Sandman: James McAvoy Compares His Version of Dream to the Original Artwork

In a recent interview, James McAvoy discussed his character of Dream in Audible’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, sharing his interpretation of the character’s graphic novel appearance. McAvoy voices the main character, starring alongside Kat Dennings, Taron Egerton, and Riz Ahmed, with Gaiman serving as the narrator. The first volume covers the first three volumes of the series and was released on July 15th, 2020, with the second volume, The Sandman Act II, releasing on September 22nd.

In The Sandman, McAvoy voices Dream of the seven Endless, the personification and Lord of Dreams, who is imprisoned for decades on Earth by a nefarious cult. Following his escape, Dream seeks to retrieve three “tools” to reclaim his dominion and restore his power to its previous heights, taking him from across the Earth to the depths of hell. McAvoy has previously revealed he was a fan of the comic, sharing the storyline that stuck with him when promoting the first volume, and has recently opened up about his interpretation of his character.

When speaking to Collider, McAvoy was asked about his recording process, and whether he had a photo of the character beside him to keep focused when recording. McAvoy answered that he didn’t, instead preferring to rely on imagination while also stating he felt his version is different from the comics. McAvoy elaborated further, saying he felt the character featured in the comics was quite ordinary despite his incredible potential. The actor believes that despite Dream’s fantastical powers, he feels more mundane and domestic, a quality that McAvoy liked about him. Read McAvoy’s full response below:

“I don’t know. There’s something quite peculiar about a lot of the artwork, which is great. And I’m not saying that’s not who he is to people who see him that way, but I don’t know. I just saw him a bit more ordinary at times. There’s something strangely banal about Morpheus sometimes which I quite like, because he’s such a… It’s not ethereal, but it’s a physical fantastical figure. And yet there’s something quite mundane and domestic about him sometimes. I quite like that.”

McAvoy was cast as Dream and later revealed by Audible in May 2020, alongside Dennings as Death, Egerton as John Constantine, and Ahmed as the Corinthian. Audible’s adaptation is the second adaptation of Gaiman’s graphic novel series in recent years, with Netflix signing a deal with Warner Bros. Television to produce a television series for the popular streaming service. Netflix announced their own cast in January, casting Tom Sturridge as Dream. Gaiman has played a role in each production, serving as writer, co-producer, and narrator for the Audible adaptation, while serving as an executive producer for the Netflix series.

McAvoy’s discussion about his interpretation of Dream comes at an interesting point for media surrounding The Sandman graphic novel. After falling into years of development hell, including a film adaptation and an HBO series pitched by James Mangold, the graphic novel is receiving two adaptations releasing closely to one another. Despite being in two different formats and having their own individual updates, each adaptation will adapt the early volumes of Gaiman’s story. As such, fans of the series will see differing interpretations, meaning that discussions are sure to happen about which portrayal of Dream and the other Endless fit Gaiman’s source material, not dissimilar to how fans discuss differing portrayals of Batman. However, with Gaiman’s close involvement in each confirmed, it’s likely that each adaptation will be as faithful to the original graphic novel series as possible.

Source: Collider

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