Clooney’s back forced U.N.C.L.E. exit, E Online says

George Clooney was forced to exit a planned Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie because of an old back injury, E Online reported, citing a source it didn’t identify. Here’s an excerpt:

“He said he just can’t do the action and stunt scenes,” revealed an U.N.C.L.E. source who’s familiar with handsome actor’s health situation. “In fact, I think he’s planning on having another operation during the time he would have been filming.”

Clooney’s reps have not returned comment, as yet.

“But George knows this movie is all about action,” continued the U.N.C.L.E. insider, “and he knows he’s just not up to it.”

The back injury goes back to the movie Syriana, the Web site said.

A caveat: the person quoted thinks, which implies he or she isn’t 100 percent certain, that Clooney is planning to have an operation. It’s difficult to determine how much the source actually knows and there’s no description whether the source has direct knowledge of Clooney’s move. The story refers to “the death-defying stunts that have apparently been written into the U.N.C.L.E. script.” That’s an indication that E Online doesn’t actually *know* there are “death-defying stunts” just that they’ve “apparently” been written.

To read the entire post, just CLICK HERE. Clooney’s name had surfaced as playing Napoleon Solo because he’s an old friend of the planned film’s director, Steven Soderbergh.

UPDATE: As you can tell by THIS PHOTO ON PEOPLE.COM, Clooney is clearly in constant physical agony.