Like a lot of directors, Ridley Scott often works with the same crew. For October's crime thriller The Counselor, though, the man who brought us Blade Runner and Thelma&Louise teamed up with a new accomplice, ace novelist Cormac McCarthy. It's McCarthy's first original screenplay to become a movie in more than 35 years, and we expect his whole taciturn-dread thing to mesh pretty well with Scott's atmospheric style. The director is also bringing back some of his frequent collaborators. Here are three key elements you should expect when the lights go down.
20th Century Fox
intimate destruction
THANKS TO: Editor Pietro Scalia
The man in the editing bay for eight of Scott's past 12 films specializes in slow-burn sequences: developing character with intimate close-ups (especially of hands—think Russell Crowe brushing the wheat in Gladiator), then building toward explosive moments of multi-angle action. In previews of The Counselor, we see a mystery man setting a trap for a motorcyclist—first the detail, then the destruction.
role-defining clothes
THANKS TO: Costume designer Janty Yates
Whether she's researching 12th-century family crests for Robin Hood or suiting Denzel Washington in bespoke Savile Row for American Gangster, Yates' attention to detail is unparalleled. The Counselor's modern setting means easier prep, so the wardrobing goes for symbolism over authenticity: Javier Bardem's chaotic coif and closet reflect the disorder in a criminal's life.
over-the-top visuals
THANKS TO: Production designer Arthur Max
From Gladiator's mass battles to a fully re-created Mogadishu slum for Black Hawk Down, Max traffics in spectacle—not surprising for a guy who once lit Pink Floyd stage shows. McCarthy's screenplay may be spare, but the drug game therein presents ample opportunity for visual excess: specifically, polo matches and pool parties that don't stop till the pet cheetah gets tired.
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