If you're only going to shoot a couple of movies in one year, making them with Ridley Scott and Pedro Almodovar is not a bad way to go, and that seems to be the game plan for Penelope Cruz.
First up, after rumors of her casting first cropped up this spring, Deadline reports that Cruz has made it official, signing on to star in Ridley Scott's "The Counselor." Penned by Cormac McCarthy, and featuring an insanely stacked cast including Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz and Cruz's husband Javier Bardem, the story centers on the titular character who tries to make some quick money through a drug deal, with things going terribly wrong in the process. No word yet on her role, but by process of elmination, it seems she's taken the smaller part of Laura, the counselor's fiancé. Size wise, it's about the equivalent of Kelly McDonald's part in "No Country For Old Men," but it's still pretty crucial.
But before she gets to that, she'll be reteaming with frequent collaborator Pedro Almodovar for "Standby Lovers." She'll be joining the director's regulars Lola Duenas ("Volver"), Cecilia Roth ("All About My Mother"), Paz Vega ("Talk To Her") and Javier Camara ("Talk To Her") and newcomers, Carlos Areces, Raul Arevalo and Jose Maria Yazpik, in the film that is being kept under wraps but is said to be a comedy about an affair on an airplane. And suddenly, that title makes a lot more sense.
"Standby Lovers" will shoot first this summer, with "The Counselor" to follow in the fall. Cruz often does her best work with in her native tongue (and with Almodovar) so we're super excited to see them back together for the first time since "Broken Embraces," and provided it stays lean and mean, "The Counselor" has tremendous promise.
