Later this month, Edward Burns' Purple Violets will be available exclusively on iTunes. You won't see it in theaters, or on DVD or anywhere else -- at least for awhile. Did you know this? I've written about it, and maybe you read that previous post, but if you're not a regular reader of movie news and/or blogs, would you know about the landmark event? I haven't seen any ads anywhere, nor have I even seen mention on the main iTunes page. When I search Purple Violets on the iTunes store, it only gives me the soundtrack -- not even a mention that the film will soon be offered.

So, how is Purple Violets being marketed? I have no idea, which is sad because there's a new bit of information that could be used to advertise to its target demographic. The film was awarded the top prize at the Savannah Film Festival, winning best narrative feature this past Saturday. Certainly this honor will appeal to indie film enthusiasts, no? Sure, the festival isn't the biggest or most prestigious, but the award would still look good on an ad for the film. If only it had one.

Other winners in Savannah included The First Saturday in May and The Singing Revolution, which tied for the documentary award, and Bill Plympton's Shuteye Hotel, which won best animation. First Saturday also picked up a producer award for co-directors/producers John Hennegan and Brad Hennegan and Singing Revolution also won the jury prize. Screenwriter David Benioff, whose adaptation The Kite Runner was screened at the fest, was honored with a non-competition award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinema.

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've always been a bit hard on Edward Burns, but only because I think he has potential as a filmmaker. In my opinion, there's no one else out there right now who knows how to capture New York the way Eddie does. The man lives for this city; it is, and will always be, his muse. However, because he always insists upon wearing so many different hats (writer, director, star and sometimes producer) during each of his films, something always suffers. And as I've approached each one, I sort of go in wondering what Eddie will screw up this time. Will it be a poorly-written script? Wooden acting? Bad direction? All of the above? That being said, I'm happy to report that Purple Violets is his best film since The Brothers McMullen (the 1995 Sundance hit that helped launch Eddie's career behind the camera). It's genuine, it's from the heart and -- I can't believe I'm saying this about an Edward Burns film -- it includes terrific performances from well-written female characters.

When I told a friend of mine that I was going to see the new Eddie Burns film Purple Violets, they were immediately turned off -- as if a bad odor had just entered the room. "You mean, Eddie directed a film called Purple Violets? I don't get it, did he have a sex change operation? Is he now a woman? What's up with that girly title?" For those that love Eddie for his take on masculine Irish-American life in the blue-collar suburbs of New York, Purple Violets might not go down as smoothly as that pint of Coors Light. Yet, the beauty of this film lies in its title. Purple and violet are often confused as being the same color, but they're not. It's almost like meeting someone with whom you were friends with 12 years ago, and trying to re-establish the same type of relationship you had with them back then. However, they've changed, you've changed and while on the surface you both kind of look the same, inside you're both very different people. Thus is the premise for Purple Violets: Four old friends reunite after 12 years apart, while attempting to heal old wounds and ignite new memories.

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.