Almost two full years ago, Russell Crowe was looking to star in the big-screen adaptation of Michael Stanton's The Prince of Providence, which was being helmed by Michael Corrente. Since that time, Crowe is out, the project is still in the works, and as The Hollywood Reporter posts, it might be getting itself a serving of Robin Williams.

The script, which was written by David Mamet and polished by Howard Korder, focuses on Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, a corrupt politician "who dominated Providence's political machine for 21 years." There's no word on who Robin Williams will play if his scheduling works out, but Oliver Platt will take on the role of Cianci (quite the change from Crowe), and be joined by the likes of Dermot Mulroney, Adam Goldberg (Ronnie Gantz), Bradley Cooper (Haxton), and Ed Burns.

All of the actors sound great, but it will be even better if Williams officially signs on. After so many questionable films in the last handful of years, it would be so very nice to see Robin stretching his acting chops again. Production will begin later this summer in Rhode Island.

Variety reports that Virgin Comics will partner with Jonathan Mostow for a feature film version of his just-published comic, The Megas. Based off an idea from Mostow about a group of elites, it is part of Virgin's Directors Cut line of comics. Mostow is perhaps best known as the director of Terminator 3, but he is in good company at Virgin. Other directors who have signed up include John Woo, Guy Ritchie, Ed Burns, and Terry Gilliam.

The story "revolves around Detective Jack Madison and his race-against-the-clock investigation to uncover secrets behind the mysterious sex-fueled suicide of a Prince in The Megas royal family. Meanwhile, the King is on his deathbed at The White Palace (yes, at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue!), and society is bracing for the inevitable chaos that will surely ensue once he dies." Basically, it seems to be about a corrupted ruling class and the everyman who is forced to bring them down.

There is no word yet on whether Mostow will be involved with writing the script, or directing it for that matter. Mostow already has a remake of The Swiss Family Robinson, and the sci-fi thriller The Surrogates, with Bruce Willis, lined up for 2009. If Virgin wants to get this production going any time soon, they might have to start looking for someone else to take over. The original model for the Director's Cut series was to create comics that were tailor-made for film adaptations, so I would assume that we are going to start to see a lot of Virgin comic book movies in the near future.

On November 20, for the first time ever, a movie will be exclusively distributed via iTunes. Yes, we already heard about this briefly when our own Kevin Kelly talked with Edward Burns at ComicCon. But at the time, Burns had said he would be given a trial run, in which his latest film, Purple Violets, would be available on iTunes for four weeks beginning on October 9. That date has come and gone, and now the New York Times has revealed that the film will actually get a full, exclusive release on November 20. That means you won't be able to see it in theaters, or on DVD, or on Cable. Yet, anyway. Personally, I'm a bit shocked the idea didn't happen sooner. There's tons and tons of indie films out there that can't get good distro. Going with iTunes sounds like a great opportunity to get notice. Plus, with iTunes still only offering less than 1000 movies, and still unable to get titles from all the studios, the service would do well to increase its library with exclusives like this. The idea certainly worked for companies like Netflix, which started exclusive distribution via its Red Envelope Entertainment moniker. Maybe one day, like Red Envelope, iTunes could even produce its own movies.

The Times goes into detail about iTunes distribution, mentioning the strategy of putting Wes Anderson's Hotel Chevalier up for free download, which sparked extra interest in The Darjeeling Limited. It also points out the benefit of having short films on iTunes in general, not just for well-knowns like Anderson. The move can affect DVD rentals, though, according to Burns, who has had difficulty securing video distribution for Purple Violets now that it will be available on iTunes. The movie, which stars Burns, Debra Messing, Patrick Wilson and Selma Blair, premiered earlier this year at the Tribeca Film Festival, where Eric called it Burns' "best film since The Brothers McMullen ... a more mature film than anything Burns has done in the past."

I sat down with Ed Burns to talk about his role in the upcoming One Missed Call, and he candidly spoke about the horror movie experience and what he views as the death of small films, at least in the sense of people going to the theater to watch them.

He says he hasn't been in sci-fi before, so I hope that he's managed to excise A Sound of Thunder from his brain, because it's about one of the worst films I've ever seen. He's fine in it, and proves that he could carry an action film, but the look and feel of the film is terrible beyond belief.

Click on Ed to hear the audio, and listen to things like:

• He feels that Purple Violets is the best film he's ever made, but he admits it has "absolutely no audience," theatrically.
• Purple Violets will possibly be the first film ever released exclusively on iTunes. Starting October 9th, the film will be available for four weeks on iTunes, and they'll see how the numbers are after that.
• On coming to Comic-Con, "I'm not really the guy ... we just had a little clip reel, I've never done a horror film or sci-fi. I don't know how many McMullen fans were in the audience. They weren't giving it up for the Irish guys from Queens."
• He thinks the current appeal of horror movies vs. small independent films, is that people want that communal experience during a "big" film, but they want to watch the art house types of films at home.
• "Watching a movie on an iPod, for someone my age, is ... insane. However, you have to embrace it. Digital cinema is coming at us head-on."
• "Making small talking movies ... that business is a dead business.
• "He's working on a comic book (and writing the screenplay for it) with Virgin Comics called "Dock Walloper" ... New York City, Irish-American gangsters, that's kind of my milieu."
• He compares what is happening with music (digital distribution) to what is happening in movies. "You have to fall out of love with the old, y'know?"

I had no idea until this week that Virgin has a comic book line, but Virgin Comics indeed exists and it's putting out series created by filmmakers such as John Woo, Shekhar Kapur and Guy Ritchie, whose title is being made into a movie by Warner Bros. Virgin has announced another new comic to be co-written by indie filmmaker (and Saving Private Ryan actor) Edward Burns. The book, which has the weird name Dock Walloper, is being co-written by Jimmy Palmiotti and is being drawn by Siju Thomas. It's about an Irish-American gangster and takes place in 1920s New York. The comic book will serve as a foundation for a feature film that Burns will write, direct and co-star in, playing a crime boss named Mad Dog Madden. About the movie, Burns says he always wanted to make a New York period piece but always thought it would be too expensive to do. Now, though, he can shoot the whole thing with green screen, a la Sin City and 300.

Sounds like the furthest thing from The Brothers McMullen I can possibly imagine. I find it interesting that in the currently comic-obsessed film industry, that even someone like Burns has to jump aboard the wagon. And I find it quite sad that filmmakers are now having to put out pre-production comic books just to have that appeal of making a comic adaptation. I don't even know if Dock Walloper will be allowed to be considered an adaptation if the comic is basically based on an idea for a movie, which will then be adapted from the book. It does confuse me, just as the other trend of preceding a movie with an internet series does confuse me. What next, a comic that's a precursor to a Jenna Jameson porn movie? Oh, wait, Virgin seems already on top of that idea, too. Hmm, if there's a more ironic name for a company for Jameson to be associated with, I don't know it.

I'm ensconced back in the press section in the massive Hall H, giving us flashbacks to yesterday's Paramount panel. However, today I have the benefit of a few hours of sleep, a cinnamon roll, and half a banana. The Comic-Con breakfast of champions.

I'll be doing my best to bring you all the hot Warner Bros. deets as they come out. Will we see anything from The Dark Knight? Speed Racer? Watchmen? Goonies II? (Hey, I can dream). They gave us more swag bags on the way in, which included a t-shirt for The Invasion, a pretty swell Get Smart Control/KAOS shirt, and a bunch of other little things, including a very timely Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix pin. Woot!

I've never been a fan of Ed Burns as a filmmaker, but I do kinda like him as an actor. I say "kinda," though, because I haven't had the urge to see him in much since Saving Private Ryan. In fact, as much as I dislike his work as a writer-director, I'm more willing to see his own films in order to see his acting work, than to see other people's films he stars in. I think I'd even see She's the One again before I see A Sound of Thunder or Life or Something Like It. Sure, I only really kinda like him for one role, which had the benefit of Spielberg's direction, but I do believe he is fully capable of being in another great film.

That great film may be awhile yet, as he's just signed on to another film I probably won't bother seeing: 27 Dresses. The romantic comedy, which Monika Bartyzel did an amazing job of telling us about in March, will feature Burns as a man about to marry one sister (Malik Akerman) while being the object of affection of another sister (Katherine Heigl). With this casting news, we are now left wondering how costar James Marsden will fit in to the story. My guess: he plays the guy who Heigl falls in love with once she realizes she can't have her future brother-in-law. 27 Dresses has been written by Aline Brosh McKenna, who last adapted The Devil Wears Prada, rewritten by Dana Fox, who already gave us one wedding rom-com (The Wedding Date) and is being directed by dancer-turned-choreographer-turned-director Anne Fletcher. If you like the sound of that mix of talent, you may want to check out 27 Dresses. As for me, I might just try my luck with Burns' new film, Purple Violets, which premiered Monday at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Remember all the buzz that inexplicably grew up around Ed Burns after the vaguely offensive The Brothers McMullen came out? Though he's kept acting, writing, and directing, none of his subsequent work has lived up to the hype, and as a result he's faded from the public's radar. Well, friends, our peace is at an end: Burns is back with a vengeance.

Apparently having going through the same "I'm a man, dammit!" transition that turned Larry Fishburne into Laurence, Burns is now Edward, thank you very much. And Edward has got a whole boatload of movies for us, starting with Purple Violets, which he wrote, produced, directed, and starred in with Selma Blair, Dennis Farina, and Debra Messing. Having just finished that project, Burns will head to the Hamptons with everyone else this summer, but he's going not (just) to party and be posh, but also to shoot Five-Fourths, which he wrote and will direct. When that's over, because he's apparently used all of his free time over the past few years to write and is drowning in screenplays, he'll start work on "the first leg of a trilogy, a multigenerational drama about a New York family of cops." Oh, and he's also just agreed to appear with Jude Law and Cameron Diaz in Nancy Meyers' The Holiday, which is currently shooting in England.

Whew. Breath, Ed Edward. Breathe.