Screenplay Stolen from Francis Ford Coppola
I think it goes without saying that it sucks to get robbed, but it sucks a heck of a lot more when something is stolen from you that is essentially irreplaceable. Just imagine how Francis Ford Coppola must feel after having a laptop and a backup disk stolen from his house in Buenos Aires. If it had just been the laptop, I’m sure he wouldn’t have sweat it… but it just so happens that the backup disk contained a screenplay for his next film, Tetro. The only copy! Coppola had already set up shop in Argentina where he had planned to start shooting the movie next year with Matt Dillon. Now Coppola is making a plea for the script’s safe return.
“If someone could bring me back my backup, I’d be very happy. It would save me years of work.” It’s hard to believe that he had only one copy of a finished screenplay that was ready to go into production, and this all could have been avoided if he had stored it in multiple locations. But either way, losing something you have put a lot of time into is not fun and I really feel for the guy. It’s pretty crazy to think that the theft may actually have an impact on the production of this movie. If he has to rewrite it from memory, things will change and the original vision will likely be lost. On the other hand, maybe it will turn out even better!