Over the weekend during a Q & A at the San Jose Cinquest Film Festival, Neil Gaiman revealed he will be meeting with Joseph Gordon-Levitt today about his SANDMAN adaptation. Doesn't seem like that big of a deal, right? What's interesting is Gaiman's comments about his upcoming meeting. He sounds pretty excited Gordon-Levitt, David S. Goyer and writer Jack Thorne are attached to the project (which is a fantastic sign in my opinion), and it appears the filmmakers are interested in doing more than one SANDMAN movie.
"Joseph Gordon-Levitt, of all people, is an enormous 'Sandman' fan. He and David Goyer talked about it, they've come up, I believe, with a treatment of what they want the story of the first movie to be. They are talking to an incredible writer [Jack Thorne], who I coincidentally already knew. He did the movie script for 'The Ocean at the End of the Lane,' so I've met him and loved his treatment of my work. And Wednesday afternoon I will be spending with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and talking 'Sandman'! That's pretty much everything I know. Now you know as much as I know."
Although Neil Gaiman seems optimistic about the adaptation, this isn't the first attempt at bringing his comic to the big screen, and he isn't convinced yet it will actually happen this time.
"There was a saying when I was a kid in Sussex: 'I've lived too near the woods too long to be frightened by an owl.' Right now there is exciting 'Sandman' stuff happening, but I can't help thinking that I've been here before –"
With Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David S. Goyer and Jack Thorne working on the project, and Neil Gaiman sounding pleased with the results so far, maybe we will finally get a SANDMAN movie that moves beyond the "in development" stage. It seems like they have big plans for SANDMAN, and hopefully we'll get to learn more about their vision for the adaptation in the near future.