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Steven Soderbergh Leaves ‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’

Steven Soderbergh is a very busy man and a man on a mission. So much so that he has left Warner Brothers’ film adaptation of the 60s TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., a project Soderbergh has been working on, with his Contagion writer Scott Z. Burns, since 2010.

Playlist has reported Soderbergh has left the project over budgetary and casting concerns. George Clooney was originally set to star, but had to pull out because of a back injury, and other actors such as Michael Fassbender, Joel Kinnaman (The Killing), Johnny Depp, Matt Damon and Channing Tatumhave been linked to the movie. But there was no casting conformation and Soderbergh clashed with Warner Brothers executives, who wanted a younger star.

Warner Brothers was also only coughing up $60 million for the budget, a small sum for a movie that is meant to be 60s spy caper set across four continents and is meant to be the start of a three movie tent-pole series. It is even more surprising, because Contagion was a hit, making $127 million so far.

Soderbergh is planning to start filming another movie in March 2012 and thought it was best to leave the project now, before there is a clash. There is no word yet about the future of the project.

Soderbergh’s next movies are the action-thriller Haywire and male stripper movie Magic Mike, both set to be released in January and June 2012 respectively.

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