A look inside Hollywood and the movies. : THE FABULOUS BALDWIN BROTHERS : Meanwhile, Alec Is Headed South for Bayou Action

Meanwhile, William’s older brother Alec Baldwin has plans to develop one of mystery writer James Lee Burke’s novels, with Baldwin starring as the flawed, philosophical former New Orleans cop and Vietnam vet Dave Robicheaux.

Baldwin and his producing partner Hildy Gottlieb have optioned Burke’s 1988 “Heaven’s Prisoners.” The Edgar Award-winning Burke, considered one of the hottest mystery writers around, says that Baldwin had originally optioned one of his later novels, 1990’s “A Morning for Flamingos,” and that he had been hired to write the screenplay. “The difficulty I had was trying to squeeze all the material into a screenplay,” says Burke, whose latest novel, “A Stained White Radiance,” has just been published. “It was like trying to pack a hippopotamus into a telephone booth.”

According to Burke, Baldwin and Gottlieb shifted gears and decided to option “Heaven’s Prisoners” instead and hired “Twin Peaks” writer Harley Peyton to adapt the book. Even so, Burke says he had a good experience in Hollywood, including his working with Baldwin. “I always heard these terrible stories about writers out in Hollywood and how they were treated lower than gravel on the road,” he says. “But my experience was just great.”

When “Heaven’s Prisoners” might go into production is anybody’s guess--Baldwin and Gottlieb’s Meadowbrook Films is headquartered at Orion Pictures, which Burke calls “the Titanic of the film industry.”

According to Burke’s agent, Patricia Karlin, there’s been interest from Hollywood in Burke’s novels for some time. “I always counseled Jim that he should wait for the right actor,” says Karlin. “There was another well-known television actor who wanted to option the books, but we didn’t think he had the right image, even though a lot of studios would have backed him.” (One actor rumored to be interested was John Larroquette of TV’s “Night Court.”)

“Based on the purchase of the novel and the character, Burke became much more well-known around town,” says former Orion production vice president Michael Schulman, who’s currently a vice president at Summers-Quaid Productions. “The books were covered by all the studios and they got great response.”

HBO Pictures Vice President Hutch Parker, who was also at Orion during that time, agrees: “Right after we bought the books, I got numerous calls from people saying they had wanted to buy the rights. I got the sense at the time that a lot of people seemed to find James Lee Burke at the same time.”

Burke, a former English professor at Wichita State University, thinks Baldwin, who’s currently appearing on Broadway in “A Streetcar Named Desire,” is the right choice for the role. “He’ll make a great Robicheaux,” said Burke from his home in Missoula, Mont. “Alec is actually younger than the character in the book, but he can look older and he’s great with dialects.”

According to Gottlieb, she has had numerous inquiries from other studios about the project, but she will have to wait until the Orion situation is straightened out. “If somebody buys Orion and they’re interested, then we’ll go ahead,” says Gottlieb, who’s waiting for Peyton’s first draft of the screenplay. “Otherwise, they’ll put it into turnaround and I’ll go somewhere else. This will get made someplace. James Lee Burke has a lot of fans out there.”

According to Parker, there’s a good chance the project could end up at TriStar. He points to the fact that TriStar President Marc Platt was at Orion when the deal was made. “He’s big fan of the books and a big fan of Burke’s,” says Parker. “I would have to assume that it’s a strong shot. It wouldn’t surprise me if it ended up there.”

Says Schulman: “If Orion doesn’t make the film, other studios will probably become interested. It’s subject to a lot of other factors, though. A lot of it will depend on Alec Baldwin’s marketability at the time.”