David S. Goyer, the writer behind the Blade, Dark Knight, and DCEU Superman movies, has worked on countless comic book properties. But one adaptation was so bad he convinced the studio to cancel it.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Goyer spoke about bringing existing stories to the big and small screen -- or in one case, making sure it didn't get made. "I hope I’ve developed a reputation now for speaking with candor, for being honest," Goyer said. "My go-to is always 'What works for the story?' And if I’m adapting an IP, like a comic book, I don’t try to turn it into something it’s not. Because if you do, no matter what, even if you have the best of intentions, it will definitely not work out. So there were times when I’ve been involved in projects when I’ve actually advocated that the studio not make it. I’ve said, 'It’s going to fail. It’s not worth the money.' I’ve talked myself out of movies and TV shows being made before."
When the interviewer inquired about the project, he revealed it was the Sandman movie starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. "I will say one was a previous iteration of Sandman. It was a feature."
In development for years, the movie would've seen Gordon-Levitt as the lead with Goyer producing. In 2016, Gordon-Levitt left the Sandman movie. From there, it fell apart, though as recently as 2019 comic writer Neil Gaiman was still hopeful a movie or TV show would be made. Later this year, Sandman will finally make it to TV thanks to Netflix, Goyer, and Gaiman.
Luckily, Goyer wasn't part of one of the worst attempts to bring Gaiman's story to life. The interviewer asked if Goyer's take was the script that Gaiman once said was "not only the worst Sandman script I’ve ever seen, but quite easily the worst script I’ve ever read."
"Fortunately, no," Goyer confirmed. "I was trying to get Warner Bros. to do a streaming serialized show and they wanted to do it as a feature instead. So Neil and I worked on a feature, and through the various iterations, it just kept subtly getting more and more deformed, and shifting more and more away from the true north. Finally, we just said, 'Guys, please let’s stop, please kill it, let’s do it as a streaming show.' Eventually, they did."
The Sandman arrives later this year on Netflix. The second part of Audible's Sandman audiobook series debuts Sept 22.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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