Tom Cruise considering U.N.C.L.E., Deadline says

Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise is considering starring in a movie version of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., ACCORDING TO A STORY ON THE DEADLINE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS WEB SITE.

Here’s an excerpt from the story by Mike Fleming Jr.:

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros may have finally found its The Man From U.N.C.L.E. I’m hearing that early talks with Tom Cruise to star in the film that will be directed by Sherlock Holmes helmer Guy Ritchie….Warner Bros. began quiet talks with Cruise after he completed All You Need Is Kill with director Doug Liman, which must have turned out pretty strong.

Cruise, 50, has starred in four Mission: Impossible films (though not as a character who was part of that 1966-73 television show). The fourth M:I movie, directed by Brad Bird, was arguably the one most faithful to the original. The first, in 1996, made Jim Phelps, hero M:I in the second through seventh seasons, the villain of the movie.

Warner Bros. has the rights to the 1964-68 U.N.C.L.E. show, featuring the exploits of Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn, misspelled in the Deadline story) and Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum). The studio was keen to have Steven Soderbergh direct a movie version but that fall apart in late 2011 AFTER A LONG SOAP OPERA. Warners assigned the project to Guy Ritchie with Soderbergh’s departure.

We’ll see. There has been A LONG HISTORY of unsuccessful attempts to revive U.N.C.L.E. The original series began with meetings in New York between producer Norman Felton and 007 author Ian Fleming in October 1962. Sam Rolfe did the heavy lifting coming up with a script for the pilot. Fleming exited the U.N.C.L.E. project in June 1963, signing away his rights for one British pound.

UPDATE (8:20 P.M.): The Hollywood Reporter HAS ITS OWN VERSION OF THE STORY. But the trade publication takes a more skeptical tone.

Guy Ritchie and his producing partner Lionel Wigram came on in December 2011 but they too had trouble finding their Solo and Kuryakin. Late last year the studio had offers out to Ben Affleck and Matt Damon to play the duo, offers that did not pan out.

Cruise just wrapped the sci-fi action movie All You Need is Kill for Warners, on which the studio is high. Sources have said that if the Cruise casting doesn’t gel, Ritchie will be forced to move on to a new movie project.

John Logan: writing a 007 film like working at MI6

Bond 24 writer John Logan

John Logan, Skyfall co-writer and scribe for Bond 24 and Bond 25, has again provided a few tidbits about Bond 24, and working on the 007 films in general.

The first time was IN A FINANCIAL TIMES FEATURE STORY about a new play of his, Peter and Alice. The BBC on its Web site HAS ALSO DONE A STORY ABOUT THE PLAY.

Once again, Logan has provided a few bits of information — nothing that revealing (thus, no need to worry about spoilers), but interesting.

Here’s an excerpt:

Unsurprisingly, he is thrilled by the critical and box office success of Skyfall. “I’m really proud of the movie. I love Skyfall and I love Bond and that’s why I’m doing the next two. I’ve done a lot of big movies but I’ve never done one where everyone cared so much.”

And he deflects enquiries about the progress of Bonds 24 and 25 with practised ease.

“It’s coming together very well, I’m very pleased with where it is. [Producer] Barbara Broccoli once said when you work on a Bond movie it’s like you belong to MI6.”

Those comments aren’t terribly surprising. But Logan told the BBC that there are security measures involved, including use of a paper shredder.

“I thought she was joking but I quickly realised when I had to shred drafts that it really is.”

It might not be an exaggeration. We’ve heard from at least one Bond collector who searches out drafts of 007 scripts that you can’t find one for 2008’s Quantum of Solace, much less 2012’s Skyfall. (For a 2011 HMSS article about drafts of scripts from earlier movies, including 2006’s Casino Royale, CLICK HERE.)

You can read the entire BBC BY CLICKING HERE. If you missed the earlier Financial Times story, you can read it BY CLICKING HERE.

MGM watch: Skyfall helps make studio profitable

Skyfall’s poster image

MGM Holdings Inc., parent company of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, said it turned a profit for 2012, much of it on the strength of Skyfall, the 23rd James Bond film, and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

MGM’s profit totaled $129 million for the year on revenue of $1.38 billion. the company said in had an adjusted profit (i.e. what the profit would have been if it didn’t have to pay taxes, interest and other costs) of $286 million, according to a company statement. That measure, known as EBITDA (or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), is used by some investors as a way to gauge a company’s financial performance.

MGM said it was the first studio to have back-to-back films with $1 billion or more in ticket sales each. The company had a $40.2 million profit for the year’s fourth quarter (a period that included the releases of Skyfall and The Hobbit), and $147.7 million EBITDA. That compares with an $11 million loss (and $19.4 million EBITDA profit) for 2011’s fourth quarter.

Fourth-quarter revenue totaled $902.6 million. or 65 percent of the revenue MGM had for the entire year.

MGM co-financed both of its hit movies, Skyfall with Sony Pictures and The Hobbit with Time Warner’s Warner Bros. Skyfall also involved splitting the take with Eon Productions, which produces the 007 films.

MGM went through bankruptcy in 2010, which resulted in the current executive team led by CEO Gary Barber being installed.