It’s no dream:The Sandmanreally did dropanother episodetwo weeks after the first 10 premiered onNetflix.
That’s what everyone knew they were buying.
It also meant we could begin the process for those stories very, very early on."
Morpheus (Tom Sturridge) as a great black cat on ‘The Sandman’.Netflix
That’s my style now."
Since “A Dream of a Thousand Cats” is animated, all the acting is done via voic-eover.
That allowed for something of a crossover between different versions ofThe Sandman.
Richard Madoc (Arthur Darvill) takes the muse Calliope (Melissanthi Mahut) from Erasmus Fry (Derek Jacobi) on ‘The Sandman’.Netflix
“I’d been working with David Tennant and Michael Sheen onGood Omensanyway, so that was a no-brainer.
They’re both inThe Sandmanbecause they loveThe Sandman,” Gaiman says.
This wasn’t their one chance.
Morpheus (Tom Sturridge) and his former lover Calliope (Melissanthi Mahut) on ‘The Sandman’.Netflix
They both needed to be reassured of that."
Gaiman says the story was inspired by his own struggle with writer’s block while working on the comic.
“But I couldn’t get it to work.
I had a week left to write something, and this was dead on the page.
I thought, let’s just go into writer’s block.
Let’s strip everything down: What’s this story going to be about?
It’s about muse abuse.
Okay, I can do that.
I wrote it very fast, and it just came into focus.”
“Calliope” is a story about abuse.
Getting inspiration from a Muse involves having sex.
“I’m hard-wired to verify that all performances of women in my shows are strong and intelligent.
I don’t want people to be pleading, begging, crying, or acting submissive.
Hooper continues, “I’m not crazy about directing sex scenes in general, let alone horrific ones.
For me it’s about the emotion of the scene, and you understand the implication of that.
His name is Orpheus maybe you’ve heard of him?
You believe they were the parents of this child.
That was surprising to me, how much power those scenes had.”
When EW asks Gaiman, a scream comes from off camera.
It’s Gaiman’s youngest son, exclaiming, “Did someone sayA Midsummer Night’s Dream?”
“Someone did sayA Midsummer Night’s Dream, my small son,” Gaiman replies.
Clearly we’re not the only ones excited for future possibilities!
For now, all 11 episodes ofThe Sandmanare streaming on Netflix.
