Soderbergh Exits U.N.C.L.E.

Steven Soderbergh has reportedly exited the long-gestating big screen version of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. due to its protracted battle over who should star in the TV-to-film adaptation.

According to The Playlist, actors eyed for the lead roles included Matt Damon, Johnny Depp, Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Channing Tatum, Joel Edgerton and Michael Fassbender, but Warner Bros. could never settle on who they wanted to star as secret agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin.

Depp was interested in the Ilya role when it looked like The Lone Ranger was getting shelved, while Damon is said to have liked the script but wanted to focus on his directing debut instead.

"When Soderbergh presented his top two choices – Michael Fassbender and The Killing star Joel Kinnaman – the studio were both positive and yet cold on the actors, only to hire them both for two other WB projects – Londongrad and Arthur & Lancelot – months later (which reportedly never sat well the filmmaker either)," according to The Playlist.

Soderbergh is now said to be looking at filming something else come March 2012 when U.N.C.L.E. was supposed to shoot. He wanted to make the film as a '60s period piece, but now Warners may go back to the drawing board and re-conceive the project unless another filmmaker steps in to direct in time to meet the spring start date.

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