6) David Lynch – The Sandman
An adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s seminal work on The Sandman has been in development since the dawn of time, but the project picked up steam relatively recently with the announcement that Joseph Gordon Levitt has signed on to spearhead the production.
A Sandman movie is probably the trickiest proposition on this list, due to the convoluted mythology that surrounds the lead character Morpheus, so it’s unfortunate that a more experienced filmmaker hasn’t been brought on board to direct. Series creator Gaiman has previously stated that he would love to see Terry Gilliam adapt the original comics, but who could possibly be better to make a film about the Lord of Dreams than David Lynch, the master of surrealist cinema?
Lynch has been producing dream-like films for decades now on a fraction of the budget that Warner Bros. would use for a Sandman feature, so imagine what he could do if given free reigns to do what he wanted with an adaptation of Gaiman’s masterpiece. Some would deride Lynch for ‘selling out,’ but given enough freedom, the Academy Award-nominated director could go really dark with this.
Lynch’s Sandman would be far too offbeat and just downright bizarre for mainstream consumption, but more than perhaps any other film on this list, such a pairing would really be a dream project.