I was going to kick off by saying “It’s been some time since Kim Basinger really graced our screens” — but that’s technically not true. While she hasn’t made an onscreen appearance in about two years — itself not such a long time — it was in the relatively successful Charlie St. Cloud, and that only came a few years after parts in The Informers, The Burning Plain, and The Sentinel. Even if you didn’t see those, there’s a fair chance you’ve heard of them. Shouldn’t that count for something?

And although I can’t say if One Square Mile might some kind of reintroduction into mainstream cinema, the actual film doesn’t sound half-bad. Richard Jenkins was, back in April, signed to lead the film, a drama about the important lessons an older man instills into a young boy (Kelly Blatz). (That role was originally set for Cameron Bright, though he’s clearly not doing the film anymore.) Charles-Olivier Michaud will direct a script from Josh Campbell and Jeff Van Wie.

Basinger has been signed to play Claire, the mother of this teenage boy who’s “living on the wrong side of the tracks” and finds hope in the form of a basketball coach “angry at the world with no purpose in life” (Jenkins). There have been plenty of similar roles over the years, yet One Square Mile has done enough good up to this point to earn some basic trust. Seeing Basinger in another film should be nice, too.

Is this a suitable role for the actress? What do you make of the project in general?