From one A-lister to another. Cameron Diaz is in talks to join Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Brad Pitt in Ridley Scott’s “The Counselor,” in a role previously earmarked for Angelina Jolie.
Twitch Film broke the news of Diaz’s involvement in “The Counselor” on Tuesday night, and Deadline.com has confirmed the actress is in negotiations.
The film — the first script from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy — focuses on a lawyer (Fassbender) who decides to dabble in the drug trade to disastrous consequences. Diaz will play a supporting character named Malkina, while Bardem is set to play the villain. He famously won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor by playing the villain in the big-screen adaptation of McCarthy’s “No Country for Old Men.”
The project has come together quickly thanks to the high-powered names attached, and Scott plans to start shooting “The Counselor” this summer.
If Jolie had starred in film, it would have been her first onscreen pairing with Pitt since “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” in 2005. She is busy preparing for “Maleficent,” which could be the reason she wasn’t able appear in “The Counselor.” That film comes out in 2014.
Diaz will next be seen in the omnibus romcom “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.”
