Gaiman's comic series has been optioned several times before, but never made it out of development hell. According to Gaiman, whilst some of the scripts have been pretty good several have been absolutely horrendous, treating Morpheus like a superhero more than like the mythological force he is. This new project seems more promising, especially since Gordon-Levitt tweeted the hashtag #preludes, hinting that the first film will be a straight-up adaptation of Preludes and Nocturnes, the first Sandman graphic novel. This has always been the most logical place to start the project, but most previous scripts have been original stories featuring the characters or only loosely based on the actual texts.
Gordon-Levitt has starred in films such as Looper, Inception and The Dark Knight Rises and also gained critical acclaim for his directorial debut, Don Jon. Goyer has had a more mixed career: he has been praised for writing or co-writing the first two Blade movies, the three Christopher Nolan Batman movies and Dark City, but he also wrote Man of Steel, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and Blade: Trinity. According to some reports, Goyer is only outlining the Sandman movie as he may be too busy working on the Man of Steel sequel and other projects. He will have a producer's credit on the final movie as well.
Gordon-Levitt is currently only attached to produce, though some reports have him negotiating a deal to star and possibly direct.
Gordon-Levitt needs to star as well. It just seems obvious.
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