Deadline says U.N.C.L.E. movie starts filming in February

Director Steven Soderbergh, who intends to retire from directing by age 50, gave an interview to the Deadline entertainment-news Web site. Deadline’s Mike Fleming, who conducted the interview writes Soderberg will start his movie based on The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in February 2012.

Here’s the schedule that Fleming lays out for Soderbergh’s remaining films:

Soderbergh said he’ll start work in September on Magic Mike, the film that will star Channing Tatum and Alex Pettyfer as male strippers in a coming-of-age story reminiscent of Saturday Night Fever. He’ll follow by directing George Clooney in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in February. After that, Liberace with Michael Douglas and Damon will likely be Soderbergh’s swan song.

There’s no real mention of U.N.C.L.E. beyond that. A blog that’s part of New York magazine’s Web site disclosed in April that Soderberg’s TV and movie watching list included almost every first-season Man From U.N.C.L.E. episode. Still, Warner Bros, which controls the original series, has been mum. So we’ll see what happens.