Here’s something to look forward to (and also dread, but in a good way): According to Deadline, Cormac McCarthy took a reprieve from writing his latest novel to complete his first screenplay on spec. Nick Wechsler, Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz, the producers of the film adaptation of McCarthy’s “The Road,” quickly scooped up “The Counselor” in what Deadline described as a “sizable deal.”

What chilling, desolate world did McCarthy create this time around? According to Deadline:

The protagonist in The Counselor 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.

Deadline went on:

Steve Schwartz told me: “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.” The script is contemporary, and set in the Southwest.