When Pulitzer Prize winning novelist and American treasure Cormac McCarthy suddenly had a spec screenplay in the ether, Ridley Scott prompted went about making it his next project.  While Scott always has at least a half-dozen potential projects lined up at any given moment, he set them all aside in favor of The Counselor.  When Scott's involvement was confirmed, word was that he wanted Michael Fassbender to play the title character, but Fassbender's schedule suggested that he might be too busy.

The Counselor, the first screenplay from Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Cormac McCarthy, is on track to become a movie very quickly.  We learned about the script's existence about three weeks ago, after McCarthy surprised his agents, who were expecting a new novel, with his first script in December.  Last week, it came out that no less a director than Ridley Scott was in talks.  Now, Scott has locked down a deal to direct The Counselor, he's planning a summer productions start, and he's looking at a badass leading man to play the title role.

Wow.  Two weeks ago to the day, we learned that Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Cormac McCarthy had taken a break from writing his stripped down novels of violence in order to write his first feature screenplay, The Counselor, which will presumably be a stripped down tale of violence as well.  Producers quickly grabbed up the spec script, and at the time said that they would sort out funding then set to work finding a director.  Seems they may have skipped a step, as one of the biggest directors in the game is in talks to direct: Ridley Scott.