"Don't play with the devil, don't step across the line, don't think you can do it and get away with it. You can't."
That's the haunting summary by director Ridley Scott of the Cormac McCarthy script "The Counselor," which he's set to tackle this summer with Michael Fassbender starring and big names like Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Jeremy Renner and Natalie Portman among those being sought and eyeing roles in the film.
"We start a week after 'Prometheus' comes out," the director told Empire. "It has a classic Cormac McCarthy darkness which makes you sick to the pit of your stomach. It's really frightening [and] there are five wonderful characters with honestly some of the best dialogue I've ever read."
Quite the compliment from a veteran director like Scott, and this is the sort of praise McCarthy has been earning throughout the bulk of his writing career. The author of such acclaimed novels as "No Country For Old Men," "The Road" and "Blood Meridian," McCarthy's first venture into screenwriting here centers on Fassbender's titular character — an attorney, whose name we never learn — who is in search of a big payday after he proposes to his girlfriend, Laura. So he hooks up with Reiner, an acquaintance with deep criminal ties, for a new business proposition: they'll take $20 million worth of cocaine from south of the border and offload it themselves, aided by the no-good Westray. As you might imagine, things do not go well for anyone involved.
Our script review provides much greater insight into the five major characters that Scott mentions (you can also check out our own casting choices there) and, with a top notch talent already circling this "bleak, beautiful" tale, it shouldn't be too long until things are finalized. Unfortunately, a summer start likely means we're still a full year or so away from seeing "The Counselor" on the big screen. In the meantime, we guess this "Prometheus" thing Scott's putting out in the summer will have to suffice.
