STORY: With an all-star cast including Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, Michael Fassbender, Penelope Cruz and her husband Javier Bardem, "The Counselor" (known in the UK as "The Counsellor") goes on release in the United States this Friday (October 25). With a screenplay written by author Cormac McCarthy ("No Country for Old Men") and directed by Sir Ridley Scott, the film features characters who all have a connection to the drug trade between Mexico and the United States. Fassbender takes on the lead role, known only as the Counselor, and is involved in the opening sequence of the film -- a sex scene with on-screen girlfriend Laura (Penelope Cruz). Penelope Cruz admitted that her time on set was curtailed as director Ridley Scott kept finishing the shoot early each day, so she decided to go in earlier to learn more about his process of film making. Cruz recently finished directing a six minute short film "L'Agent" for Agent Provocateur, which stars her husband Bardem and her sister Monic
