Penelope Cruz could star with Bardem in `The Counselor`

Los Angeles: Penelope Cruz could star with her husband Javier Bardem in the Ridley Scott drama ‘The Counselor’, The Hollywood Reporter said Thursday.

Cruz and Bardem have already acted together in ‘Jamon, jamon’ (1992), ‘Carne tremula’ (1997) - where they shared no scenes - and ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’ (2008), a film that earned Cruz, a Madrid native, the Oscar for best supporting actress. The project, in which Michael Fassbender and Brad Pitt have already agreed to participate, has a script written by Cormac McCarthy, the author of the novel on which ‘No Country for Old Men’ was based, a film for which Bardem won an Oscar for best supporting actor. The story, like that of ‘No Country for Old Men’, is set on the US-Mexican border and revolves around a lawyer (Fassbender) who gets involved in drug trafficking with the help of a pair of friends (Bardem and Pitt) to solve his money problems. Cruz would play the wife of Fassbender`s character. According to the magazine, no formal offer has yet been made to the actress, but several conversations have taken place and it is expected that Cruz will shortly agree to participate. Work on ‘The Counselor’ is scheduled to begin in late June. IANS