After a casting search that included Matt Damon, Johnny Depp and George Clooney – who all passed on the role – Hangover star Bradley Cooper is director Steven Soderbergh’s choice to star in the spy movie based on the 1960s television series, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., reports Variety.
The Oscar-winning director (Traffic, Erin Brockovich) is also the man behind the Oceans series of films starring Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and George Clooney.
Ryan Gosling, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Alexander Skarsgård were also reportedly in the running for the role, but Cooper has been offered the role of Napoleon Solo, and will mostly likely jump at the opportunity to work with Soderbergh.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. followed the exploits of two secret agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin, originally played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum respectively, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement agency called U.N.C.L.E., an acronym for the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement.
Filming will begin next spring. In the meantime, Cooper is awaiting release dates for two films. The Words is a drama thriller costarring Olivia Wilde and Zoe Saldana, and The Place Beyond the Pines is a drama starring Ryan Gosling.