We’re jumping on any bit of news about the film adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s classic comic book series The Sandman at the moment, and the author has suggested a couple of names who could potentially take on the Dream King.
Speaking to The Radio Times, Gaiman said “It’s a funny thing with Morpheus. Again, it’s that thing where you look around and think, ‘Yes this person would be a fantastic person’, and then time passes. There was a time Johnny Depp would’ve been a great Morpheus, but now he’s too old and it’s fine. I think the first time I saw Benedict [Cumberbatch] was as Sherlock Holmes, I thought, ‘wow, that’s incredibly Morpheus’. And fans probably thought the same because they immediately started doing fan-art, meshing the two of them up.”
Cumberbatch is currently tied up with Doctor Strange, however. “Then again, Tom Hiddleston is still out there! And the truth is, as far as I’m concerned, anybody who sounds English with great cheekbones can probably pull it off.”
Before we get all thrilled about how thrilling Hiddleston would be as Morpheus, it’s important to remember that the film is very much still in the early stages, and that work on the script is still not complete. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and David S Goyer are shepherding the film through production while Jack Thorne works on the screenplay.
“I really am [glad to have more input],” Gaiman said. “My position on it has always been, for over 25 years now, I would rather see no Sandman movie than a bad Sandman movie. A couple of times, people say, ‘It’s a crime there’s never been a Sandman movie’, and a couple of times, to be honest, I have thrown my body in front of a bus on a couple of bad ones over the years. I’m just happy that no bad Sandman movie has ever been made. But I’m really hoping that a good one will be. They’re a good team. And with Joseph Gordon-Levitt in charge, his instincts are good and he loves the material. He wants it to be true to the material.”
“Every now and then, I’ll come in and last time I was in was earlier this year spending a day in a hotel room with Joe, and going over everything and answering questions with him and so on and so forth. So they’ve written a script. I got a phone call about two, three weeks ago from Joe and David saying, ‘Jack did a script, we read it, we want some things done to it. We want you to see it, but not this version. The next version will be in three weeks and then you’ll be the first person to see it.’ So I am now a week before seeing the script. It’s going to come in just before Christmas. I’m nervous, I’m on tenterhooks. But do I have good feelings? Yeah I do.”
Who would you want to cast as Morpheus? Hiddleston seems like he’d be a perfect fit, but would he be up for another comic book character? If we’re doing a bit of “Wouldn’t they be great?” how about Cillian Murphy?
You can buy The Sandman Volume 1: Preludes And Nocturnes for £11.99 at Amazon.co.uk. Read more about the comics with our 100 All-Time Greatest Comics bookazine now!
