The Counselor is a 2013 British-American thriller film directed by Ridley Scott, from the original
film screenplay by Cormac McCarthy.
The film stars Michael Fassbender as the eponymous Counselor—who gets in over his head in a
drug deal around the troubled Juarez, Mexico / Texas border area—as well as Cameron Diaz,
Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz and Brad Pitt.
The film deals with themes of greed, death, the primal instincts of humans and their consequences.
The Counselor was chosen as the closing film at the 2013 Morelia Film Festival and also
played the Cork Film Festival.
The London premiere was held on October 3, 2013 in Leicester Square.
The New York City premiere was held on October 9, 2013.
The film has received mixed reviews from critics and was theatrically released on October 25,
2013.
Plot The story begins with a man, known only as
"The Counselor", and his girlfriend Laura lying in bed and speaking to one another in
an increasingly suggestive and erotic manner.
The Counselor then performs oral sex on Laura.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Mexico, cocaine is being packaged in barrels and concealed in
a sewage truck.
The truck is driven across the border and stored at a sewage treatment plant.
The Counselor goes to Amsterdam on what he claims is a business trip, but is actually
meeting with a diamond dealer in order to purchase an engagement ring for Laura.
Back in the United States, The Counselor proposes to Laura, and she accepts.
He attends a party at a house owned by Reiner and his girlfriend Malkina.
The Counselor and Reiner have a lengthy discussion, during which Reiner claims that The Counselor
is not capitalizing on his position of power as much as he could be.
The Counselor meets with Westray, a business associate, to express interest in a drug deal
with a four-thousand percent return rate.
Westray warns The Counselor about becoming involved in such a deal, saying that Mexican
cartels are merciless, particularly to lawyers.
The Counselor visits one of his clients, a prison inmate named Ruth who is on trial for
murder.
Ruth's son is a biker and a valued cartel member known as "The Green Hornet" recently
arrested for speeding.
The Counselor agrees to bail him out of jail.
Malkina employs "The Wireman" to steal the drugs.
He does this by decapitating the biker with a wire stretched across the highway.
After collecting the component that will allow the sewage truck to start, The Wireman drives
to the sewage treatment plant, where he steals the truck containing the cocaine.
Learning of this incident, Westray meets with The Counselor to notify him that The Green
Hornet is dead and that the cocaine has been stolen, bleakly intoning The Counselor's culpability.
Simultaneously, both Ruth and the cartel link The Counselor to the death of the biker and
the theft of the drugs.
The cartel has learned that he bailed out The Green Hornet, which appears as suspect
timing and fully blameworthy for the putative purposes of the cartel.
In Texas, two cartel members pretending to be police officers pull over The Wireman and
his accomplice.
A shootout ensues when the accomplice shoots and kills one of the imposter "police officers"
and wounds the other.
The wounded cartel member manages to kill the accomplice and The Wireman, accidentally
shooting the sewage truck and purposely gunning down a passing-by driver.
Reiner is accidentally killed by cartel members while attempting to capture him, and Laura
is simultaneously kidnapped.
In a last-ditch effort, The Counselor contacts Jefe, a high-ranking cartel member, for information
on the whereabouts of Laura, Reiner, and Westray, or suggestions on what to do next.
Jefe advises The Counselor to live with the choices he has made.
After the truck is fixed and the wounded cartel member is cared for, he goes to the meeting
location where the buyer gets his cocaine.
The Counselor goes back to Mexico, hoping to find Laura.
A package is slipped under the door of his hotel room.
He opens it and finds a DVD with "Hola!"
written on it.
The Counselor breaks down completely, heavily implying that the disk contains an execution
video of Laura from the cartel.
Laura's decapitated body is dumped at a landfill.
Meanwhile, Malkina's failed effort to steal the drugs means that she is out of the money
she wants.
She tracks Westray to London, hiring a woman to seduce him and steal his bank codes.
She has Westray killed to get his computer in order to access the account and its contents.
Malkina then meets her banker at a restaurant to explain how she wants her accounts to be
handled and the two continue to have a business as usual luncheon as the film ends.
Literary themes Writing for Serpentbox on 28 October 2013,
Vincent Carrella identified the Spanish poet Antonio Machado as the source of the poetic
verses used by the cartel kingpin, The Jefe, when speaking to The Counselor.
In the second half of the film, The Jefe recites directly from the poem to The Counselor, “Caminante,
no hay camino.
Se hace camino al andar,” which translates in its original context as: wanderer, there
is no road, the road is made by walking.
This passage is taken from Machado's poem Campos de Castilla with Machado's reflections
upon the prospects of his own life after learning of his wife being diagnosed with terminal
tuberculosis from which she would die within a year.
The Jefe uses the poem to inform The Counselor of his own impending demise.
In the film, The Jefe concludes by telling The Counselor, “You are the world you have
created.
