Coppola Computer-Napping Not So Bueno

Thu., Sep. 27, 2007 10:17 AM PDT by Gina Serpe

Forget the mattresses. When a group of thieves burgled the house of Francis Ford Coppola, they went straight to the laptop.

A group of five Argentineans broke into the Oscar-winning director's Buenos Aires home late Wednesday, making off with a stash of electronics equipment, including a computer on which the filmmaker was storing ideas for a forthcoming movie.

"Coppola is very sad and the only thing he's asked for is to get back his computer, which is essential for him and his work," one of the director's employees, who did not identify himself, told a local television station Thursday.

In addition to the priceless laptop, which contained information pertaining to Tetro, a film Coppola is currently prepping to film in Argentina early next year, a couple other computers and several pieces of digital equipment, including a camera, were swiped.

The veteran vintner was not at home at the time of the break-in, but at least one member of his production crew was present and injured during the robbery. Coppola has been living in the Argentine capital while working on preproduction for the upcoming film.

The 68-year-old Godfather auteur announced plans to helm Tetro earlier this year, making it his second directing gig in a year after a decade-long absence from working behind the camera.

Coppola also wrote the drama, which is scheduled to begin filming in February for a 2009 release. Matt Dillon stars in the story of an artistic immigrant family battling generations of fierce rivalries.

In announcing the project earlier this year, the director said he chose Buenos Aires for the film as nearly one-third of the city's residents are descendants of Italian immigrants. He also said the story would be reminiscent of his own life and family history in New York.

Meanwhile, the director recently wrapped production on Youth Without Youth. Coppola's would-be comeback film stars Tim Roth and is based on a novella by Mircea Eliade about a World War II-era Romanian professor who is struck by lightning and born anew, becoming physically impervious to the passing of time.

That film is due out Dec. 14.