Bradley Cooper Offered Soderbergh's THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

From George Clooney to Bradley Cooper? It could be happening, with word coming from Variety that Cooper has been offered the lead role in Steven Soderbergh's upcoming The Man From U.N.C.L.E. - a role initially meant for Clooney.

The immediate urge here is to gripe about this being a downgrade but then the voice of reason kicks in ... Cooper is a genuinely talented actor clearly looking to shake - or at least stretch - his image with recent choices. And Soderbergh ... well, Soderbergh has a long and well established history of re-inventing his actors and leaving them permanently changed. Hell, Soderbergh is largely responsible for creating Clooney as we know him now, Out Of Sight being the moment where Clooney stopped being that guy from The Facts Of Life and ER and became the thinking man's leading man that he is today.

So this could work. Cooper has the blend of physical ability and comic timing that the role needs and if he can just add a little bit of subtext and subtlety, he's pretty much there. It's surprising, sure, but it just might work.