And when you cease to exist, that world you have created will also cease to exist.”
Cast Michael Fassbender as The Counselor, a lawyer
who delves into the dark world of trafficking through his business partner Reiner.
He was married previously and is now engaged to Laura.
His name is never revealed.
Reiner had propositioned The Counselor two years prior to get involved in the drug business,
but he originally said no.
This marks Fassbender's second collaboration with Ridley Scott, following Prometheus.
Cameron Diaz as Malkina.
The name Malkina comes from Grimalkin meaning "an evil looking female cat."
She is a pathological liar and a sociopath, an immigrant who is now living the high-life
after escaping a sordid past as an exotic dancer.
Although Malkina does come from a background of little means, she is smart and calculating.
She hides her psychological scars through her appearance, wearing large jewelery and
extravagant clothes to draw attention to herself.
Malkina has a cheetah print tattoo and owns two pet cheetahs.
She is the girlfriend of Reiner, and together they are a powerful couple in the underground
drug world.
She is always aware of what is going on around her, and in control at all times.
Angelina Jolie was attached to the role before Diaz was cast.
Javier Bardem as Reiner, a charismatic entrepreneur by day and an underground drug kingpin by
night.
Reiner is the boyfriend of Malkina and they live an extravagant life together.
His relationship with Malkina is volatile yet they are similar in nature.
Reiner knows he is not the smartest of men and deep down fears this will eventually lead
to his demise.
He likes to live dangerously and carefree.
Jeremy Renner and Bradley Cooper were in the running before Bardem was cast.
Bardem previously appeared in the film adaptation of McCarthy's No Country for Old Men.
Penélope Cruz as Laura, a naïve and generally positive, religious woman who values tradition.
She is in a long-distance relationship with The Counselor and they soon become engaged.
She senses that she may not know what The Counselor does while she is away yet does
not let this get in the way of their relationship.
Her failure to see the evil in those around her could cost her everything.
Her real-life husband Javier Bardem also appears in the film, marking their first film together
since Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
Cruz previously appeared in the film adaptation of McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses.
Natalie Portman was attached to the role before Cruz was cast.
Brad Pitt as Westray, a womanizing, charismatic middleman and a friend of Reiner's who meets
with The Counselor to develop the deal.
Westray understands the drug world better than Reiner but his vices for women and alcohol
could prove to be a fatal flaw.
This marks Pitt's second collaboration with Ridley Scott following Thelma & Louise.
It also marks Pitt's third collaboration with co-star Michael Fassbender, following Inglourious
Basterds and 12 Years a Slave.
Rosie Perez as Ruth, a prison convict.
Through court-appointment she is represented by The Counselor for murder charges.
Richard Cabral as The Young Man/The Green Hornet; Ruth's son and a dangerous, high-ranking
member of the cartel with a target on his back.
Natalie Dormer as The Blonde, a young woman hired by Malkina to help her carry out her
plans by seducing Westray.
A sex scene that was not included in the film, with her wearing a pair of garterbelts, appears
in a trailer video.
Édgar Ramírez as The Priest, whom Malkina goes to speak with.
Bruno Ganz as The Diamond Dealer, who sells Laura's engagement ring to The Counselor.
Rubén Blades as Jefe, a senior member of the cartel.
Blades previously appeared in McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses.
Goran Višnjić as Michael, a banker friend of Malkina's she meets with to discuss her
future plans.
Toby Kebbell as Tony, an old client of The Counselor's.
Emma Rigby as Tony's Girlfriend.
John Leguizamo as Randy, a cartel member in Chicago from Colombia.
Dean Norris as The Buyer, a man who buys drugs from Randy in Chicago.
Donna Air as The Chauffeur.
Fernando Cayo as Abogado Hernandez, a lawyer The Counselor goes to see for help.
Sam Spruell as Jaime "The Wireman", a criminal hired by Malkina.
Richard Brake as The Wireman's accomplice.
Alex Hafner as Highway Patrolman.
Carlos Julio Molina as Jose, a workman for the cartel in Chicago.
Velibor Topic as Sedan man.
Production Pre-production
On January 18, 2012, it was reported that novelist Cormac McCarthy had sold his first
spec script, The Counselor, to Nick Wechsler, Paula Mae Schwartz, and Steve Schwartz, who
had previously produced the film adaptation of McCarthy's novel The Road.
On January 31, it was reported that Ridley Scott was currently considering several directorial
projects, but that there was a strong possibility that The Counselor would be his next film
and his follow-up to Prometheus.
On February 9, it was confirmed that Scott would direct.
Filming Principal photography began on July 27, 2012
in London.
The film was also shot in Spain and the United States.
On August 20, 2012, Scott halted production of the film due to his brother Tony's death.
He canceled that week's shoot in order to travel to Los Angeles to be with his brother's
family.
