The adaptation for Neil Gaiman’s much-beloved comic SANDMAN is something that’s been in the process for quite some time–at least a couple years, actually. Ever six months or so, director/producer/actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt has given updates on where they are in the process, and calling the pace glacial would definitely be an accurate way to describe just how long things are taking to come to fruition.

According to THR, JGL and co. have taken the next big step in the process, hiring screenwriter Eric Heisserer (who wrote the scripts for the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and THE THING remakes) to write the screenplay. It’s unclear if this screenplay will be based on the story that Gordon-Levitt and David S. Goyer have adapted from the comic book source material or if the writer will be working from scratch, but considering how long JGL has worked on this project, it seems like a good assumption they won’t be starting from ground zero on this one.

If they were to start all over again, that would be quite a mammoth task. When interviewed by MTV last June, JGL had the following to say about why adapting this comic is so difficult.

“It’s slow but steady. It’s a really complicated adaptation because those comics, they’re brilliant. But they’re not written as a whole. It’s not like WATCHMEN, which is a graphic novel that has a beginning, middle, and end. SANDMAN was written over the course of whatever — I forget exactly, six or seven years. One at a time. One little 20-page issue at a time. And to try to take that and make it into something that’s a feature film — a movie that has a beginning, middle, and end — is complicated.”

SANDMAN follows the adventures of Morpheus, who rules over the world of dreams. Released from January 1989 to March 1996, THE SANDMAN was one of Vertigo’s flagship titles, and actually helped in launching the DC imprint.

What do you think of the decision to hire Heisserer as the screenwriter? Let us know in the comments down below!

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SOURCE: THR, MTV