The Counselor
Short description
The Counselor is a crime drama about a respected lawyer living near the United States–Mexico border. Involved with Laura, he wants more money than his practice provides, and through an old acquaintance with ties to organised crime he agrees to take part in a drug shipment. The deal draws in Reiner, a flashy underworld figure; Reiner's partner Malkina; and Westray, an intermediary. What begins as a single transaction pulls the lawyer into the violent world of the cartels, where the consequences reach far beyond the deal itself.
Ridley Scott directed the film, the twenty-third of the thirty-four features he has directed in chronological order, following Prometheus and preceding Exodus: Gods and Kings. Cormac McCarthy wrote the screenplay, and Scott produced with Nick Wechsler and Paula Mae Schwartz. Michael Fassbender plays the lawyer, with Penélope Cruz as Laura, Cameron Diaz as Malkina, Javier Bardem as Reiner, Brad Pitt as Westray and Bruno Ganz as a diamond dealer. The credited cast numbers forty-six, with fifty-nine crew members.
Released in October 2013, the film runs 117 minutes and was made for 25 million dollars, taking about 71 million dollars worldwide. Audiences were lukewarm: on IMDb it holds 5.4 out of 10 from roughly 110,000 votes, and on TMDB 5.3 from just over two thousand. A critics' rating of 5 out of 10 from 217 reviews places it close to those audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- On August 20, 2012, following the tragic death of his brother, Tony Scott, Ridley Scott halted filming and flew off the set to be with his family. Filming resumed on September 4.
- Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Renner were considered for the role that ultimately went to Javier Bardem.
- Natalie Portman auditioned for one of the roles.
- Angelina Jolie was originally slated to appear in the film, but dropped out of the project and was subsequently replaced by Cameron Diaz.
- The film is dedicated to the memory of Ridley Scott's brother, Tony Scott.
- The Advisor throws away his mobile phone in a scene where he asks a woman to lend him hers. Later in the film, he uses the same phone he had originally.
- When the Advisor talks on the phone with the head of a mafia cartel about his wife's fate, he holds the phone upside down.
- In a scene set in a new nightclub purchased by Rayner (Javier Bardem) and the Counselor (Michael Fassbender), the camera focuses from the Counselor to a large poster featuring Steve McQueen in a sailor's uniform. This is a frame from the film "The Sandpiper" (1966).
- At the beginning of the film, when a truck full of drugs is stolen by two men who have stolen the ignition, the driver's side door of the truck is painted white. In a subsequent shootout scene with two "police officers," the door is seen to be gray. Later, when the truck is repaired, a white door is installed in place of the gray one.
- Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz, who are spouses in real life, have no scenes together in the film.
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