The Man From U.N.C.L.E. may be Warner Brothers’ long-gestating adaptation of the famed spy thriller, but that won’t stop the studio from trying to get it produced. Sure Steven Soderberg may have dropped out of the project – after Matthew Vaughn and David Dobkin were attached – but Guy Ritchie would eventually sign on, saving the project from perpetual gestation. Seemed like a nice fit, after all he directed two hit Sherlock Holmes films starring Robert Downey Jr. for the studio.

Now THR has word that Tom Cruise is in talks to take the lead role that was originally played by Robert Vaughn in the 1960s TV version.

When Soderbergh was attached to the project, George Clooney was in talks to star in the film. The two worked together on several projects before U.N.C.L.E., so it seemed like the right choice. Other actors the studio were circling were Channing Tatum, Bradley Cooper, Ryan Gosling, Joel Kinnaman and Michael Fassbender.

So when Ritchie signed on, he also found the casting process to be quite difficult. So difficult that offers to Matt Damon and Ben Affleck didn’t pan out.

However, with Cruise now in negotiations to star, this is as close to an official casting as we are ever going to get.

[Source: THR]