Ed Burns talks Derek Sanderson, Brothers McMullen

Director-writer-actor Edward Burns chatted with us about his Derek Sanderson biopic on Wednesday. Burns promised during a brief phone call that the movie is still in the works. It just might take a while. “That’s the nature of the beast with this,” said Burns, who plans to play the father of the Bruins legend in the film. “The script is being rewritten now, and it’s a great script. Once that draft is done, the big thing we have to get done is to find an actor to play Derek.” When we started to pry about the story line, Burns added: “It starts with him as a kid. It goes through all the great Boston moments.”

Burns was really calling to tell us about his latest film, “The Fitzgerald Family Christmas,” a family dramedy that will be shown at the Little Cinema at the Berkshire Museum and at the Plimoth Cinema starting Friday night (the movie is also available On Demand on Comcast). The movie reunited Burns with his actor friends from his 17-year-old indie hit “The Brothers McMullen.” He said that he and Golden Globe nominee Connie Britton, who got her start with Burns and eventually made her way to “Friday Night Lights” and “Nashville,” are talking about reprising their “McMullen” characters in a new film for the 20th anniversary. Burns admitted that the now-veteran cast enjoyed having some maturity on “Fitzgerald” set. “The most dramatic difference was that we knew what we were doing this time around. We could all come at this process with a lot more experience, a lot more knowledge, and a lot less fear.”