The Counselor is a 2013 crime thriller film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Cormac McCarthy. It stars Michael Fassbender as the eponymous Counselor as well as Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem and Brad Pitt. The film deals with primal human concerns like greed, mortality, love, and trust related to the theme of corruption and profit in a high-stakes criminal environment. Out of greed, the Counselor gets irrevocably in over his head in a drug deal around the troubled Ciudad Juarez, Mexico/Texas border area. The Counselor was chosen as the closing film at the 2013 Morelia Film Festival and also played the Cork Film Festival. The film was theatrically released on October 25, 2013 and is dedicated to Scott's brother, Tony, who died in 2012. It received polarizing reviews and grossed $71 million worldwide against a budget of $25 million.