Joseph Gordon-Levitt said that progress on the big screen adaptation of the comic series “The Sandman” is progressing at a “slow but steady” pace.
“It’s a really complicated adaptation because those comics, they’re brilliant,” Gordon-Levitt said in an interview with MTV at Spike’s Guy’s Choice Awards on Sunday. “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,” he continued. “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.”
The actor who made his directorial debut in 2013 with “Don Jon” also said the film will not rely on comic book movie cliches.
“Big spectacular action movies are generally about crime fighters fighting crime and blowing shit up,” he said. “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.”
“The Sandman” was published by DC Comics imprint Vertigo. The series focused on Morpheus, the king of dreams, as he attempts to rebuild his kingdom after being held prisoner for 70 years.
Gordon-Levitt is attached to direct the project, as well as produce alongside David S. Goyer. Jack Thorne is writing the script.
