Michael Fassbender has committed to star in The Counselor, the Cormac McCarthy-scripted thriller that Ridley Scott is making his next film. Deadline told you February 9 that Scott went right to Fassbender, who stars in Prometheus for Scott and 20th Century Fox. Scott has landed one of the hottest actors in Hollywood, is eyeing a May 1 start date, and talking to a number of high-profile actors to take part in a film that insiders are describing as “No Country For Old Men on steroids.” The Counseloris reminiscent of the rough-and-tumble world depicted in the Oscar-winning adaptation of McCarthy’s novel No Country For Old Men. The protagonist is a respected lawyer who thinks he can dip a toe in to the drug business without getting sucked down. It is a bad decision and he tries his best to survive it and get out of a desperate situation.

Read the full article at Deadline

MTV News recently caught up with the sequel’s screenwriter Simon Kinberg at the premiere of his latest film, This Means War, where we discussed his plans for Magneto, Xavier and the rest.

“I don’t know what the title is going to be but certainly I’m working on the sequel to ‘X-Men: First Class’ right now,” Kinberg said. “I’m going to be writing and producing it, I’m starting now, with Matthew Vaughn directing.”

When asked about what he enjoys most about incorporating so many characters into the story, Kinberg first emphasized his fanboy-ness, along with excitement to further explore the many layers of Magneto and Charles Xavier.

“I’m a huge X-Men fan. I grew up loving the comic books and it was really exciting to be able to do the origin story of Xavier and Magneto, and getting those two actors, [James] McAvoy and [Michael] Fassbender, were really amazing,” he said. “So being able to explore those characters with actors of that quality will be exciting a second time around, and doing some things unexpected with those characters, which is the plan.”

“That’s what was so cool about the first one and what we want to continue,” Kinberg said of exploring the supervillain’s tortured beginnings. “Magneto becomes the villain ultimately of the franchise but he’s a much more complicated character as a young man. He’s someone you sympathize with, you care about you root for even though might not necessarily agree with his methods, you understand his philosophy.”

So with the sequel will Magneto still be bridging the gap between good and bad or will he be a full-on villain?

“We’re still figuring that out. I think the truth is ultimately that because Michael is such an interesting actor, he’ll never be full-on anything. He’ll have a villainous side and he’ll have a sympathetic human side you’ll be able to relate but you’ll also be afraid of him. He becomes Magneto, he says ‘Call me Magneto’ at the end of the first movie.”

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Michael Fassbender, Brendan Gleeson, and Chris O’Dowd are just some of the stars attending the 9th Annual Irish Film & Television Awards, happening in Dublin tonight.

Both Fassbender and Gleeson are nominated for Best Actor in a leading role, while Chris O’Dowd is nominated in the supporting actor category for “Bridesmaids”.

Read the full article at IrishCentral

A May 1 start date is slated for the project that is described as “No Country For Old Men on steroids.” Scott will be meeting with a number of high-profile actors to star. McCarthy was expected to turn in a novel, but wrote his first feature script instead. A number of directors were interested in the job, but Scott expressed interest in directing in late January.

According to Deadline, The Counselor is set in the contemporary Southwest and is “reminiscent of the rough and tumble world depicted in the Oscar-winning adaptation of McCarthy’s novel No Country For Old Men. The protagonist is a respected lawyer who thinks he can dip a toe into the drug business without getting sucked down. It is a bad decision and he tries his best to survive it and get out of a desperate situation.”

The film is being produced by The Road’s Nick Wechsler and Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz. “The spec falls smack in the middle of what everyone responds to with Cormac’s novels,” said Wechsler.

Steve Schwartz had this to say:

“Since McCarthy himself wrote the script, we get his own muscular prose directly, with its sexual obsessions. It’s a masculine world into which, unusually, two women intrude to play leading roles. McCarthy’s wit and humor in the dialogue make the nightmare even scarier. This may be one of McCarthy’s most disturbing and powerful works.”

“I just thought Prometheus was so enjoyable – returning to the world of science fiction was so fun – that I wanted to [go back to Blade Runner, too]. I’m also thinking about what the hell I might do for a Prometheus 2.”