When Cormac McCarthy writes a script for Hollywood, it seems that everyone and their brother comes out of the woodwork to try and get a job on the production, right quick. It wasn’t long after it was announced that his original screenplay, The Counselor, existed before it was also announced that Ridley Scott would be directing and Michael Fassbender was attached to play the lead role. And ever since then, there’s been a who’s who of entertainment industry royalty lining up to get in on the fun. Not too long ago it was said that Javier Bardem and Jeremy Renner were being looked at for the two remaining male roles, that of the villain and a drug runner, and that Natalie Portman was showing interest in coming in as the female lead.
A more recent report from Deadline Beech Creek doesn’t mention Renner or Portman as being possibilities any longer, but it insinuates that Bardem is all but signed up, and it throws a couple of even bigger names into the list of contenders. According to the trade, in addition to Bardem being nearly locked up, Brad Pitt is also looking pretty solid as far as joining the cast goes. And while this next bit of news doesn’t seem to be nearly as much of a done deal, they claim that Angelina Jolie is the new name being looked at to take on the female lead. That’s a lot of famous people in one movie.
If everyone in talks right now ends up getting their deals done, then, The Counselor, which sounds like a fairly typical story about a southern lawyer trying to get into the drug trade, could quickly become one of the movies with the most impressive creative pedigrees of all time (plus, it would also have Angelina Jolie). Now all we need is rumors that Gene Hackman is coming out of retirement to babysit Brad and Angelina’s kids while they shoot for this one to be really taken over the top.