With George Clooney crying uncle, Bradley Cooper may become the "Man From U.N.C.L.E."
Clooney last month had to pull out of the upcoming, Steven Soderbergh-directed revival of the seminal 60s TV and film spy franchise, citing lingering back issues that made him unable to pull off the action and stunts that would be required in the role of Napoleon Solo. Variety reports that after a high profile hunt for a man who could step into Robert Vaughn's original shoes, Warner Bros. has put the offer out to Cooper.
The star certainly has helped make Warners a bit of money with their "Hangover" franchise. He also proved his action mettle in this spring's "Limitless," in which he played a man with enhanced mental prowess, on the run from a mobster. Cooper also just finished work on "The Place Beyond The Pines," in which he plays a cop (in pursuit of Ryan Gosling), and after filming "The Silver Linings Playbook," he'll film the motion capture adaptation of "Paradise Lost," in which he'll play Lucifer.
Soderbergh, meanwhile, is putting the finishing touches on his male stripper film, "Magic Mike," and will this summer shoot the long planned Liberace biopic with Michael Douglas and Matt Damon.
Vaughn starred in "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." for four seasons, between 1964-1968; some of the episodes were expanded and/or combined and put out in theaters. U.N.C.L.E. is an acronym for United Network Command for Law and Enforcement, which was an organization that worked across Cold War boundaries to fight T.H.R.U.S.H., or Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity. David McCallum starred as Illya Kuryakin, Solo's partner in crime fighting.
For more, click over to Variety.