Guy Who Took Out Newspaper Ad to Pitch ‘Die Hard’ Sequel Gets a Movie Deal

When we last checked in with the odd saga of Eric D. Wilkinson, things had left off on a rather bleak note. The independent filmmaker with the gumption to spend his savings on a full-page ad pitching a Die Hard sequel in The Hollywood Reporter back in November recently expressed doubt that his efforts would ever amount to much of anything, saying “I’m not going to hear from them… This is going to trend for a couple days, and then I’m going to go back to doing what it is that I do.” With Bruce Willis seemingly uninterested in the far-off possibility of yet another Die Hard film, Wilkinson’s dream was all but dead in the water. And while it’s true that he won’t go on to direct a new Die Hard movie, the ad was far from futile for this determined filmmaker.

Movies.com has the scoop today that Wilkinson’s unusual gambit has netted him an entirely different movie deal. Producer Avi Lerner (the man responsible for The Expendables) has approached Wilkinson to direct a film through Eclectic Pictures, and Wilkinson has selected the mythical Jersey Devil as his subject.

Working from a script reportedly titled The Devil, Wilkinson and his writing partner Richard Schenkman have promised “something bigger, badder, and scarier than anything you could possibly imagine.” That’s a pretty tall order for this cryptozoological beast to fill, though the winged-goat-body monstrosity certainly sounds horrifying on paper. Account offer conflicting descriptions of what this creature might look like, with some claiming it has the body of kangaroo and only the head of a goat, with the leathery wings of a bat, as well as both clawed hands and cloven hooves. And, for good measure, a forked tail. This thing, genetically speaking, is a disaster.

Whether this The Devil project will turn out well or not is almost beyond the point in this rare instance; Wilkinson’s ability to get Hollywood to listen through sheer force of will (and a considerable ad expenditure) will be heartening for the countless struggling writers sitting frustrated at America’s Starbucks franchises.