Set in 1963, two agents, Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin, who have nothing in common and despise each other must work together for an assignment.
Blaine: After Guy Ritchie had finished “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”, he was trying to figure out what his next project was going to be and Warner Bros. had suggested he do “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”. Guy Ritchie was familiar with “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” because he had watched the 1960s series in his youth and he remembered how entertaining it was to watch. Doing a spy movie was something that Guy Ritchie was not interested in doing, but “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” was more about two men who are completely different from each other and are from different countries. They start off hating each other and it pisses them off that they have to work together. That was something Guy Ritchie was interested in doing. A script had already been developed by another screenwriter and Guy Ritchie thought a lot of work needed to be put into it because it was awful to him. So Guy developed a new script with Lionel Wigram, who was one of the screenwriters on “Sherlock Holmes”. They wanted “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” to be traditional to the TV series.
Guy Ritchie and Lionel Wigram wanted the two main characters’ personalities to be different compared to their TV versions. Napoleon and Illya’s personalities are different from each other and they can’t stand each other at first, but they do have something in common. They both were forced into becoming spies. Napoleon was a soldier, then went into black marketing and got caught after a jealous mistress ratted him out. The CIA offered a jail free card by him working for them and becoming a spy. The years he could have served in prison are being used to repay the CIA. And then Illya, his family was sent to the Gulag (labor camp) and he got out because of his physicality. He was offered to join the KGB or go to the Gulag.
Tom Cruise was in mind for the role of Napoleon, but that didn’t happen. When Henry Cavill went in to audition for the film, he was trying to go for the part of Illya, the Russian spy, but Guy saw Henry more as Napoleon.
Henry wanted to make Napoleon his own character and it wasn’t till he tried on the costumes that he knew what type of personality Napoleon should have. “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” was going to be a movie with a lot of stunt work and Henry was up for it, although he didn’t like doing the under water sequence. Napoleon is good with his hands when it comes to stealing. He can take valuable items, like a diamond neckless, off someone without them noticing.
Henry Cavill had shown his buff chest a lot when he played Superman, but his chest gets covered up a lot in “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” by a suit, a black disguise and a robe. Sorry ladies.
Armie Hammer was told by his agent that he was being offered to be in Guy Ritchie’s next film and Armie was all for that, but it didn’t sound so great after he learned what it required, like the stunt work and using a Russian accent. Armie felt it was a job he could not take on. Also, Armie never heard of “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” before. But after reading the script, Armie thought the project sounded like it could be fun. Although Armie was still scared of a few things. After Armie got hired, he got his hands on DVD copies of the show just to get an education. A dialect coach was assigned to help Armie learn how to speak in a Russian accent. Armie got use to the accent the more he practiced and he could feel the character through it. Armie is really good at riding motorcycles and it was easy to handle when he did his own motorcycle stunts. Illya is full of stress inside and if you don’t want to mess with him because he’ll put serious injuries if you do. He’s like a balloon, if you fill it up with too much air it’ll explode.
While taking a break after shooting a take, Guy Ritchie would practice playing the guitar on set. Guy is someone who likes to do things even when he is not working. Armie Hammer knew how to play and he would give Guy lessons while they were taking a break from shooting. Guy even wrote poetry.
“The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” has a lot of style from the 1960s to it and that was very important. While they were shooting in Rome, they had to clear the streets, block them and replace everything with cars from the 1960s and extras wearing 60s clothes. They really did a good job transforming everything into the 60s again. Italy had to look warm and gold and it’s 1960s look was inspired from a movie called “La Dolce Vita”. East Berlin had to have concrete colors and look cold. Everywhere the actors looked it was the 60s and that’s because Guy Ritchie wanted to create an environment that was real enough for him to believe it was the 60s.
Alicia Vikander would always look through photographs of her parents back in the 60s and the 60s looked so cool to her that she wished she could travel back in time and visit that period. Alicia got to have the experience being in the 60s when she got to be apart of “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”. Everyone who worked on “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” loved the style of the 1960s. Elizabeth Debicki thought of the 60s as a fun period.
Alicia Vikander’s character, Gaby, acts like she doesn’t want to participate in this undercover assignment and she is unhappy with it. Gaby is involved with this mission because her father, who she has not seen in forever, may be involved with Victoria, the villain of the movie. Gaby is mysterious and you don’t know who’s side she is on. Gaby doesn’t like going undercover and trying on nice clothes. She’s more into cars than nice dresses because she’s a mechanic. In real life, Alicia Vikander loved trying out these stylish outfits. The first thing Alicia did after she was hired was meet with the costume designer to talk about the costumes.
Like Henry Cavill, Alicia Vikander found her character while trying on costumes. Victoria had to look like a girl with style and be like a viper. Elizabeth Debicki, who plays Victoria, collaborated with the costume designer, Joanna Johnston, on designing the clothes she would wear in the film. Elizabeth and Joanna would watch movies from the 60s just to look at the costumes and take bits of the costumes that they liked the most and mix them up with their own costumes. Elizabeth did some sketches of her own. Elizabeth had a wonderful time in designing clothes with Joanna Johnston. She felt like she was in a candy shop.
Guy Ritchie is good at creating action sequences. Several of his movies have it, but it’s always a challenge for Guy to create a new action sequence. At the beginning of “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” there is a car chase scene through Berlin. Illya is after Solo and Gaby. The vehicles were specially built for this film because they had to do a lot of tricks. The stunt driver would do all the driving on top of the vehicle through this cage that was attached to the top. The stunt driver would control the car while Alicia Vikander was pretending to drive on the bottom. Alicia wouldn’t be able to see through the front mirror because the camera was right in front shooting her. Alicia Vikander had never done stunt work before “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” and she had a lot of fun doing the car chase scene. Guy and others would ask Alicia if she was alright after shooting a take, but she was fine. She felt like she was on an amusement park ride. There’s I think is new and fresh is when Napoleon gets drugged and figures it out quickly. He’s calm about it and instead of passing out on the floor he goes over to the coach, lays down and passes out there.
The number one rule of being in a Guy Ritchie film is to have fun while you’re working and he told his actors to have fun.
Working together has changed the way Napoleon and Illya think about each other and they’ve put their differences behind. They were supposed to kill each other in the end, but they are honest with other about their bosses ordering an assassination. They both decide not to and have a drink while watching a beautiful view instead. They even have a new boss, played by Hugh Grant, who treats things more fair. And Gaby gets to reunite with the boys. She just can’t seem to escape them. Guy kept things interesting during the end credits by showing photographs of the three characters on their next mission. It’s also nice to be listening to the song, “Take Care of Business for Me”, while the credits are going. These days directors are giving us a reason to stay through the entire movie, but there’s more to show even when the movie is over. There’s either something during the end credits or after the credits are over.
My rating on “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” is five out of five stars
