BUDDYBEAT Corrente pursuing screenplay for Cianci movie BY IAN DONNIS

Director Michael Corrente is moving ahead with plans to make the cinematic version of Providence Journal reporter Mike Stanton’s The Prince of Providence: The True Story of Buddy Cianci, America’s Most Notorious Mayor, Some Wiseguys, and the Feds. Stanton says Corrente, who first came to the attention of cineastes with Federal Hill, his Mean Streets-like mid-’90s debut, is talking with screenwriters and that after the development of a script, "everything will fall into place."

Although Corrente, a Rhode Island native and distant relative of Frank Corrente, one of Cianci’s Plunder Dome co-defendants, has various projects in progress, "Michael has said he plans to make this the next movie he directs," Stanton says. "He’s got a lot of good things happening, and this is one that’s near and dear to him."

For aficionados of Rhode Island’s distinctive brand of politics, the story of Cianci — who came to be widely seen as the architect of the much-ballyhooed Providence renaissance before being convicted of racketeering conspiracy and imprisoned — seems to offer the potential for celluloid gold. Asked about his preference for an actor to play the starring role, Stanton says, "I’ve always loved Robert De Niro, and he’s been a guy who’s expressed interest through his partner at Tribeca [Entertainment], Jane Rosenthal, who’s a native Rhode Islander." Stanton adds that Rosenthal is not officially involved in the project.

Given Corrente’s track record, Stanton, the head of the Journal’s four-person investigative team, believes the director would want to shoot a good part of the movie in Rhode Island. Still, given the lengthy delays that sometimes dog productions, Stanton says, "I’ve tried not to even think about it too much," because of the unpredictable timetable for turning a concept into a movie.

The Prince of Providence, which has gone into its eighth printing since being published last summer by Random House, offers a thorough look at Cianci’s life and times. And even though Cianci, who has filed an appeal of his conviction, is not due to be released from prison until roughly 2007, he remains a source of intrigue for political junkies near and far. Stanton recalls speaking on a book tour to the Political Animals Club in Little Rock, Arkansas. "A lot of these people were friends of Bill Clinton," he says, and they were fascinated by the comedic and tragic elements of Cianci’s story. Similarly, the National Public Radio humor program Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me recently made use of several Cianci-related trivia questions.

Asked how things have changed locally since Cianci was imprisoned in December 2002, Stanton says, "It’s hard to say. When you look at some of the scandals up at the State House, you could say we’re still not lacking for materials or subjects." Still, he adds, "I think Buddy has really gone from being present tense to past tense."