A few weeks ago, George Clooney decided to drop out of his buddy Steven Soderbergh’s upcoming spy film, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., leading some to speculate on the project’s status. While they haven’t yet found a replacement for Clooney’s part, American spy Napoleon Solo, a short list of actors has surfaced for the part of younger Russian spy Ilya Kuryakin, an agent who teams up with Solo to defeat T.H.R.U.S.H. (Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity ). Apparently, studio execs have 20 potential candidates including Ryan Gosling, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Alexander Skarsgard. With those names in play, the production should have no trouble picking a worthy actor for the part. Adapted from the ’60s TV show, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is described as a buddy film filled with action and comedy in the vein of Lethal Weapon.

Soderbergh has once again teamed with screenwriter Scott Z. Burns (The Informant!, Contagion), who has a finished script and promises the film will keep its original ’60s setting. Right now, the scheduled start for shooting is still spring 2012, provided casting choices are taken care of. I’m looking forward to Soderbergh getting back to more of his Ocean’s Eleven mode with lighter material and I’m also curious to see what he brings to a buddy action-comedy. Regardless of who’s chosen, the chemistry between the leads has to work in order for the movie to have any kind of success. With that in mind, who would you like to see team up as the leads for The Man from U.N.C.L.E.?