The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015 film)

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This article is about the spy/action-comedy 2015 film. For the 60's spy fiction television series, see The Man from U.N.C.L.E..
Fandom
Name: The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Abbreviation(s): TMFU
Creator: Guy Ritchie, Lionel Wingram
Date(s): August 14, 2015
Medium: Film
Country of Origin: USA
External Links: at IMDb
at Wikipedia
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The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is a 2015 American spy/action-comedy film directed by Guy Ritchie and co-written by Lionel Wigram. It is loosely based on the 1964 TV series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and features some characters and storylines from the original series, but with significant changes, mainly regarding characterisation and the protagonists' origin stories, along with entirely new characters. The movie developped a relatively active fandom which produced a fair number of fanworks.

Canon Overview

Spoiler Warning: This article or section may contain spoilers. If this bothers you, proceed with caution.

In 1963, professional thief-turned CIA agent Napoleon Solo extracts Gaby Teller, daughter of an alleged Nazi scientist-turned United States collaborator at the end of World War II, from East Berlin, evading KGB operative Illya Kuryakin.

Solo and Kuryakin are then informed that the CIA and KGB have teamed up to stop a family of wealthy Nazi sympathizers, the Vinciguerras, from using Gaby's father's research to build nuclear weapons. Both men, while ostentibly working together, are secretly assigned to steal the research for their respective governments.

A number of shenenigans ensue, including Gaby and Kuryakin being forced to pose as an engaged couple and eventually developing actual feelings for each other; Solo being kidnapped and tortured; he and Kuryakin trading off saving each other; Gaby turning out to be an undercover agent; and more.

By the end of the movie, Solo and Kuryakin decide to destroy the information they retrieved rather than give it to either of their governments, and they, along with Gaby, join a new international organization under the command of Alexander Waverly, the U.N.C.L.E. -- United Network Command for Law and Enforcement.

Characters

  • Illya Kuryakin, played by Armie Hammer: the youngest to ever join the KGB. A short-tempered, violent and volatile assassin traumatized by the past of his parents.[1]
  • Napoleon Solo, played by Henry Cavill: a former World War II soldier, war profiteer, and art thief. After being prosecuted for his crimes he is given a fifteen-year prison sentence, later recruited by the CIA in exchange for his freedom.[2]
  • Gaby Teller (played by Alicia Vikander): an East Berlin mechanic, who has been pulled into a spy scheme to find her nuclear scientist father.
  • Victoria Vinciguerra (played by Elizabeth Debicki): the calculating antagonist, with a beauty as unique as her villainy.
  • Alexander Waverly (played by Hugh Grant): lider of the multi-national secret intelligence agency U.N.C.L.E. (United Network Command for Law and Enforcement).

Fandom

The production of this film generated a split among fans of the series in groups for and against the film. Some felt blessed by the title, which provided not only a revisitation of the characters, but also the renewal of the fandom, reversing its decline and aging with the entry of new fans, as many decided to watch the series after seeing the movie. On the other hand, some fans hated the production of the film, as they felt that it was unfaithful to the values ​​of the series and/or the characters' background.

Subsequently, with the involvement of one of the actors in criminal activities that culminated in the exclusion of any possible sequel, some of these disgusted fans used the fact to argue why revisiting the series with this production was not correct. However, many fans criticized such statements, as it was impossible at the time to know that in the near future the actor would be involved in such circumstances.

In any case, the existing fandom made up of both new and old fans has remained faithful by producing a range, not as constant as compared to the series, but just as good. With many still believing in the possibility of new films coming to create fan casts with other actors if any are prevented from reprise their role for any reason.

Making fanvids, also called fanedits or just edits, is very popular. These are mostly published on platforms like TikTok, Twitter and/or YouTube. Fans also create fanfiction and fanart.

Shipping

The popularity of ships within the fandom is manifold, including slash, femslash, het and poly ships. As June 2022 the most popular are clearly Napoleon/Illya with an amount of work around ~1900 on AO3. Followed by Gaby/Illya with 891 works, Illya/Napoleon/Gaby 489 works, Napoleon/Gaby: 111 works, Gaby/Alexander: 27 works and Victoria/Gaby: 6 works.

Example Fanworks

Fanfiction

Fanart

Podfics

Archives, Communities & Resources

References

  1. ^ "Illya Kuryakin - Wikipedia". Archived from the original on 2016-12-29.
  2. ^ "Napoleon Solo - Wikipedia". Archived from the original on 2016-11-21.
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