What I'd Like in a Sandman Movie

Neil Gaimans Sandman is probably my favorite comic series. It was the first real "adult" comic i ever picked up..and was far too young to be reading it at the time! But it really made me look at comics in a different way. I mean i had always enjoyed Spiderman and The X Men and such, but this made me realise that comics could transcend superhero limitations and appeal to the deeper, darker places in our minds.

I think the movie should obviously start at the beggining and follow the first story arc, Preludes And Nocturnes..the first 8 issues of the comic. The outline of that story is as follows:

The movie should begin in 1916. A coven of wizards attempting to capture and imprison Death, instead conjure her younger brother Dream(The Sandman). After realising ther mistake they decide to leave him in his impenetrable prison. The effect this has on the world is disastrous as those that were sleeping when the dream lord was captured can not wake up.

After 70 years Dream finally manages to escape, and after exacting his revenge on his capters son, he sets about rebuilding the dreamworld which fell to ruin in his absence. But first he needs his Helmet, ruby and pouch of sand which all contain vast ammounts of his power. Finding out that the last person to have his pouch was John Constantine he pays him a visit. Together they retrive the pouch but at great cost to Constantine whos girlfriend had been using the sand (much like heroin) and dies when its taken away from her. Dream does his best to ease her passing.

Next he discovers a demon has his helmet and travels to hell to reclaim it. He finds Lucifer unwilling to give up the demon(choronzon) without a fight so Dream challenges and beats Choronzon in a battle of wills. He leaves hell only after Lucifer vows to destroy him.

To find his ruby he goes to see Scott Free(Mr Miracle). Dream believes one of the Justice Leagues old villains Dr Destiny was the last to have his ruby. Free, along with Jonn Jonzz lead him to a lock up were the JLA keep anything of importance that they confiscate in there battles. Meanwhile Dr Destiny, currently in Arkham asylum, feels the lure of the ruby, which now bends to his will and escapes to "rescue his baby". The relationship between Destiny and the ruby is presented as a sort of Gollum and his precious. The years of using its power have shrivelled his appearance horribly. He gets to the ruby first and unleashes some of its power on Dream who falls..dead so Destiny believes.

Directly after this we see Destiny use the ruby in a diner full of people. He controls ther minds and acts out his sick perverted fantasies using them as the puppets. When he grows tired of this he casually has them murder each other. Eventually Dream catches up to him..but realising that the ruby is linked to Dreams power, Destiny destroys it hoping to in turn destroy the dreamlord. It has the opposite effect, instead returning His full power to him. Despite Destinys horrific acts, Dream simply returns him to Arkham.

The epilogue sees Dream in the park feeding the pidgeons. his big sister Death pays him a visit and he accompanies her on her "rounds".

This description is obviously a very loose version of the story, i just thought id cover the major plot points. Anyway, onto the casting:

I know Johhny Depp gets fan casted in everything! But theres a reason for that, hes damn good. Morpheus(dream) is a VERY diffucult role to play. Theres a certain cruelty and arrogance to him but at the same time hes quite likeable..i think Depp would do that brilliantly.