For those who have movie trivia at their fingertips, they’ll likely remember that at one point, Tom Cruise was attached to star in Guy Ritchie‘s “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,” but it didn’t pan out. And while the movie wound up being made with two actors who are yet to reach that kind of A-list status, the filmmaker reveals that when he was first gearing up the project, he had another big name he wanted to play Napoleon Solo in the movie.
“My original idea for Napoleon Solo was…Brad Pitt was who I wanted actually,” Ritchie told Happy Sad Confused. “I wanted him to play the older role, and I wanted the Russian to play the younger role, so there was going to be an age disparity there as well. And then Pitt told me to piss off, and Tom didn’t, so then I had Tom. And then needless to say, ‘Mission: Impossible[—Rogue Nation]’ interfered with the process, so he was occupying too much of the same space so that fell apart.”
So, what was the solution? Well, Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer were already reading for the role of Illya, so Ritchie decided to put the Man Of Steel in the role of Napoleon, give Hammer the Russian part, and the movie was made. Easy, breezy. But not so simple at the moment is coming up with an idea for “Sherlock Holmes 3” that everybody likes. While Jude Law has kindly pitched a time travel concept for the third installment, Ritchie is very polite about his non-excitement for the idea.
“Jude actually had very good ideas all the way through the process, and my experience is that most actors do. Most actors are creative and they have ideas, and by no means am I the custodian of creative ideas. I cobble them together, so it turns into some kind of film. But the more people that chip in, the happier I am. And Jude always had good ideas, surprisingly good, and came up with good lines too. But the time travel one was not the zenith of his ideas,” the director said.
READ MORE: Watch: 8 Minutes Of Stylish Footage From Guy Ritchie’s ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’
Next on Ritchie’s plate is “King Arthur,” which he’s quite excited about, but what ever happened to “Sgt. Rock” and “Lobo“? Well, the former fell apart apparently due to administrative/rights issues, though Ritchie says he would’ve made a good movie out of the material. As for the latter, it wasn’t his cup of tea, and he’s a bit glad it was taken off the table.
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