George C. Scott and Olympia Dukakis--re-creating her...

George C. Scott and Olympia Dukakis--re-creating her off-Broadway role--will play Sam Shepard’s battling farm couple in the film version of his acclaimed play, “Curse of the Starving Class.” Peter Masterson (“A Trip to Bountiful”) will direct from an adaptation by Anthony Gentile. Kevin Anderson, Bill Pullman and Tom Waits round out the cast. Produced by Sandra J. Birnhak for New York-based Showcase Prods. International, the film will probably get under way by June. . . .

Look for a lot of red hair on the set of Paul Mazursky’s next film for Touchstone, “Scenes From a Mall.” Bette Midler has agreed to star with Woody Allen in the comedy written by Mazursky and Roger L. Simon. Production should begin in early summer. . . .

Bob Hoskins has been cast opposite Tom Berenger as a detective in Wolfgang Petersen’s untitled thriller based on Richard Neely’s novel, “Plastic Nightmare.” The FilmAccord production, which Petersen is co-producing with Marvin Davis’ son, John, goes before the cameras Jan. 15 in San Francisco. This will be the German director’s first American-based production. 20th Century Fox will distribute domestically. . . .

Christopher Cain (“Young Guns”) will direct Australian star Wendy Hughes in Tra La La Films’ erotic thriller, “Pearl City,” shooting in Hawaii and Japan next spring. Writer-producer Patric Julliet’s screenplay concerns a love triangle involving a Japanese gangster and an American couple. . . . Meanwhile, several studios are interested in the remake rights to Julliet’s previous film, “Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train,” a psychological thriller made in Australia in 1987--again starring Hughes--and released to critical acclaim in the U.S. earlier this year. . . .

More sequels and remakes: Amy Heckerling is penning a sequel to her hugely successful, “Look Who’s Talking” for Tri-Star and M.C.E.G. . . . Negotiations are under way with John Travolta and Kirstie Alley to re-create their roles. . . . New Line Cinema is in negotiations for the remake rights to “Village of the Damned,” the 1960 English-made thriller about cold- eyed children from outer space. New Line is also developing an Americanized remake of Karel Reisz’s “Morgan!” (1966), to be directed by Dean Parisot from Michael Taav’s script. . . .

Directions International has purchased film rights to Ron Arias’ recently published book, “Five Against the Sea: A True Story of Courage and Survival.” The company plans to film this true story of Costa Rican fishermen lost at sea for 142 days in 1988 under the title “Miracle at Sea.” . . .

Claude Berri, one of Europe’s top producers (“The Bear,” “Valmont”) and directors (“Jean de Florette,” “Manon of the Spring”) will make his American and English-language directorial debut with “My Dog Stupid” in January, 1991. Melissa Matheson (“E.T.”) will write the script, based on a John Fante novel. But first, Berri has to learn English.