Guy Ritchie is set to start shooting The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in a few weeks time, but he’s already looking to the future. Warner Bros. has snapped up the rights to Thomas Kelly’s 2006 novel Empire Rising, with Ritchie set to produce and possibly directing, according to THR.
The description of the book says, ‘It is 1930, and ground has just been broken for the Empire State Building. One of the thousands of men who will come to work high above the city is Michael Briody, an Irish immigrant torn between his desire to make a new life in America and his pledge to gather money and arms for the Irish republican cause. When he meets Grace Masterson, an alluring artist who is depicting the great skyscraper’s rise from her houseboat on the East River, Briody’s life suddenly turns exhilarating — and dangerous – -for Grace is also a paramour of Johnny Farrell, Mayor Jimmy Walker’s liaison with Tammany Hall and the underworld.’
Author Kelly will also write the screenplay adaptation. Don’t expect it to shoot for a while yet, as not only does Ritchie has Man From U.N.C.L.E., he’s also pondering another Sherlock Holmes and a new take on Treasure Island.