Max Borenstein (Swordswallowers and Thin Men) has landed the gig to write the adaptation of 1960s spy show The Man From U.N.C.L.E., says THR.com. Running from 1964-68 on NBC, the TV series
featured the espionage adventures of Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin,
agents of United Network Command for Law Enforcement (U.N.C.L.E.), who
fight the forces of T.H.R.U.S.H. (Technological Hierarchy for the
Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity). The show was produced by MGM Television and starred Robert Vaughn and David McCallum.
Borenstein has previously worked on such projects as History on Trial and JIMI, a biopic of Jimi Hendrix. The latter of those is on the Black List, so the guy apparently has chops; but I’m wondering if there’ll be an audience for U.N.C.L.E. This remake, which has been in development for years, seems to have missed the window for this type of adaptation by about a decade. In the late ’90s and early 2000s, we had remakes of The Avengers, I, Spy, The Saint and Wild Wild West and we know how most of those went. The recent Get Smart had mixed reviews, although a sequel is pending. So we’ll see. David Dobkin is directing and John Davis and Jeff Kleeman are producing.