Say what you will about the varying quality levels of the latter day pictures of Ridley Scott, it can’t be denied the filmmaker is moving the speed with someone half his age, and has no problem jumping from one genre to another. Over the past five years or so he’s done a sword and sandals epic (“Exodus: Gods and Kings“), a couple “Alien” prequels, a big sci-fi adventure (“The Martian“), and this month’s true story, ’70s set thriller (“All The Money In The World“). However, the wildest entry is his catalog is easily “The Counselor.”
The only film to date penned by literary giant Cormac McCarthy, the bonkers movie revolves around a lawyer and a drug deal gone bad, but that’s not even the half of it. At some point, Cameron Diaz has sex with a car. It’s a big, weird movie with lots of philosophical musings, graphic violence, and kinky sexuality. It was also, for all the A-list names in the cast, a box office flop.
However, Scott believes 20th Century Fox dropped the ball on the marketing, and that “The Counselor” should’ve been kept a bit more mysterious for audiences. He also thinks the film is one of his more underrated efforts.
“There are a few [films that didn’t get their due from critics and fans]. I loved ‘White Squall,’ I loved ‘Someone to Watch Over Me‘ — those were inexpensive films, but they were really well done. I loved ‘A Good Year,’ which should have been big. I really loved ‘The Counselor,’ which should have been f—ing HUGE!” he told the Toronto Sun. “With that cast, we should have had a $50-million weekend. After the marketing and advertising on that, I was ready to kill somebody. You don’t preview films like that. You keep them in a box … you’ve got Brad [Pitt], you’ve got Cameron Diaz, you’ve got Javier Bardem, you’ve got Penelope Cruz, you’ve got Michael Fassbender…are you f—ing kidding me? You don’t show it, you advertise and you put it out and you’ll have a $50-million opening weekend.”
“I also loved ‘Legend‘ and [the studio] f—ing killed that. I was 27 years ahead of Disney, that’s all,” Scott added.
I’m not sure keeping the movie under wraps would’ve made the bizarre picture connect any better commercially with mainstream audiences. But “The Counselor” does have more than its fair share of fans, and seems destined for cult appreciation in years to come.
Thoughts on the underrated movies in the Scott canon? Hit up the comments section.