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Ridley Scott’s The Counselor Piques Interest of Fox, Angelina Jolie

Actress Angelina Jolie attends the 3rd Annual Women in the World Summit at David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center on March 8, 2012 in New York City.
Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty Images

You can call it “No Country for Cold Men.”

Insiders tell us that Ridley Scott’s planned Cormac McCarthy narco-thriller, The Counselor, is rapidly heating up, so much so that Twentieth Century Fox is now in active discussions to distribute and possibly co-finance the movie — provided Scott gets the white-hot cast he’s seeking.

For instance, on top of Michael Fassbender, who has previously been confirmed to star (which would mark his second collaboration with Scott following this summer’s Prometheus), a Fox insider tells us that Angelina Jolie is in talks with Scott to take a small part.

The film, based on an original script by McCarthy, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Road and No Country for Old Men, is about a lawyer who wants to get just a little bit involved in the drug business. He then discovers that there’s no such thing as a little bit involved in the drug business.

Intriguingly, Disney announced yesterday that Jolie’s upcoming film Maleficent will be released in the United States on March 14, 2014 — almost two years from now. Scott plans to start filming The Counselor this June, while Maleficent doesn’t start until late June or early July, theoretically leaving Jolie enough room for a cameo.

It’s too early to tell whether these high-flying talent talks will pan out, but one thing is clear: Fox will most likely be involved if the above names are above the title. We’ll keep you posted.

Ridley Scott’s The Counselor Piques Interest of Fox, Angelina Jolie