Watchmen and Sandman. These are the two books you give someone who shows an interest in getting comic books. Sure, you could include The Dark Knight Returns, Cerebus, and, in recent years at least, Saga, but those two have changed hands the most when it comes to someone popping their graphic novel cherry. Watchmen was, of course, brought to the big screen a few years ago, and after years of being stuck in development hell, a Sandman movie looked like a go, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt tasked with shepherding it to the big screen as director and potential star. It was an incredibly exciting prospect, Gordon-Levitt had shown a lot of promise with his directorial debut, and he seemed to have genuine love for Neil Gaiman’s creation, a 75 issue epic that switched between horror and fantasy at the drop of the hat, as it followed Dream, the personification of all dreams and stories, as he drifted through time and dimensions.
While we haven’t heard much since he joined the project in 2013, all seemed right with it, until Gordon-Levitt took to Facebook to announce that he had parted ways with Sandman:
This comes hot on the heels of New Line bringing on board Eric Heisserer (Final Destination 5, The Conjuring 2) as screenwriter, a role that reportedly fell to Gordon-Levitt, Gaiman, and David S. Goyer. This is no doubt one of things he and New Line didn’t see eye to eye on, with the director’s vision being much more different that the studios. Sandman is a visual feast, and was a great opportunity for Gordon-Levitt to stretch his directorial muscles. Hopefully, whoever New Line tap as the new director, they’ll approach it with the same respect and love for the material Gordon-Levitt seemed to have.
While we haven’t heard much since he joined the project in 2013, all seemed right with it, until Gordon-Levitt took to Facebook to announce that he had parted ways with Sandman:
This comes hot on the heels of New Line bringing on board Eric Heisserer (Final Destination 5, The Conjuring 2) as screenwriter, a role that reportedly fell to Gordon-Levitt, Gaiman, and David S. Goyer. This is no doubt one of things he and New Line didn’t see eye to eye on, with the director’s vision being much more different that the studios. Sandman is a visual feast, and was a great opportunity for Gordon-Levitt to stretch his directorial muscles. Hopefully, whoever New Line tap as the new director, they’ll approach it with the same respect and love for the material Gordon-Levitt seemed to have.
