Sandman Film Might be Put Back to Bed
The Sandman, if you’ve never heard of it, is frequently lauded as one of the greatest comic book series ever made, often mentioned alongside titans like Watchmen and Maus. Written by the weaver of tales, Neil Gaiman, and first published in 1989, The Sandman tells the story of Dream, an eternal, immortal fixture of reality, and his struggles and triumphs over the millennia of his existence.
The series ceased publication in 1993, when Gaiman felt that the story was at it’s end, and since then, many have tried, and failed at adapting the epic to movie and television. Recently, Warner Bros. tried their hand at a film version, stating in 2013 that David Goyer and Joseph Gordon-Levitt would be producing the movie.
Much like the previous projects focused on adapting The Sandman to screen, the current one is losing momentum. In March of 2016, Gordon-Levitt ejected from the project, taking with him much of the excitement and zeal of both fans of the series and his work. Now, Eric Heisserer, the presumptive screenwriter for the infant movie, has openly announced in an interview with IGN his dissatisfaction with film as a medium for portraying The Sandman.
“I’ve done about a year’s worth of work on that and I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t believe it can be adapted into a film, or if it can I’m not the person to make it one. I think the best version of it is as a series, and therefore I am recommending that they fire me.”
This comes as an enormous disappointment to those of us who were thrilled to hear of the films production, since something like The Sandman, so powerful and important to the history of comics and graphic novels, deserves respect and careful attention to detail.
Maybe Heisserer is correct in his assertion and The Sandman is just too enormous of a story to be accurately put to the screen. In 2007, Gaiman said, “I’d rather see no Sandman movie made than a bad Sandman movie.”
What do you think of these recent developments? Are you as sad to hear about Heisserer’s assessment as we are? Let us know in the comments below, and stick with DFTG as we track the progress, (or lack there of) on the upcoming Sandman movie.
Joshua Hogg73 Posts
Depending on who you ask, Josh's obsession with video games may or may not be entirely healthy. Frequently bankrupting himself to get the next fix, he indiscriminately jumps from game to game, perhaps searching for that perfect title that will leave him eternally satisfied.
