Neil Gaiman Weighs In On Joseph Gordon-Levitt Leaving Sandman Movie Project

Yesterday, The Dark Knight Rises star Joseph Gordon-Levitt shocked fans of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman by announcing that he had exited the project’s film adaptation over a rift with distributor New Line.

It’s sent ripples through social media, as fans who believed The Sandman was closer than it ever had been before. The project, one of a number of high-profile comics projects some have claimed are “unfilmable,” has been in various stages of development for years.

It’s one of a number of Gaiman projects currently targeted for an other-media adaptation, with things like Coraline and Stardust behind him and books like The Graveyard Book, American Gods and The Sandman happening now. But losing a high-profile producer, potential star and all-around champion of the film in the form of Levitt stings a little, for sure.

So, as you’d expect of an author with a passionate following, a strong social media presence, and a name that’s as closely associated with The Sandman as any creator with any work-for-hire project in comics history, Gaiman was quizzed by fans about Levitt’s departure.

Here’s what he had to say about it (after retweeting Levitt’s original message), via Twitter:

Assuming the film goes forward, New Line is reportedly eyeing The Sandman as a trilogy. It’s unclear exactly what creative differences it was that caused Gordon-Levitt to bail, so without him, it’s hard to know whether any of the existing information we’ve heard — almost all of which came from him — will hold true.