Netflix’s The Sandman wasn’t the first adaptation of the comic series that Neil Gaiman has seen—but it was the best.
Creator: The author The Sandman comic books that the show is based on, revealed Aug. 23 that he had previously turned down several film offers in the past, but went so far as to leak one particularly bad one—written by A Star Is BornProducer Jon Peters—to the press.
Jon Peters called me and said that he had spoken to Neil. He asked me if he could read the script I sent him. He said that he remembered to Rolling Stone. “And I answered, “Well, yeah. Yes. While I don’t have all of the book, I do have enough. He replied, “So, pretty good. Huh?’ “Huh?” I asked. You’re wrong. He replied, “Oh, come on. You must have found things there that you liked. It was all I could find. It was all boring. It was one of the worst scripts I had ever seen. This is not the only terrible thing about it. Sandman script. It was one of the most horrible scripts I have ever received.
Gaiman went on to say that he anonymously sent the script to Ain’t It Cool News, who wrote an article about “how it was the worst script they’d ever been sent.” After that, he said, Peters focused on producing 1999’s Wild Wild West. CelebHomes News reached out to Peters for clarification but he did not reply.
“I’m not sure if it would’ve been an action movie or quite what it would’ve been,” Gaiman added. “It was an absolute mess. It was a disaster.