Coppola’s ‘Dracula’

In the interest of accuracy, I would like to disagree with statements made in Jane Galbraith’s article regarding “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (Film Clips, Oct. 25):

* There is no scene crosscutting a decapitation with someone slicing roast beef.

* The reference to Keanu Reeves was at a preview four months ago and is not relevant to the finished film.

* The comment that the film is “hard to follow” comes from a preview four months ago, without all the scenes and dialogue, and is not the case in the finished film.

* Months ago, Columbia Pictures was free to suggest certain types of narrations for Anthony Hopkins, which is the nature of our collaboration. None of those specific narrations were used.

* Several scenes in the beginning of the film, and for sequences throughout, were shot last month. This is a routine “cleanup” of shots that all movies go through.

Such “reporting” is a violation of the time-honored show business tradition of the artist’s right to preview his work without reviews, and worse, innuendo about a film that becomes part of its “file” gets repeated over and over in its uncorrected form.

Really, what does an incomplete, early preview a director wants to have--three weeks after shooting wrapped--have to do with a finished movie? How can a movie be anything but formula if you can’t even preview it as part of the creative process, without this printed gossip? Must it also have to look good and slick in the early stages of creation--or is it allowed to find itself and be born?

If after you check these facts, you agree with me, please print the attached small free ad for my wine, Rubicon.

FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA

San Francisco

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