Kemo
09-05-2010, 08:15 PM
Back in 2008 while celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of "The Sandman," artist Neil Gaiman said that "a Sandman movie is an inevitability." Just two years later it looks as if that inevitability was actually quite evitable. As it turns out, Warner Bros. has put the kibosh on a film version and instead passed the rights off to the property to Warner Bros. TV who are in the early stages of developing the comic as a TV series.
Gaiman was first approached by Warner Bros. (who own DC, who run Vertigo, the imprint that published "Sandman") back in the early 90s, before he had finished the comic's run. He then begged the studio not to develop the movie until after he was finished. The closest the film ever came was a draft Roger Avary had worked on in the late-90s with Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott (who would go on to write the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN films). While that iteration never got off the ground, Gaiman and Avary became friends and collaborated later on BEOWULF. A later script was widely panned with Gaiman saying it was one of the worst scripts he had ever read.
An HBO miniseries was in the works with James Mangold (KNIGHT & DAY) developing but now it looks as if Eric Kripke, creator of the popular CW series "Supernatural" is close to signing on to be the showrunner for the project. As of right now, Gaiman is not involved in any way with the project but WB hopes that will change once they move along with Kripke. (Kripke is said to be interested but hesitant because of the ardent devotion of the fans.)
Gaiman was first approached by Warner Bros. (who own DC, who run Vertigo, the imprint that published "Sandman") back in the early 90s, before he had finished the comic's run. He then begged the studio not to develop the movie until after he was finished. The closest the film ever came was a draft Roger Avary had worked on in the late-90s with Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott (who would go on to write the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN films). While that iteration never got off the ground, Gaiman and Avary became friends and collaborated later on BEOWULF. A later script was widely panned with Gaiman saying it was one of the worst scripts he had ever read.
An HBO miniseries was in the works with James Mangold (KNIGHT & DAY) developing but now it looks as if Eric Kripke, creator of the popular CW series "Supernatural" is close to signing on to be the showrunner for the project. As of right now, Gaiman is not involved in any way with the project but WB hopes that will change once they move along with Kripke. (Kripke is said to be interested but hesitant because of the ardent devotion of the fans.)