Ridley Scott's "The Counselor" is quickly gathering one of the year's most promising casts. Javier Bardem, Natalie Portman and Jeremy Renner are all in negotiations to join Michael Fassbender in the thriller, based on an original script by "No Country For Old Men" author Cormac McCarthy.

The film centers on a successful lawyer (Fassbender) whose casual participation in the drug trade inevitably draws him into the criminal underworld, where he encounters the type of disreputable hoods that both Bardem and Renner excel at playing. According to Twitch, who broke the story, Portman would play Fassbender's fiance.

It's unclear at this time, however, if Bardem and Renner are up for the same part or if they will both appear in the film. Let' hope for the latter.

Last time Bardem spoke McCarthy's words, in the Coen Brothers' adaptation of "No Country For Old Men," he won an Academy Award. He'll next be seen terrorizing James Bond in "Skyfall."

Fassbender, recently seen in "Shame" and "Haywire" will next appear in Scott's "Alien" prequel "Prometheus."

Oscar nominee Renner will be seen as Hawkeye in May's "The Avengers," while Oscar winner Portman ("Black Swan") recently took a break from acting to give birth to her first child.