The Sandman Author Neil Gaiman Admits He Sabotaged Movie Adaptation by Leaking Script

The creator of The Sandman comic books, Neil Gaiman, has admitted to sabotaging a movie adaptation based on his work. The author said that he leaked the script of the planned The Sandman movie himself because he did not want the movie to be made.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, the 61-year-old author said:

“I sent the script to Ain’t It Cool News, which back then was read by people. And I thought, I wonder what Ain’t It Cool News will think of the script that they’re going to receive anonymously. And they wrote a fabulous article about how it was the worst script they’d ever been sent. And suddenly the prospect of that film happening went away.”

John Peters was working on the script of the movie for Warner Bros. but after the article criticising the script came out, the project never came to fruition.

“It was the worst script that I’ve ever read by anybody. A guy in Jon Peters’ office phoned me up and he said, ‘So Neil, have you had a chance to read the script we sent you?’ And I said, ‘Well, yes. Yes, I did. I haven’t read all of it, but I’ve read enough.’ He says, ‘So, pretty good. Huh?’ And I said, ‘Well, no. It really isn’t.’ He said, ‘Oh, come on. There must have been stuff in there you loved.’ I said, ‘There was nothing in there I loved. There was nothing in there I liked. It was the worst script that I’ve ever read by anybody. It’s not just the worst Sandman script. That was the worst script I’ve ever been sent.’”

The Sandman would, fortunately, go on to get a good script in the future. Netflix’s series is doing well, and IGN gave it a 9/10 in its review, writing, “Netflix’s The Sandman brings Dream and his Endless siblings to life in a way Neil Gaiman and longtime fans could only conjure up in their deepest of sleeps.”