Morpheus, DC’s Lord of Dreams, will make his live-action debut in Netflix’s The Sandman sometime this year. This is not your standard superhero series, since it revolves around the mythological Morpheus and functions on a cosmic, metaphysical level. Here’s what advice Neil Gaiman gave to lead actor Tom Sturridge for the upcoming series:
The challenging process of pulling off Morpheus on screen:
The duo shed some light on the difficult task of bringing Morpheus to life. Gaiman stated that the character’s language is incredibly “specific,” and that he was quite careful with it. As he put it: “Morpheus’ dialogue is incredibly specific. It was probably the thing I was most obsessive about. Someone would have written a fabulous script, but there would always be a point at the end where I would still be noodling on the Morpheus dialogue: Making sure the words were right, that the rhythms were right.”
Morpheus’ words are always written in white font against black text boxes in the comics, giving him an ethereal appearance. However, translating that to the screen was tough. Thankfully, Gaiman provided a beautiful description of Dream’s speech manner, which helped Sturridge better comprehend the part. As the actor explained: “I remember you said to me that everything he says has to feel like it was etched in stone. He’s never improvising. He has experienced and perceived every thought, dream, and moment, and therefore he knows what you’re going to say. That was very helpful.”
Related: The Sandman: Why Neil Gaiman Chose Gwendoline Christie Over Tom Ellis For Lucifer?
No Batman impersonation for Sturridge:
Neil Gaiman and Tom Sturridge had a long conversation about the new show in a wide-ranging interview, with the former stating he had to remind the latter to stop pretending like Batman when in character. “I growled at him once and said, ‘stop being Batman,'” Gaiman told Entertainment Weekly. “He was trying to get a bit whispery”. Sturridge adds: “It was literally my first day! But it was incredibly helpful”.
Related: How Does The Sandman Hold Advantage Over Game of Thrones?
All we know about Netflix’s new series, The Sandman:
Sturridge will lead the all-star cast for the series alongside Howell-Baptiste. Other confirmed cast members include Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer, Charles Dance as Roderick Burgess, Asim Chaudhry as Abel, Sanjeev Bhaskar as Cain, Jenna Coleman as Johanna Constantine, Joely Richardson as Ethel Cripps, David Thewlis as John Dee, Boyd Holbrook as The Corinthian, Stephen Fry as Gilbert, Patton Oswalt as the voice of Dream’s raven Matthew, .and as Dream’s siblings, Mason Alexander Park as Desire and Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death.
Related: The Sandman: Netflix Reveals Cast Members For TV Adaptation
