Dream Come True? Neil Gaiman's Sandman Film

Sandman has always seemed like something that should be turned into a movie. At least, I've played out those scenes, in glorious technicolor in my head, a million times or more.

And don't accuse me of exaggeration. I've lived and loved this graphic novel for a very long time. Plus I have a very active imagination.

But that is the beauty of this story. Located in the Dreamworld, performed on an epic scale, taking in universes and dimensions spanning the whole of time, space and creation, it requires a lot of imagination.

Which is probably why every prospective film adaptation of Sandman has failed until now. We were waiting for technology to catch up with the tale, and a visionary director who could dare to tell it.

Now Joseph Gordon-Levitt has agreed to grasp that particular bag of sand-dust, and Neil Gaiman - notoriously picky about his choices - appears to be right behind him!

These are still very much early days, hence there's no date been set, no script been written, nor are we even close to uncovering a cast list. Though there's a strong rumor that Joseph Gordon-Levitt will star as Dream, in addition to directing the movie. (Personally, I thought that only Johnny Depp could possibly pull that role off, though I'm not unimpressed by the notion of Joseph instead.)

So what do we actually know?

We all love Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and if he makes the Sandman film a reality, then I'm personally writing to the head of every world religion in a bid to have him declared God.

There's been talk about Sandman as a movie since the back end of the 1990s. It's never come to much. It was even going to be a television miniseries once, then it wasn't.

The trouble has generally been the scripts. Neil Gaiman isn't known for shutting up for the sake of money. Ever since Warner Bros first picked up the rights, they've sent him one dodgy script after another for approval. He's not only laughed in their faces, but done so publicly, across his vast social networking, so no fan would touch the project with a bargepole.

Neil has quite blatantly said that '(I would) rather see no ‘Sandman’ movie made than a bad ‘Sandman’ movie.'

And frankly we all agree with him. Even now, with his delight finally palpable and a great buzz surrounding the prospective movie, I'm certain that I'm not alone in thinking, 'Oh! Please let it be Dark Knight Rising or V for Vendetta, and not Dragonball Z!'

On that score, things are looking good. Joseph Gordon-Levitt worked out his vision for the movie with David S. Goyer - the American scriptwriter behind Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

However, he won't be the one actually writing the script for Sandman. That honor falls upon Jack Thorne. He's a British scriptwriter, based in Bristol, largely known for producing hard-hitting stories for television shows - Skins, This is England and Shameless are amongst his credits. He won a BAFTA for Best Drama for The Fades.

Insofar as movies go, Jack Thorne was the man behind the dialogue in How I Live Now and Long Way Down. The key words then seem to be 'gritty realism' coupled with 'surreal drama'. Sounds about right then!

Unfortunately this constitutes pretty much all we know right now, other than Neil Gaiman has met with Joseph Gordon-Levitt to 'talk Sandman'. Nevertheless, things are looking good for it actually happening this time.