Since Cormac McCarthy‘s first original screenplay The Counselor was sold back in January it has locked up Ridley Scott as director and rising star Michael Fassbender as the male lead. Three major supporting roles were up for grabs and the casting rumors ran wild with possibilities, but now it seems two of those parts have been cast and the third looks to be taken soon. Most important of all, the actors chosen for those roles are not exactly small timers.

Brad Pitt (Moneyball) and Javier Bardem (The Sea Inside) have signed on for roles in The Counselor and Angelina Jolie is said to be in talks to play the female lead Malkina, a “sexually-charged femme fatale” with an Argentinian background. The film revolves around a lawyer (Fassbender) who needs a sizable cash flow after proposing to his girlfriend Laura so he takes a $20 million cocaine shipment and attempts to sell it himself, but things take a turn for the darkest after that. Bardem will play Reiner, an “acquaintance with deep criminal ties” who gets involved with the counselor’s narcotics ambitions and Pitt is taking on the role of Westray, another unsavory character brought into the action. The character of Malkina has ties to Reiner but there is no love lost between the two.

Okay, this isn’t exactly your typical supporting cast. Sure Ridley Scott is one of our finest working filmmakers and one of the greatest modern cinematic visionaries, but McCarthy’s script is said to be a definite winner. The man does not know how to write light, meandering fare. I am officially excited for this movie. Jolie is the only real question mark; I just don’t get the appeal of her. She isn’t a terribly good actress and seems to coast by on her looks and overhyped sexuality – which amounts to little more than pouting and refusing to crack a decent smile. If she gets this part she’ll have to leave the “I’m such a badass” attitude at home with the fifty kids and step up her acting game. Maybe working with a real director like Scott can bring out some of the talent Jolie’s been slowly suppressing ever since she won an Oscar for Girl, Interrupted.

The Counselor will begin filming in June.

[Source: The Playlist]