David Goyer Gives Update on SANDMAN Movie Script and Production Timeline
David Goyer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Neil Gaiman's feature film adaptation of Sandman is inching closer to production. Gordon-Levitt has been very vocal about the project, and earlier this year he talked about how it has been a complicated adaptation, and discussed how the film would be mind-blowingly awesome.
The movie is being developed at New Line Cinema, which is the WB production company that will be taking on all the Vertigo comic book properties. During an interview with Collider, Goyer offered an update on the project and said that they've brought in “a really fantastic writer" that fans "will enjoy” to write a new draft of the script. He also says that he hopes the film will go into production next year. Here's what he said:
"We’re just about to do a new draft. All of the Vertigo properties ported over to New Line a few months ago. There was a decision from the higher-ups that New Line would focus on the Vertigo properties and Warner Bros would focus on the DC properties. So we’re just starting a re-write with a really fantastic writer that fans of your site will enjoy that’s coming aboard, but I can’t quite announce it yet.
"I think that the Vertigo properties are a bit more quirky and off-center than kind of the mainstream superhero stuff at Warners. But I understand the decision because we’re not having to fight for release dates with the Vertigo stuff like we would have been having to do over at Warner Bros. But I feel confident that film will go into production hopefully next year."
I'm curious to know who this mystery screenwriter is. Hopefully, whoever it is has a great take on the property. This could be such an awesome movie if done right, and I don't think Gordon-Levitt would be a part of it if it wasn't.
The Sandman comic series was originally created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. But it wasn't until Gaiman came along and gave us his version of the comic that it really exploded. The 75+ issue comic arc ran from January of 1989 to March of 1996. WB has been trying to get a movie made since 1996, and it's about time that it finally happened.
The story focuses on Morpheus, the Lord of the Dreaming, a deity who personifies dreams. Gaiman also introduced the Endless, a group of powerful brothers and sisters named Destiny, Death, Destruction, Despair, Desire, and Delirium (as well as Dream).