There was news a number of years ago that "RoboCop" director Paul Verhoeven was hired on to helm a sequel to "The Thomas Crown Affair," which would see the return of original star Pierce Brosnan. Later, word emerged that Angelina Jolie would star opposite Brosnan. Then... nothing. No word, no developments. Nada. So when Verhoeven stopped by the newsroom earlier this week to promote his new book, "Jesus of Nazareth," MTV's Josh Horowitz asked for an update on the long-in-development project.

"No, I am not [involved] anymore," Verhoeven said. "Things happened there, the regime changed. The initial ideas that they had about 'Thomas Crown 2' were interesting I thought. There was a script written by two young writers that used the fact that now we're living 15, 20 years later."

So what happened?

"Ultimately, [the studio] decided not to [use] that script anymore. Then there was a regime change. And basically I felt that I could not follow [on the project]," he concluded.

Now this news doesn't necessarily mean that a "Thomas Crown" sequel is off. Verhoeven is out, but Brosnan could still be in. And maybe another director's been found, or being looked for. Verhoeven's moved onto other things now though. Like a video game adaptation, presumably of "Prince of Persia" creator Jordan Mechner's PC classic, "The Last Express."