When we last checked in with Sandman earlier this summer, it was part of a split within Warner Bros. that had sent it to the studio’s sibling, New Line Cinema. Sandman, based off Neil Gaiman’s comic series that follows Morpheus, who is basically the god of dreams (in addition to being called "Morpheus" and "Sandman", he's also called "Dream"). It’s an amazing, powerful series with an emphasis on the series, so naturally, Warner Bros. has been working for years to turn it into a movie.
The latest attempt is coming from director Joseph Gordon-Levitt and producer David Goyer. Steve recently spoke with Goyer at the press day for Da Vinci’s Demons and got an update on the project. Goyer teased that "a really fantastic writer that fans of your site will enjoy" has come on board to do a new draft, provided a bit more on the New Line-Vertigo/WB-DC split, and when he hopes the movie will go into production:
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And here’s the transcript of Goyer’s remarks:
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.
But should it? I’m very curious about this writer, but with Y: The Last Man, another Veritgo series, going into development at FX now that the rights have reverted back to co-creator Brian K. Vaughan, I can’t help but feel like the better movie with Sandman is to try and find it a way to television. It’s a story that’s vast and weird and requires a lot of set-up that a film won’t have time to do.
Hopefully, Goyer, Gordon-Levitt, and this new mystery writer have a solid take for a film adaptation because it seems like they’re dead set on bringing Dream to the big screen whether he should be there or not.
