Work on The Sandman has been slowly progressing for the last couple of years with next to no news. That has now dramatically changed as the last twenty four hours have been very eventful. Firstly the film adaptation has garnered a new writer after Jack Throne dropped out. His replacement is Eric Heisserer, the man who recently scribed The Conjuring 2. The second, bigger and potentially more impactful news is that sadly The Sandman has lost producer Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Gordon-Levitt was rumoured to have been eyeing up both the director’s chair and the lead role with his departure throwing those fields wide open.
This announcement will come as a blow for many, including the creator of Neil Gaiman, who was very pleased with the work Gordon-Levitt was doing. Since the initial announcement a little over two years ago, the triple threat star has been very vocal and passionate about bringing the series of graphic novels to life. His departure has come as quite a shock, but in a bid for transparency, the star took to his Facebook page to set the record straight on why he decided to call time on his involvement. Here’s what he had to say:
RE: SANDMANSo, as you might know if you like to follow these sorts of things, a while back, David Goyer and I made a…
Posted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt on Saturday, March 5, 2016
So it appears that studio involvement and creative differences are responsible, which is very disappointing. Given that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is pretty much Hollywood’s equivalent to King Midas, we’re surprised to hear that the studio wanted to go against him. He’s also a massive fan of the story and appears to reflect what the fanboys want from their adaptation. If the studios vision is so different then what on Earth does that mean for the project? We can only imagine that New Line are trying to make the tricky text accessible to the masses which in no mean feat.