Scott returned to London to resume production on September 3.
The film was dedicated to the memory of Tony Scott, who had taken his own life during production,
and Matthew Baker, an assistant director on the film who has since died.
The first teaser trailer was released June 25, 2013.
Design Costume designer Janty Yates collaborated
with Giorgio Armani on the film as a part of a new partnership between Armani and 20th
Century Fox that also extends into retail and digital initiatives.
Armani was enlisted to create the wardrobes for the characters portrayed by Michael Fassbender
and Penélope Cruz.
In addition to Armani, designer Paula Thomas also contributed to the film's wardrobe by
dressing Cameron Diaz's character, Malkina, with roughly 15 different outfits.
"[It wasn't until] I read the script that I realized why [Scott] called upon me," said
Thomas.
"[Cameron's] character has a lot of elements of a Thomas Wylde woman.
[She's] bold, edgy, modern.
She’s about wanting to be seen, as opposed to blending into the background."
For Javier Bardem's character, Yates applied a widely colorful wardrobe that was mostly
made up of pieces of Versace.
As for Bardem's hair, the idea was the actor's own and inspired by film producer Brian Grazer's
hairdo.
Music The film score to The Counselor was composed
by Daniel Pemberton.
Pemberton recorded the score with a full orchestra at Abbey Road Studios in addition to integrating
home-recorded guitar noises and textures.
"Ridley responds really well to interesting and unusual sounds," explained Pemberton on
the composer-director relationship.
"So as a composer who likes making unusual sounds, that’s exciting.
It was daunting but he was great to work with and up for experimenting.
[...] He made the process a lot less scary than it should have been."
A soundtrack album was released digitally on October 22 and in physical forms on November
11, 2013 by Milan Records.
Reception Box office
Preliminary reports had The Counselor tracking for a $8.6–$13 million debut in North America.
The film opened to $3.2 million in 3,336 locations on Friday and opened at #4 in the box office
with just a cumulative $7,842,930 over the weekend.
Critical response The film currently holds a 35% approval rating
on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 190 reviews, with an average score
of 4.9/10.
The consensus reads: "The Counselor raises expectations with its talented cast and creative
crew—then subverts them with a wordy and clumsy suspense thriller that's mercilessly
short on suspense or thrills."
On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 based on reviews from critics,
the film has a score of 48 based on 42 reviews, considered to be "mixed or average reviews".
It received a very negative grade of a "D" from market-research firm CinemaScore.
Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a negative review, calling it "not
a very likable or gratifying film," adding that "one is left with a very bleak ending
and an only slightly less depressing sense of the waste of a lot of fine talent both
behind and in front of the camera."
Noted critic Mark Kermode listed it as number two on his Ten Worst Films of 2013.
The Los Angeles Times' Kenneth Turan stated, "As cold, precise and soulless as the diamonds
that figure briefly in its plot, The Counselor is an extremely unpleasant piece of business."
Peter Debruge of Variety criticized Cormac McCarthy's script, saying that his "first
original script is nearly all dialogue, but it's a lousy story, ineptly constructed and
rendered far too difficult to follow."
Conversely, Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars out of
four, saying "director Ridley Scott and screenwriter Cormac McCarthy have fashioned a sexy, sometimes
shockingly violent, literate and richly textured tale of the Shakespearean consequences of
one man’s irrevocable act of avarice" and called it "a bloody great time."
In addition, Manohla Dargis of The New York Times gave the film a rave review, stating
that "Mr. McCarthy appears to have never read a screenwriting manual in his life [...] That's
a compliment."
Danny Leigh of the BBC film review programme Film 2013 praised the film, saying that "the
real star is the script.
What this film really is a Cormac McCarthy audiobook with visuals by Ridley Scott.
It's black as night, engrossing and masterful."
He also acclaimed the performances, particularly Diaz's, and said, with regard to the negative
reviews, "Movie history is littered with films that we all sneered at and we all laughed
at and we all thought were terrible and the critics hated them and no-one went to see
them, and then 40 years later they fetch up on programmes like this with everyone saying
'what a masterpiece!'"
Scott Foundas, chief film critic for Variety, wrote a defense of the film titled "Why The
Counselor Is One of Ridley Scott's Best Films" in which he compared it to John Boorman's
Point Blank and the screenplay to the work of David Mamet, Harold Pinter, and Quentin
Tarantino.
Foundas writes, "[the film] is bold and thrilling in ways that mainstream American movies rarely
are, and its rejection suggests what little appetite there is for real daring at the multiplex
nowadays."
Awards References
External links Official website
The Counselor at the Internet Movie Database The Counselor at Rotten Tomatoes
The Counselor at Box Office Mojo The Counselor - trailer.
Natalie Dormer working in a lingerie shop and wearing sexy stockings on YouTube