Ever since Joseph Gordon-Levitt was announced as star and director of the DC/Vertigo comic book movie SANDMAN, fans have been cautiously optimistic. There have been regular status updates letting us know the film is chugging along, but there has yet to be an official production start date or even a release date. In this day and age of movies being scheduled years in advance, this likely has given some fans pause. But, Gordon-Levitt says there is no reason to worry.
In an interview with MTV at the Spike TV Guys Choice Awards, Gordon-Levitt explained that condensing SANDMAN into a feature film is difficult because the stories do not have a defined beginning, middle, and end. While the Neil Gaiman penned series ran for over 75 issues, it does have more of a hazy overall plot. There are distinct story arcs collected as graphic novels, but it is not your traditional narrative.
"Big spectacular action movies are generally about, like, crime fighters fighting crime and blowing shit up. This has nothing to do with that. It was actually one of the things that Neil Gaiman said to me, he said 'Don’t have him punch anything.’ Because he never does. If you read the comics, Morpheus doesn’t punch anybody. That’s not what he does. And so, it’s going to be like a grand, spectacular action film, but that relies on none of those same old ordinary cliches."
Technically, there is not a lot of action in SANDMAN as it is more of an existential drama. Sure, there are elements of horror and fantasy, but the comic is more about the dialogue exchanges between characters. I am still not convinced if a single SANDMAN feature can stand on it's own, especially if Warner Bros is marketing it as a blockbuster comic book adaptation, but it could make for a pretty amazing movie if done correctly.
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