The plot line sounds preposterous. When applied to an environmental catastrophe that’s fact, not fiction, it sounds appalling and terrifying. But considering how ineffectively BP and the federal government have responded to the huge oil spill gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, they clearly need all the help they can get.

So what’s the harm in picking the creative brains of Oscar-winning movie titans Kevin Costner and James Cameron on how to halt that poisonous flow?

Costner has reportedly invested about $24 million in his own device that removes oil from water — developed from his monumental 1995 critical flop “Waterworld.” ... BP has been checking out the gadget.

Cameron, director of the two biggest box-office hits in cinematic history (1997’s “Titanic” and 2009’s “Avatar”) has offered the use of his underwater vessels in the mission to plug that leak a mile beneath the Gulf’s surface. He was among a group of “experts” who met with officials from federal agencies for what The Associated Press described as “a brainstorming session” on how to achieve this obviously difficult goal.

The premise of Hollywood big shots riding to the rescue in what has become, by far, our nation’s worst offshoredrilling accident is hardly reassuring. But BP already has invited the public to submit suggestions — and has received them from more than 23,500 people. Maybe one, or more, of them (celebrities or not) has a good idea.

And maybe one day soon, somebody somehow can change the title of this real-life horror show from “The Colossal Oil Leak That Wouldn’t Stop.”

The (Charleston) Post and Courier