Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who recently played a major role in Chris Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, has signed on to work on another comics adaptation – this time as a producer and director. He is teaming up with screenwriter David S. Goyer (known for Blade and Nolans Batman trilogy) to produce an adaptation of Neil Gamain’s Sandman, the acclaimed Vertigo comic, for Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment. So far there’s no word on wether Gordon-Levitt will be in the movie as an actor, but perhaps we’ll see him as Morpheus himself? He certainly has experience with working inside a dream through his role in Inception and has proved himself a very capable director with this year’s Don Jon.
Sandman is yet another graphic novel of epic proportions to be transported to the screen in recent years. The adaptation of Alan Moore’s Watchmen got massive critizism, not just because Zack Snyder was directing, but simply because many believed it sacrilege to tamper with the perfect genius of the source material. So far there doesn’t seem to be flame wars going on concerning Sandman, but what are your thoughts? Is Sandman “unfilmable” or can Hollywood do it justice?
Could be good without Goyer… he destroyed man of steel with his writing :/
Not many people I know liked Man of Steel. Don’t know if it was the writing they didn’t like. I rather enjoyed it, especially because Zod was a villain whose motivations for once made perfect sense. That’s not an easy thing to write your way out of!
Anyway, it’s hard to tell who is to blame if a movie turns out less than perfect. The bigger and more expensive, the more executives and other decision makers tend to meddle. The script rarely ends up on the screen.
I feel that the strange and ethereal nature of the sandman world will be very difficult to pull off without being just a special effects maze. Part of what makes the Sandman story great is the reality of the world. Fantastic things happen in Sandman but all within the back drop of our “normal” world. If the movie creators can keep the sensation of the numinous interacting with not just a comic book world (or movie world), but our reality, then it could be really fantastic. CGI is a wonderful tool, but real sets with real dirt and grit are necessary for the CGI to create wonder. I am very intrigued but after the colossal flops of some of my favorite stories (Ender’s Game comes to mind) I will not be holding my breath.
Palle said: “The bigger and more expensive, the more executives and other decision makers tend to meddle” You nailed it. Do the Hollywood producers understand the magic of The Sandman? Hmmm….