Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.

Okay, goddammit... we’ve finally got one of the great American maverick filmmakers up and running again, with his new film YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH just around the corner and him already planning to work again, and then this happens:

Five armed burglars broke into Francis Ford Coppola's Buenos Aires HQ on Wednesday, subdued a collaborator of the filmmaker and stole a camera and computers.Helmer, whose upcoming pic is "Youth Without Youth," was not in at the time, but the stolen computers had the script for his next production, police said Thursday. The house in the artsy, leafy district of Palermo doubles as the base for his production outfit in Argentina. A Coppola spokeswoman in the capital told the Argentine media that a reward would be offered for the return of the script and "a lot of the creative work" on the computer. The thieves also took the backup copy of the contents. Coppola is preparing to shoot early next year the Argentine family saga "Tetro" with Matt Dillon toplining. Coppola, who also penned the screenplay, will produce through his American Zoetrope shingle. Story revolves around an artistic immigrant family marred by fierce rivalries handed down through several generations.

I don’t think I’ve heard a word before today about TETRO, but I’m officially excited now. I’ve always enjoyed it when Coppola has collaborated with Matt Dillon in the past, and Dillon’s a hell of a lot better now as an actor than he was back then. And it sounds like another personal story for Coppola, which is exactly what he should be doing now that he’s rekindled his love for filmmaking.

I pray that the people who took all this stuff realize that they didn’t just take a computer, but instead took creative work, something that can’t easily be duplicated. I hope they return his materials so that Coppola doesn’t lose any ground and so he doesn’t get discouraged. It would be a real loss if something as stupid as a burglary derailed this picture. Here’s hoping this one has a happy ending, and soon.

Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles