NIGHTMARES.

Come September, Tim Blake Nelson said he was 'in' as Jake Adams, and it was almost sure that David Arquette would play the part of Josh. David's manager Steven Siebert loved the project. He and Howard Cohen (UTA) became great resources whenever we encountered complex legal issues. We kept updating Dirk-Jan and Tonneke about all the things that happened. Many weekends, they came over from Holland. We had a lot of ideas. It looked like we were close to realizing our dream. Then, the events of September 11th hit. Instantly, our dream became an absurd little thought in that context. Maybe this was no longer something worth to pursue. A few days later Tim called from the Toronto film festival where he and David Arquette had gotten stuck. Chances were very slim that he or David would still fly to Russia. He would talk it over with David, but wasn't very optimistic.
I called Dirk-Jan to update him about the situation. He still wanted to pursue the project, and started to brainstorm about the options left. 'If they still decide to fly, there is nothing that can stop us anymore:' he concluded. A few weeks later Tim called with good news. He and David were still planning to go with us to St Petersburg. We would leave in December.
I called Dirk-Jan. He was excited. We brainstormed a few hours about the latest version of the script. He wanted to plan a meeting with everybody involved. This would happen in LA. A couple days later his wife called. Dirk-Jan had passed away that night, from a heart attack.
Again the dream we shared became unimportant, almost ridiculous. It was hard to realize how life would be without this friend I had known for almost my whole life. Dirk-Jan was this Dutch giant (standing at almost 7 feet tall), who had been struggling with heart disease for many years, yet he had an unbeatably positive outlook on live. He had already survived 3 major heart surgeries. His illness was still there but it seemed like it would never really get to him.
He was a main power that embraced and carried this project from its conception. Quitting the project seemed to be our only logical option. A few days later, we attended the funeral in Holland. It all seemed very unreal.

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