Although The Man from U.N.C.L.E. didn’t deliver any extraordinary performance, Guy Ritchie believes the movie would have done well if only it went to his initial choice of actor. The director believes the decent reviews and the 67% RT rating would have skyrocketed if Brad Pitt would have accepted the role.
Sitting for a podcast interview, Guy Ritchie mentioned how he initially chose Brad Pitt to cast as Napoleon Solo. However, after Pitt rejected the role, it went to Tom Cruise, although the actor’s busy schedule restrained him from appearing as star power in the movie. Thus, witnessing the unrecoverable damage faced by The Man from U.N.C.L.E., makes us wonder if the star power would have helped the film’s case.
Brad Pitt Was Guy Ritchie’s Initial Choice
Guy Ritchie’s 2015 spy thriller The Man from U.N.C.L.E. happen to be one of his lesser-known projects that made $107M at the box office. Earning decent reviews and a 67% RT rating, the movie became a forgotten project and was never recovered. Many, including the director, believe a star power could have saved the film from its detriment. Evidently, Ritchie initially chose Brad Pitt as a star cast for the film.
Sitting for an interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Guy Ritchie mentioned choosing Brad Pitt for the role of Napoleon Solo. Gearing up the project, Ritchie initially reached out to Pitt, however when he refused, the role went to Tom Cruise. “My original idea for Napoleon Solo was…Brad Pitt was who I wanted actually,” the director mentioned.
“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 p*ss off, and Tom didn’t, so then I had Tom.”
Without providing a particular time frame of the events, Ritchie simply confirmed that Tom Cruise was indeed considered to play Napoleon Solo. Although Pitt’s reason for refusing the role is unknown, many assume it had something to do with Cruise.
Henry Cavill Appeared In The $107M Thriller
When Brad Pitt refused the role of Napoleon Solo in The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Guy Ritchie next contacted Tom Cruise for the part. Although Cruise wasn’t the first choice for the film, he was more than glad to work with Ritchie. However, eventually, the actor got involved in Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation, and opted to concentrate on the $688.9M action thriller.
“And then needless to say, ‘Mission: Impossible[—Rogue Nation]’ interfered with the process, so [Tom Cruise] was occupying too much of the same space so that fell apart.” Guy Ritchie mentioned.
Thus, the call for a solution went to Henry Cavill who appeared in the $107M movie, alongside Armie Hammer. Although Cavill was initially considered to play Kuryakin, the director felt he didn’t look right with blonde hair. Ritchie mentioned how the duo read their lines, and thereafter were put to their individual parts in the movie.
Now, we are simply left to wonder how different The Man from U.N.C.L.E. would have been with Brad Pitt playing Napoleon Solo. Although Henry Cavill indefinitely charmed audiences with his performance in the movie, Hollywood’s A-listers Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise would have been better eye candy for the viewers.
Watch The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video.
Source: Happy Sad Confused
