Behind the Scenes with the Cast of ‘The Sandman’

From the riveting mind of author Neil Gaiman, ‘The Sandman’ series comes to Netflix on August 5th. BackstageOL’s Dave Morales sits down with the cast, producer Allan Heinberg, and writer Neil Gaiman for a massive in-depth look at ‘The Sandman’. Below are just a few excerpts from each interview, to watch the full set of interviews, click on the link below.

Tom Sturridge and Vivienne Acheampong

The Sandman: Tom Sturridge, Vivienne Acheampong

Vivienne Acheampong, on being in ‘The Sandman’:

“Without sounding cheesy, everything and that’s not even a lie. It is so fantastic it is so wonderful to be part of this incredible world that Neil has created and these characters are just so detailed and so complex. We know who they are, we know their inner beings and to be part of this production was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. It was incredible and I just love that I’m part of this Sandman world now it’s just amazing.”

Tom Sturridge, on playing ‘The Sandman’ :

“I am first and foremost like you a fan of ‘The Sandman’, I mean I care about it so deeply I think it’s one of the most important pieces of literature and I mean literature of the last 30 years. So to be a part of it and to be Morpheus himself is the greatest privilege of my life and is one I take with great seriousness and a great sense of responsibility and but with an awesome pride…”.

Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Mason Alexander Park

The Sandman: Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Mason Alexander Park

Mason Alexander Park, on the approach to the character Desire:

“I approached this project kind of asking to be a part of it, it was one of the very few times in my life that I’ve really chased after something and there were no descriptions necessary there was no new information I was a fan of the comic. As we’ve developed the series and as they’ve released information about it of course they’ve self-described Desire in a litany of very delicious and sexy ways.”

Kirby Howell-Baptiste, on how her character was described to her:

“This character wasn’t described to me, I was very familiar, I’d read the sandman comics so when I got the sides to audition with they didn’t say death because obviously, they’re very very hush-hush about these things. But I knew from the lines which were directly lifted from the comic who this character was because I remembered those words. So for me, it was almost like I felt like I knew something that so many other actors didn’t know because I was like I know exactly what this is, it doesn’t matter what fake name they put on this, I know what this is and I know who this character is”

Boyd Holbrook and Vanesu Samunyai

The Sandman: Vanesu Samunyai, Boyd Holbrook

Vanesu Samunyai, on playing Rose Walker:

“It was just a blast honestly really fun, really exciting. It was cool to just wield my vortex powers, just existing as the vortex and being like yeah I’m that girl that’s destroying the world I think that’s I think it’s nice.”

Boyd Holbrook, on his dreams:

“I pinch myself every morning, I feel like I’m living my dreams now. In terms of  nightmares, there’s just always these occurring nightmares that you’re being chased and you’re having to do these awful things to stay out to stay alive, and it’s fascinating how just dreams dissipate when you wake up if you try to jot them down or keep any track of them or they just keep reoccurring.”

Neil Gaiman and Allan Heinberg

The Sandman: Neil Gaiman, Allan Heinberg

Neil Gaiman, on his nightmares:

“Something really weird happened in my life when I started writing sandman because I’d had terrible nightmares as a kid, I had terrible nightmares as a teen, I had terrible nightmares into my 20s, and then I was writing sandman and suddenly nightmares were fabulous. If I woke up from a nightmare I was overjoyed it was great like grab a piece of paper and I’d write down the details of everything I could remember and then I’d use that imagery and very very quickly the nightmare stopped.”

Allan Heinberg, on making ‘The Sandman’:

“We had the comics we had Neil’s original scripts that he wrote for the artists before they drew the comics  and then I had an incredible writer’s room and we would get together every day and we had the luxury of  being able to just talk about the sandman…that’s how we built this season of ‘The Sandman’ is really living it, really just living and breathing it and enjoying it and hoping to share that love with people who love the comics and people who’ve never read them.”

The Sandman starring Tom Sturridge, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Mason Alexander Park, Vivienne Acheampong, Boyd Holbrook, and Vanesu Samunyai streams on Netflix on August 5, 2022. 

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