Neil Gaiman recalls incredibly stupid Sandman movie pitch
By Ashley Hurst
Netflix’s long-awaited live-action adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s comic The Sandman is finally here, and it’s brilliant. It’s so good that the show has claimed the elusive #1 spot on Netflix for three consecutive weeks, becoming the most in-demand TV show on the planet. It may have taken a few decades for The Sandman to finally make the jump to live-action, but the wait was definitely worth it.
That goes double when you consider some of the other ghastly attempts at adaptations over the years. Over the years, Gaiman has shot down numerous pitches, both on the big screen and the small. Speaking with Rolling Stone, the author discussed the worst script he’s ever seen for a Sandman movie.
The flick, which was penned by Jon Peters (the producer behind Man of Steel and Superman Returns) sounds a million miles removes from the comics. “Lucifer, Morpheus, and the Corinthian were identical triplets,” Gaiman remembered. “They were a family of identical brothers, and it was all a race to see who could get the ruby, the helm, and the bag of sand before midnight on 1999, before the new millennium started, because whoever got it would be the winner.”
That sounds utterly hilarious and not in a good way. Gaiman didn’t take kindly to it at all:
"I remember them phoning me up. And I’m normally, I’m polite and nice if you’re on the phone. I try and find positive things to say to people who phone you up. And a guy in Jon Peters’ office phoned me up and he said, ‘So Neil, have you had a chance to read the script we sent you?’ And I said, ‘Well, yes. Yes, I did. I haven’t read all of it, but I’ve read enough.’ He says, ‘So, pretty good. Huh?’ And I said, ‘Well, no. It really isn’t.’ He said, ‘Oh, come on. There must have been stuff in there you loved.”’ I said, ‘There was nothing in there I loved. There was nothing in there I liked. It was the worst script that I’ve ever read by anybody. It’s not just the worst Sandman script. That was the worst script I’ve ever been sent."
As if things couldn’t get any stranger, the script also featured a giant mechanical spider, Peters having a history of being obsessed with huge arachnids for some reason. Bullet dodged.
Neil Gaiman is confident The Sandman will get renewed
Following the success of its debut season, fans are desperate for more of The Sandman. Simply look on Twitter, where the hashtag #RenewSandman is making waves. There’s potential for upwards of five seasons. Up to this point, only two and a half volumes from the comics have been adapted; there are 10 in total.
“Everybody is very hopeful. It’s all looking great,” Gaiman told Rolling Stone. “We’re certainly on track for it. But it’s all about how we do over the month after release.”
So far, the response has exceeded all expectations. It’s the most popular streaming show in the world; what more could Netflix want?
All 1 episodes of The Sandman season 1 are currently streaming on Netflix!
dark. Next. That extra Sandman episode was supposed to come out a year later
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