THE MAN OF U.N.C.L.E. (Cast News)

• THE MAN OF U.N.C.L.E.

Henry Cavill

Last week saw the announcement that actor Tom Cruise was bowing out of the upcoming reboot of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in favor of focusing on Mission: Impossible 5, which he will produce and star in. Now Variety is reporting that Man of Steel star Henry Cavill is in talks to take on the role of Napoleon Solo.

Should he sign on, Cavill will join Armie Hammer and Alicia Vikander in the project. Guy Richie will direct the film from a script by Scott Z. Burns and Max Borenstein.

In a previous interview with ComingSoon.net, screenwriter Scott Z. Burns talked about setting the film in the 1960's.

"I thought it would be really fun to go back and look at spycraft in the Cold War and what you could and couldn't do," he said. "When you think about the world in the 1960's just in terms of cars and fashion and the aesthetic, to be able to go and shoot that world with today's cameras and today's technology, I think we could do some really cool stuff. Then also, the thing that was so cool about 'U.N.C.L.E.' that people don't realize--and this is why I like it more than 'Mission: Impossible'--the initial conceit of 'U.N.C.L.E.' was amazing. It was really about an organization that didn't have an affiliation with a country and Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin were guys who should've been sworn enemies. One was Russian and one was American and they worked together. In that way, it was a really incredibly progressive, hopeful kind of show."