It was revealed nearly one year ago that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is planning to direct and star in a big screen adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s comic book masterpiece Sandman. Today, the filmmaker offered an update on the Vertigo project by way of a Reddit AMA.
“Been doing a lot of work with David Goyer and Jack Thorne,” says The Dark Knight Rises star, “working on the screenplay. We’ve been doing our meetings at the DC office, which is a frickin rad place to work. Also just had a great conversation last week with David and Mr. Gaiman. Neil has been extremely big hearted with me, and he’s the one I want to please most.”
Goyer, meanwhile, offered his own update to Deadline, revealing that a first draft of the screenplay has already been turned in to Warner Bros.
“I hesitate to definitively say when it might go before the cameras,” says Goyer, “but the one thing different between other iterations and ours is that Neil Gaiman has been in the room with us and is a vital part of the team. We have a draft Warners is very happy with and we’re moving forward, knock on wood.”
Sandman, which launched DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint, ran for 75 issues beginning in 1989. Gaiman’s worlds-within-worlds weaved an episodic anthology, focusing on the allegorical character of Dream and his brothers and sisters, known as the Endless (Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium, Destruction and Destiny).
Gordon-Levitt made his directorial debut in 2013 with Don Jon. The film, which he both wrote and headlines, also stars Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza and Brie Larson.
