There hasn't been too much buzz about Joseph Gordon-Levitt's upcoming adaptation of Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman" comics since the project was first announced way back in December 2013. But while it may seem like behind-the-scenes progress has stalled, Gordon-Levitt has revealed that that's not the case at all.

In an interview with MTV News, the producer (and possible star and director) of the hotly-anticipated flick said that work on the project has been continuing all this time, and while it's been a long process, it's been a fruitful one, too. "It's slow but steady," Gordon-Levitt explained to MTV News. He continued:

"It's a really complicated adaptation because those comics, they're brilliant. But they're not written as a whole. It's not like 'Watchmen,' which is a graphic novel that has a beginning, middle, and end. 'Sandman' was written over the course of whatever — I forget exactly, six or seven years. One at a time. One little 20-page issue at a time. And to try to take that and make it into something that's a feature film — a movie that has a beginning, middle, and end — is complicated."

Those complications sound similar to issues that filmmakers have had with adapting the works of Stephen King (we can't even count all the starts and stops that have befallen planned adaptations of "The Dark Tower," and now "It"), but Gordon-Levitt's confidence in his adaptation -- and creative approach to the subject matter -- certainly bodes well for its future. The team behind "Sandman" (which includes Gordon-Levitt, "The Dark Knight" scribe David S. Goyer, studio Warner Bros., and oversight from Gaiman) wants to set the film apart from other comic/graphic novel adaptations that came before it, and doesn't plan to feature ubiquitous action sequences that audiences have come to expect from such flicks. (Translation? The main character, Morpheus, won't punch anybody.) That ambition poses its own challenges, according to the star, though they're fun ones to take on.

"It's going to be like a grand spectacular action film, but that relies on none of those same old ordinary cliches," Gordon-Levitt explained to MTV. "So, that's why it's taking a lot time to write, but it's going to be really good."

We'll be eagerly awaiting more updates.

[via: MTV News]

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