I’m not ashamed to admit that I just let out a bit of a fan boy squeal when I found out that there are early meetings going on to potentially bring ‘Sandman’ to the big screen. Neil Gaiman is hands down one of my favorite authors with his own unique take on storytelling and ‘Sandman‘ was one of, if not the, a defining moment in his career. Now, it looks as if David Goyer (‘Man of Steel‘, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’) has pitched Warner Brothers his own take on a ‘Sandman’ movie and the company is sounding extremely interested. It probably helps that Geoff Johns who is the driving force behind DC in Hollywood is fully backing the feature.

On top of that it sounds like they even have the role of Morpheus cast as Joseph Gordon-Levitt (‘Looper‘, ‘Third Rock from the Sun’)!

Needless to say according to the early news this is by no means is a done deal. It’s still apparently in the very earliest stages of development but if Goyer and Johns are both on board, it’s only natural to assume that Gaiman won’t be too far behind. Now, there have been multiple attempts to date at a ‘Sandman’ movie and at one point even a television show but nothing has ever been able to be finalized before. Of course, ‘Preacher‘ had the same problem and was just picked up for a pilot television show.

With the continued success of ‘The Walking Dead‘ and films like ‘World War Z‘ it just feels like studios are willing to take a chance on darker material and ‘Sandman’ fits the bill. With such a rich history, it’s hard to know where in the ‘Sandman’ universe they will pickup from. There’s always the first tale that’s out there but with a prequel being written and many of the later stories being more interesting, we might not be watching him trying to regain his throne.

The one main draw for the first book being made, though, is spelled out in the description itself:

In PRELUDES & NOCTURNES, an occultist attempting to capture Death to bargain for eternal life traps her younger brother Dream instead. After his 70 year imprisonment and eventual escape, Dream, also known as Morpheus, goes on a quest for his lost objects of power. On his arduous journey Morpheus encounters Lucifer, John Constantine, and an all-powerful madman.

With DC wanting to cash in on a cohesive universe and Guillermo del Toro (‘Pacific Rim‘) working on a Dark Justice League film that will include John Constantine, this would be an easy tie in by grabbing whoever del Toro casts in the role. Instant larger DC universe connection, right there.

So Gaiman fans, where in the ‘Sandman’ universe would you want the film to enter in at? Would you want to go back to the very beginning or is there a story line later on that you think would be a better attention grabber for an audience mostly just being introduced to the character?

Source: Bad Ass Digest