A taped audition for Netflix’s The Sandman, based on the Neil Gaiman creation, is online and offers some answers about the developing series.
The Geeks WorldWide obtained the tape of actor Oliver Farnworth (of Brit soap Coronation Street) reading for the part of Morpheus, also known as Dream and The Sandman.
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Farnworth’s read isn’t bad. He memorized his lines and keeps eye contact with his reader.
The video was uploaded to Vimeo, but appears to have been taken down. However, you can view a transcription of the tape done by Geeks WorldWide below.
Lord and embodiment of dreams and stories, anything not of reality, Morpheus is one of the Endless – seven omnipotent beings older than any deity. His first appearance was in the first issue of Gaiman and Vertigo’s Sandman comic.
Based on the dialogue, it sounds like Morpheus disappeared for a time and lost some of his power on top of the kingdom he created. It sounds as well like his subjects fled to the real world and need to be reeled back whence they came or else they’ll create terror and carnage.
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That fits the synopsis provided:
“A rich blend of modern myth and dark fantasy in which contemporary fiction, historical drama and legend are seamlessly interwoven, The Sandman follows the people and places affected by Morpheus, the Dream King, as he mends the cosmic–and human–mistakes he’s made during his vast existence.”
GWW also transcribed the audition:
“What happened here? Who did this?
You did, sire. What with you gone for so long, the realm began to fade and then, well, crumble.
Where is everyone? The palace staff, the dreams, the nightmares?
I’m afraid most have gone, sire.
Gone? Gone… They just left?
Well they thought perhaps you’d have grown weary of your duties and-
What, abandon them? Had they so little faith in me, did my own subjects not know me?
You do tend to keep your own council…
I am Dream of The Endless.
Yes, sir.
I alone am responsible for the dream lives of every creature in every realm.
And you have been missed, sir.
Where are they? The night-kind who have abandoned their posts, where have they gone?
To the waking world.
They dare.
If I may, they were starving here-
Dreams and nightmares do not live in the waking world. They do NOT feed on the dreamers they were made to serve.
They will come back, lord, once you restore the Dreaming.
Some power has returned to me since I’ve come back. I made this realm and its inhabitants and I WILL make it again.”
Actor Adam Greene did his own reading based on the leaked script.
I read that @neilhimself Sandman adaption may be casting and I stumbled onto what may be an audition side online. So in the spirit of lockdown and chasing a Dream, I thought I’d throw a Hail Mary. If nothing else it filled a day.
Here it is: my tape for Morpheus #DreamCasting pic.twitter.com/DTTx5TIldM
— Adam Greene (@adamrossgreene) April 14, 2020
Related: Netflix Signs “Massive Financial Deal” to Bring Neil Gaiman’s Sandman to TV
Other adaptations of Neil Gaiman include American Gods, turned into a controversial Starz series, and Amazon’s Good Omens.
The Sandman doesn’t have a premiere date set just yet but it’s already shaping up to be DC’s most expensive show ever. Season 1 will consist of 11 episodes.
Swamp Thing was canceled after one episode because of its budget (or so they say). Given that precedent, let’s hope Sandman doesn’t meet a similar fate.