Ridley Scott is 80-years-old but he isn't going to be throwing in the towel anytime soon. The maverick director will keep working and working, just as he has done these last 40 years. He's released 8 films in the last 10 years, albeit not all great but those that hit the mark ("American Gangster," "Prometheus," "The Martian") proved how capable he still was as a filmmaker.
There have also been misunderstood films that I frankly was delighted by, yes I did find "Exodus: Gods and Kings" to be watchable, despite mixed to negative reviews, ditto this year's "All the Money in the World." Another film that seems to have garnered fans over the years is hs bonkers "The Counselor" which had a screenplay written by none other than Cormac McCarthy. The film, revolving around a lawyer and drug deal gone bad, was most famous for its scene of a scantily clad Cameron Diaz having sex with an expensive car. Suffice to say, it wasn't the kind of movie that would have mainstream audiences clamoring for more and, no surprise, its box-office was disastrous.
I'm not shocked to hear that Scott thinks 20th Century Fox didn't market the film properly and that “The Counselor” deserved better than being tossed over by the studio.
“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 ready to agree with Scott on "The Counselor," not even on the other films mentioned in the above interview, however, I do feel I should give it another shot regardless. It was a film, that when I went to see it back in 2013, that fed me something I did not expect. It's basically a plotless romp with graphic violence, sex and an abundance of McCarthy's well known philosophical speak. Its 35% Rotten Tomatoes score might turn you off but some people I really respect love and defend the film to this day (go read Glenn Kenny's review or Manhola Dargis').