Guy Ritchie to Direct ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’

We recently learned that slowly retiring director Steven Soderbergh had left The Man From U.N.C.L.E. because of casting and budgetary issues. Now, Warner Bros. has tapped another of its favorite directors for job, Sherlock Holmes helmer Guy Ritchie,

Deadline has it that the studio wants Ritchie to direct and writer Lionel Wigram (Sherlock Holmes) to work on the project. Wigram was also a producer of the "Harry Potter" series, so both have brought great success to Warner Bros. in the past. But Ritchie could end up being pulled toward a third “Holmes” movie and always seems to be connected to some new project. 

Soderbergh had been working on his adaptation of the classic TV sereis with his Contagion writer Scott Z. Burns, but casting troubles had slowed the process down as George Clooney left and everyone from Bradley Cooper to Channing Tatum to Matt Damon passed as well. Soderbergh is now working on The Bitter Pill, a thriller being produced by Summit Entertainment.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was a popular action/adventure series in the '60s about an intelligence spy organization featuring American Napoleon Solo and Russian Illya Kuryakin tackling the threat of T.H.R.U.S.H.