The trailer to Ridley Scott’s new movie “The Counselor” has premiered.
The film, starring Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Cameron Diaz, tells the story of a lawyer who finds himself in over his head when he gets involved in drug trafficking.
The trailer was released a day after 20th century Fox put out three clips from the film. Fox is gearing the film for a release in October but the company has not defined if it plans to position the movie for awards. Given the cast though, it would seem likely that Fox will set up campaigns for the film.
At an early screening one critic stated, "Saw early cut of 'The Counselor' (Ridley's still working on it) and can only say that Diaz is absolutely fantastic. The closest to this performance of hers is 'Vanilla Sky.' But she's much more dangerous here, very sociopathic. Underneath all this sexiness there's something very dark and she absolutely nails it. I won't comment on the movie itself cause it's still in post-production but another performance you need to watch out from the movie is Bardem. He's awesome! He's so over the top but in a good way. Oh, and the work of Pitt is very sublime but I have a feeling he's gonna be overshadowed by Bardem ([Bardem's character] is bigger than life) during awards season. Shame because both guys deserve recognition."
However “The Counselor” will not premiere at the Toronto nor the Venice Film Festivals putting it at a disadvantage from the rest of the awards contenders. In the past years the Oscar winner has premiered at one the two festivals. Telluride Film Festival has also been a key to Oscar success and since the festival has yet to announce its slate, “The Counselor” could still recover its Oscar hopes.
"The Counselor" marks Cormac McCarthy's first screenplay and Scott's first film since "Prometheus." Fox will unveil the new movie on Oct. 25.