Movie

The 'Snowden' actor explains that he decided to drop out of the project because he didn't see eye to eye with the studio.

• Mar 6, 2016

AceShowbiz - Joseph Gordon-Levitt is no longer attached to the long gestating adaptation of Neil Gaiman's "Sandman", leaving the lead role vacant. The "Snowden" actor broke the news in a Facebook post and explains his reasoning in the lengthy message.

He began, "A while back, David Goyer and I made a producing deal with Warner Brothers to develop a movie adaptation of Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN. Neil himself came on as an executive producer, we hired the excellent screenwriter, Jack Thorne, and we started in on the ambitious task of adapting one of the most beloved and boundary-pushing titles in the world of comics. I was pleased with the progress we were making, even though we still had quite a ways to go."

However, following the changes in WB which resulted in the shifting of "the entire catalogue of Vertigo comics (an imprint of DC) to their subsidiary, New Line," Gordon-Levitt "came to realize that the folks at New Line and I just don't see eye to eye on what makes Sandman special, and what a film adaptation could/should be." He added, "So unfortunately, I decided to remove myself from the project. I wish nothing but the best for the team moving forward."

Gordon-Levitt released the statement after news broke out that a new writer had been hired to rewrite the script. The actor initially developed the script with Gaiman and Goyer but now Eric Heisserer ("Final Destination 5" and "The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist") is tapped to do a rewrite.