Award-winning screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga uses a convoluted narrative structure to tell a tale of love, betrayal and regret in The Burning Plain, his directorial debut. Arriaga opens the film with a shot of an old trailer in the middle of the desert burning to the ground, and he then proceeds to bounce around among several seemingly disparate characters, Babel-style, before finally bringing it all together in the film's final act.

The film stars Charlize Theron as Sylvia, a composed-but-icy manager of a fancy Portland, Oregon-area restaurant who spends her spare time having empty, emotionless sex with a wide array of men. Arriaga takes us back and forth from gray, rainy Portland, where Sylvia lives, to the New Mexico desert; early on we learn that the burning trailer, when it exploded into flames, was occupied by Gina (Kim Basinger), a white married housewife with four kids, and Nick (Joaquim De Almeida), a Mexican-American man, also married with kids.

Gina's daughter Mariana (Jennifer Lawrence) and Nick's son Santiago (J.D. Pardo) are drawn together as they struggle to deal with their parents' infidelity and death, much to the consternation of their respective families. Also tossed into the mix are a crop-duster pilot, his best friend, and his young daughter, whose lives are thrown into disarray when the pilot's plane crashes.

Amidst playing the offspring of an evil doctor supergenius and doing questionable things flutes, Seth Green and Alyson Hannigan went through the sweet rise and heart-wrenching fall of love on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But that wasn't the first time these two dated. If you're up on your trivia, or happened to like bad '80s films, you might remember that they were love interests in My Stepmother is an Alien -- both at the ripe age of 14 -- where they set the spark for future romance.

You remember it, right? It's 1988, and the alien otherwise known as Kim Basinger gets sent to earth to investigate scientist Dan Aykroyd. Back then, 14 actually looked like 14, and in the following clip, you can see Green's Fred picking up Hannigan's Jessi for a hot night out on the town, or a hot night at a dance. He's in a pale suit, and she's in a soft pink dress with poofs and lace -- full '80s ensembles and almost no skin showing. They look ridiculous, which is all sorts of cute, and Fred throws around words like "doll." It's almost like a Hollywood version of Linklater's Sunrise/Sunset films. What will be next? Alyson and Seth meeting on another world? They've already tackled witches, werewolves, and aliens!

Oh, you can do all the "look at me, I'm a serious actress!" roles you want, Kim Basinger, but you'll always be Vicki Vale to me. Variety is reporting that Basinger is attached to star with Charlize Theron in The Burning Plain. Erik Davis, an officer and a gentleman, told you about the film here. Plain marks the directorial debut of Guillermo Arriaga, the pretty much always excellent screenwriter of Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel, and the criminally under-seen The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. Arriaga wrote the screenplay for Plain as well. The film starts shooting early next month in New Mexico.

The film will intertwine two storylines, one of which takes place in the past, the other in the present. The intersection of stories is a trademark of Arriaga's work, though some detractors (I am not one) would claim he uses the device as a crutch. Basinger plays Gina, "the mother of Charlize Theron's character as seen in childhood." Theron plays Sylvia, a woman trying to "find common ground with her parents after a turbulent childhood." The two stories collide. That description doesn't tell us much, but I'm up for anything Arriaga. As for the lead actresses, Basinger has never made much of an impression on me, but Theron is really shaping up to be quite the talent. Her subdued turn in In the Valley of Elah -- one of the best films of the year, even though no one is seeing the thing -- convinced me that Monster was no fluke.

I'm a big fan of author Bret Easton Ellis' work. Since many of his novels rely on the inner workings of characters' minds, they can be difficult to adapt to the big screen. The film version of Less Than Zero made cocaine addiction look like Pretty in Pink. I know I'm in the minority, but I detested Mary Harron's American Psycho. The only adaptation I feel got Ellis exactly right was Roger Avary's excellent take on The Rules of Attraction. Now three more films are going to try and re-create Ellis' world. Darren Star is working on The Frog King with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. There is no director yet, but a movie version of Lunar Park has been announced. And director Gregor Jordan (Ned Kelly) has put together a cast for the film translation of Ellis' 1995 novel The Informers.

The Hollywood Reporter writes that Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, and Superman himself Brandon Routh are in "various stages of negotiation" to star in the ensemble film. The Informers is set in Los Angeles in 1983 and it tracks seven stories. The major characters are: a movie executive (played by Thornton), his wife (Basinger), his mistress, a rock star, a kidnapper, and a vampire (Routh, apparently looking to darken up his image). Rounding out the cast are Ashley Olsen as a "sexually promiscuous girl" (doesn't it seem like those twins are getting a ton of work these days?), Jon Foster (Stay Alive), Austin Nichols (John Monad on the baffling John From Cincinnati), and Lou Taylor Pucci (star of the very good Thumbsucker and the not very good Chumscrubber -- yes, they're different movies). Sounds like it could be a great flick! Now, whatever happened to Roger Avary's planned Glamorama movie? I would love to see that come to light. Did Zoolander steal its thunder?

