcasting, for a potential “Mission: Impossible” style treatment. It was looking like a project for the new, hot young bon vivant, Matthew Vaughn, who was then about to strike it lucky with “Layer Cake” and his very own super-spy in waiting, Matthew Craig. Indeed, Craig was tipped as a potential candidate for the role of Napoleon Solo by some (although, with his strawberry blonde locks, he’s much more suitable as Iilya Kuryakin, Solo’s Russian sidekick). The film never happened, sadly, and Vaughn was free to — ahem — kick ass at a later date.
Rather strangely, Vaughn’s decision to make the film was based on his mother’s belief that Robert Vaughn — the original Napoleon Solo of the TV show — was the director’s biological father, as she had been involved in a relationship with him at the time. Sadly, for fans of randomness, it was proven otherwise in the eighties and Matthew Vaughn had to be content with being the son of aristocracy instead. Vaughn was again involved in the film a few years later (after narrowly missing out on both the “Casino Royale” revamp and the third X-Men film) and had John Hodge on tap to write. It again, failed to reach production, but that’s possibly a good thing in the wake of his promises to change all but the title.
The revamp that we definitely missed out on was the Quentin Tarantino version during the ’90s. After “Reservoir Dogs,” he was offered the pic and latched onto the cult favorite as a vehicle for his interests. Sadly — or rather not for cinema’s sake — his PR trail around Europe to publicize Dogs led to him coming up with a different idea for a film, “Pulp Fiction,” and the rest is history. His initial plan for George Clooney as Solo would have been marvelous casting, but we’re not so sure about Tarantino himself taking on the role of Kuryakin. File it in “Interesting Alternate Universe Films We’d Like To See.”
Unfortunately, a modern day “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” would probably eschew any of the spy-cool attire and outlandish plots to become a lackluster comedy in the vein of “Austin Powers” or end up just tossed aside to fill an empty weekend. We can only hope that they don’t “thrush” into production on this one. Sorry. –John D. Fellows