UPDATE: Here's the trailer in English!
There are lot of movies with outrageously strong casts coming out in the next year-- August: Osage County being the runaway favorite-- but I challenge you to find a combination more fascinating than the one leading Ridley Scott's next film The Counselor. You start with a starring role for his Prometheus standout Michael Fassbender, get to the first time married couple Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem have shared the screen, make room for Brad Pitt and Cameron Diaz in femme fatale role… don't even pretend you're not interested.
We've had our eye on The Counselor ever since it became clear it would be Scott's next project, but this international trailer picked up by The Film Stage only has us more intrigued-- and yes, that's without understanding any of the dialogue that's been dubbed over in Russian (this has since been fixed). Since you probably need a little help on figuring out the plot based on how vague that is, let's start with the Cormac McCarthy script, the first that the celebrated No Country for Old Men author has ever written. Scott announced he would be adapting itbarely a year ago, which is record time for Scott, who routinely attaches himself to dozens of projects that never get made. Here's the official description that came with it:
It is the story of a lawyer, the Counselor, a man who is so seduced by the desire to get rich, to impress his fiancee Laura, that he becomes involved in a drug-smuggling venture that quickly takes him way out of his depth. His contacts in this are the mysterious and probably corrupt Reiner and the seductive Malkina, so exotic her pets of choice are two cheetahs. As the action crosses the Mexican border, things become darker, more violent and more sexually disturbing than the Counselor has ever imagined.
Based on that shot of Diaz lounging by the pool with the cheetah she seems to clearly be playing Malkina, and Fassbender is definitely the lawyer in over his head… but it's a little hard to figure out how everyone else fits in. Given that Brad Pitt seems to fit the "probably corrupt" description better than Javier Bardem, who looks completely insane. Don't forget that the cast also includes Dean Norris, Rosie PerezNatalie Dormer and Goran Visnjic, so there's even more insanity to come-- just not from the A-listers who are so prominently on display here.
The Counselor is set for an October 25 release, opposite Spike Lee's Oldboy and Paranormal Activity 5. What will you be seeing that day?
