News > Thornton, Basinger, and Routh Turn Informers

Written by David Morgan

Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, and Brandon Routh have joined the cast of The Informers, an ensemble drama based on the short stories of Bret Easton Ellis. The rest of the ensemble includes Ashley Olsen, Austin Nichols, Jon Foster, and Lou Pucci. Gregor Jordan of Buffalo Soldiers is directing. Ellis cowrote the screenplay with Nicholas Jarecki.

Variety describes the plot as "set over the course of a week in 1983, in the chillingly nihilistic world of Ellis' youth in Los Angeles. Seven storylines intersect, involving movie execs, rock stars, a vampire and other morally challenged characters." Hollywood Reporter reveals that Thornton will play the movie executive, Basinger will play his wife, Routh has been cast as the vampire, and Olsen will play a sexually promiscuous girl. 

Though Ellis's works have been brought to the screen before (American Psycho, Less than Zero, Rules of Attraction) this is the first time he's been directly involved in the adaptation. Frankly, I'm a bit jealous of Ellis. He's been able to turn his experiences in the 1980s into successful novels and films, whereas my experiences in the 1980s were mostly limited to preschool and copious amounts of Mr. Rogers watching. I guess it really was a time of excess in that sense.