If the rumors about Kick-Ass are true-- as in, if it's in fact a game-changing superhero movie-- then Matthew Vaughn's fortunes as a director are about to rise considerably. He obviously can't make his next movie until he sees how Kick-Ass actually fares in the marketplace, but he's already got some ideas about where to go next.
Vaughn told Comic Book Resources, "I would love to do Sandman, but I think it's stuck in development hell. But that could be like a Lord of the Rings – just a huge movie." Vaughn is talking, of course, about the graphic novel series by Neil Gaiman, who also wrote Stardust, which Vaughn adapted for film. It's a happy cycle that could likely be replicated, despite the fact that Stardust fared poorly both critically and commercially.
Sandman, if you're a graphic novel novice like me, is an epic 75-issue series about Morpheus, the personification of dreams, who must change his life and rebuild his kingdom after 70 years of imprisonment. The series incorporates characters from the DC Comics universe, which will likely cause gigantic legal headaches, but also has elements of fantasy and epic tradition that, as Vaughn points out, could make a Lord of the Rings-style blockbuster.
Of course, Sandman is insanely complex and difficult, which likely explains its absence from the movies thus far. And Vaughn only brought up Sandman because the interviewer mentioned it, which likely means this is one of those "Sure, I guess I could do that!" stories that's basically invented by the press. And yet... if Kick-Ass is a hit, if Vaughn earns unlimited moviemaking capital and doesn't get stuck in an endless series of Kick-Ass sequels, we may find ourselves closer to a Sandman movie than ever before. Now the question becomes, do we actually want to see this made? Fans, speak up.