Here's a little controversy and rumor reaction for your Thursday:

• I recently posted about Richard Gere inspiring burning effigies in India when he dipped and kissed Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty while promoting AIDS awareness. Now Guardian Unlimited reports that an Indian judge has issued arrest warrants for the actors, citing the country's public obscenity laws. Considering the fact that the UN AIDS agency says that India has the largest number of HIV/AIDS cases (5.7 million), perhaps it's time to focus on education, and not putting an actor up for a possible three months in prison, and/or a fine, for a cheek kiss. If the matter is not resolved, this could interfere with Gere's causes -- he has often visited Tibetan exiles in Dharmsala to offer support.
• If there is any truth to the rumor that Kate Beckinsale could be the next Barbarella, I bet she will be cast. According to IGN, they've talked with the actress, who has confirmed that no one has approached her about the film. However, she doesn't seem to be averse to the idea: "It's thrilling! I've never heard anything about it before today." She continued on to joke about a name change: "Beckinsale-arella! It's gotta happen!" With her positive reaction to the idea, we might just have Beck-Barb confirmation in no time.
• Alec Baldwin has been all over the news lately. If you haven't been following -- his ex-marital woes recently fueled him to leave a nasty message for his daughter, calling her a "rude, thoughtless little pig." Now CNN has reported on Baldwin's disdain for his business, which obviously stems from the never-ending custody suit with Kim Basinger over their daughter Ireland. He's tried to get out of his contract for NBC's 30 Rock, which was refused, and in a pre-taped interview for The View, he said: "If I never acted again, I couldn't care less." He continues: "I've had enough of this quite frankly to last me a lifetime, especially in the modern tabloid world." Whether these are words uttered in the heat of his distress, or firm feelings, remains to be seen.
  

We've been following the Mamma Mia! trail for quite a while now, from when it was first brought up to its official stamp in the trades yesterday. And, in between, we even reported on a few of those casting rumors -- the most important being (it seems) the actress who will take on the role of Mamma. Early rumors suggested Michelle Pfeiffer might take on the part, what with her involvement in the new film version of Hairspray and, well, I'm sure no one has forgotten about her fantabulous performance in Grease 2. Other names floating about the pot were Nicole Kidman (odd, but I can see why), Meryl Streep (odder) and Kim Basinger (oddest).

Now, only a day after Mamma Mia! once again swept through our office, comes word that Meryl Streep will play Donna -- a single mother who looks to reunite her daughter on her wedding day with a trio of ex-boyfriends, one of which might be the long lost father she never knew. Now before you start jumping down my throat for saying Streep is an odd choice for the role, I will acknowledge that the woman is known for occasionally belting it out, most recently in Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion. And, out of the four women mentioned above, I feel Streep is probably the best choice -- not the perfect choice -- but one that will definitely entice folks into splurging on a ticket.

Hey, it's better than John Travolta in a dress, right?

Ok, so what's up with Kim Basinger and these "Help! I'm surrounded my thugs and there's no way out!" roles? First there was Cellular, in which she played a housewife who is taken hostage by a group of toughs with only a broken cell phone that dials one number to keep her connected to the outside world. Remember that one? Larry Cohen was going through, what I like to call, his "phone period," having written the screenplay for Phone Booth and the story for Cellular back-to-back.

Basinger has signed on to star in While She Was Out. Pic (which is neither a follow-up to Sandra Bullock's While You Were Sleeping nor a feature film version of the TLC show While You Were Out) revolves around a suburban housewife (Basinger) who finds herself lost in the woods and surrounded by a group of murderous thugs. Now, [cue cheesy closing line] all she has is a toolbox and her will to survive. A toolbox? WTF? Will she start by throwing screwdrivers at these guys? How much you wanna bet Craftsman invested a crap-load of money in product placement? Lifetime warranty baby! This way, if your wrench were to break while you were fighting for your life, simple return it to Sears for a new one. It's that easy. Anyway, Susan Montford is attached to direct and production is scheduled to begin this January.

Now that Michelle Pfeiffer remembered she can sing and dance and, as a result, took the Hairspray gig, she may be poised to become a real, live dancing queen. According to reports in the British press, Pfeiffer is one of a handful of names being seriously considered to play Donna, a single mother who is reacquainted with a trio of exes when her daughter invites them her a wedding, in the screen version of the ABBA musical, Mamma Mia!. The film is still in the very early stages: Catherine Johnson, who wrote the script for the musical, is currently at work on the screenplay with producer Judy Craymer, and it's thought that stage director Phyllida Lloyd may ultimately helm the movie.

Other names allegedly in the mix to play Donna are Kim Basinger (?!), Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep; production begins next summer.

[via Film Experience]