Joseph Gordon-Levitt Producing Sandman Film Adaptation

In an exciting bit of comic book news, it has been announced that Joseph Gordon-Levitt will be producing the big screen adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s famed graphic novel series, The Sandman.

With the power of Twitter, Levitt himself shared the news:

Just to clarify, folks. I’ve signed on as a producer on Sandman. The rest remains to be seen. Delighted you guys are excited. I am too!

— Joseph Gordon-Levitt (@hitRECordJoe) December 17, 2013

 

Speculation as to how far Levitt will be involved with aspects of adaptation is the big question. Naturally, many believe that there’s a chance he may also go on to direct and possibly star, especially after he proved that he’s more than capable of this with this year’s rock-solid Don Jon.

I personally am not as familiar with Sandman as I am with other series out there, but the prospect of Levitt working on a comic book movie naturally sounds quite awesome.

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Jason’s take: I’m very excited by this prospect for two reasons, the first being that another Neil Gaiman work (his opus, if anything) is in the running to be adapted. Yes, there is an ‘American Gods’ adaptation in the works, too, but the status of that is still up in the air. This is at least heading in a good direction, as there is this initial news. The focus of the film, at this point and time, is most likely centered around ‘Preludes and Noctures’ (as Joseph Gordon-Levitt tagged an earlier Tweet with “Prelude”), the first trade paperback of the series, which starts off with Dream of the Endless (one of seven immortal/eternal personifications) being captured by a group of Aleister Crowley wannabe occultists in the early 1900s. After he escapes some 70-odd years later, he seeks to reclaim his realm and his totems, which were taken from him upon his capture.

The second reason is that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is moving up in the world. After breaking back onto the acting scene in recent years with 500 Days of Summer, The Dark Knight Rises, and 50/50 (among others), the writing/directing/producing scene with Don Jon, and the creative scene with HitRECord, The Sandman is just the thing to attach himself to. However, the main thing to take into consideration is whether or not Joseph Gordon-Levitt will do more than produce the film. I trust his acting and directing skills for grounded films, but for something like Sandman that stretches the boundaries of the imagination … I’m hesitant. Either way, I’m still excited to hear that the project is moving forward, but I’ll withhold judgement until I actually see a finished product or something close to it.

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