With ‘Sandman‘ being such a long running series with many story arcs you may wonder how they plan to make a stand alone ‘Sandman’ film. In a recent interview with MTV, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is answering that exact question and so much more.
While we won’t be seeing any casting details or exactly which plot (or plots) are set to be included in his adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s classic series, Gordon-Levitt does share his vision and how he is selecting what they’ll be filming. The one downside that you can take away from this is that it sounds as if they’re still so early in pre-production that we are likely years away from actually seeing this show up on the big screen.
When asked how the film was progressing Gordon-Levitt says:
“It’s really good, man. It’s slow but steady. It’s a really complicated adaptation because those comics, they’re brilliant. But they’re not written as a whole. It’s not like ‘Watchmen,’ which is a graphic novel that has a beginning, middle, and end. ‘Sandman’ was written over the course of whatever — I forget exactly, six or seven years. One at a time. One little 20-page issue at a time. And to try to take that and make it into something that’s a feature film — a movie that has a beginning, middle, and end — is complicated.”
This is very true. Even with compiling ‘Sandman’ stories together, most of them are far more of a giant cohesive work than stand alone stories. That isn’t to say there aren’t plenty of stand alone stories to work off of, but depending which parts Gordon-Levitt wants to see on the big screen, that could be quite tricky to have to pick through. That being said, he does have a solid idea of what he wants to see in the film and it will be a far cry from the comic adaptations that are currently being made. Here’s what he reveals movie goers won’t see in the film:
“Big spectacular action movies are generally about crime fighters fighting crime and blowing sh-t up. This has nothing to do with that, and it was actually one of the things that Neil Gaiman said to me, he said ‘Don’t have any punching.’ Because he never does. If you read the comics, Morpheus doesn’t punch anybody. That’s not what he does.”
Clearly they will be taking a different route than Marvel and DC has been doing. However, anyone who has read the comics should already be expecting that. What kind of action could we expect to see?
“It’s going to be like a grand spectacular action film, but that relies on none of those same old ordinary cliches. So, that’s why it’s taking a lot time to write, but it’s going to be really good.”
Personally I’m really curious as to what story or set of stories that they plan to adapt for this. Gaiman’s work has a strong following even if his characters aren’t quite as well known as the superheroes out there so an origin story would have to somehow be included. Honestly, I just wish it wasn’t so far away before seeing it on the big screen.
What are your thoughts on the feel that Gordon-Levitt is going for in ‘Sandman’? Do you think we’ll be in for something special or is this so far out that you don’t even have it on your radar yet? Share your thoughts below!
You can check out the interview below:
