ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Mutual has not hired Rand Ravich to Direct SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE VENGENCE OF DRACULA... INSTEAD they hired this genius to begin REWRITTING and doing SCRIPTWORK on the film. Afterall, his amazing writing on CANDYMAN 2: FAREWELL TO THE FLESH and THE ASTRONAUT'S WIFE demonstrate his... ahem.... AMAAAAZING talent. The script on this film as written by Michael B Valle was fantastic! READY TO SHOOT! Sigh... I've got a baaad feeling about this!

I could not be any more frustrated at this moment in time. One of my new connections I made at LOSCON just dropped me a call at 5:35am this morning. Rather odd time to call, but then I keep rather odd vampiric hours in which to work. It seems that she/he/it had some juicy scoop for me. Turns out one of my all time favorite scripts, SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE VENGENCE OF DRACULA, in the hands of MUTUAL FILMS has found one of the very few SUPERSMARTY DIRECTORS to helm this potential masterpiece.

Here is a director so good as to direct Johnny Depp... one of the absolute best young actors on the planet... to what may very well be his WORST PERFORMANCE EVER!!! Not only that, but he managed to take a fairly simple by the numbers suspense film... and turn it into paint drying upon a West Texas fence. He made Charlize Theron nudity boring... THINK ABOUT THAT!

Now, given the sterling boxoffice aluminum foil performance, MUTUAL in their INFINITE wisdom have decided to place one of the very VERY FEW jewels they have in their development shelves and in a desperate beat the strike mentality are contemplating... mere pen strokes away from making a very very bad choice here.

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE VENGENCE OF DRACULA should go in a very competent director's hands... someone that has some sort of GOOD BACKGROUND. Someone who has made something more than a BOXOFFICE and CRITICAL BOMB.

MUTUAL, if you are listening... don't rush this film into production. Get the right people behind it. Take it slow. I know your company is on shaky ground, but this is the exact same sort of addleminded decision that caused Carolco to greenlight CUTTHROAT ISLAND instead of a Verhoeven/Arnold CRUSADE and ultimately doomed their company. Get Joe Dante! Wait for Chris Columbus! Do anything but let the guy that only has a 16 minute black and white OINK film and ASTRONAUT'S WIFE on his resume to kill this thing. Talk to Barry Levinson! Scripts this good are not to be trifled with... not to be handed to the next guy standing in line. You go with your first choice, and then make the film around his/her schedule. Can you guys honestly look at ASTRONAUT'S WIFE and say... "I WANT THIS GUY TO MAKE THIS MOVIE?"

As for Virgil, you keep the news coming from all that cold inky blackness that you are so utterly alone in. We knew this was a one way ticket.