Michael Jackson begged Warner Bros. to play in "The Sandman" by Neil Gaiman

"The Sandman" almost featured the King of Pop.

Creator Neil Gaiman revealed during Josh Horowitz that Grammy-winning Michael Jackson called the chairman of Warner Bros. of the time to ask him to star in a 1990s television adaptation of the comic book series. Jackson was determined to play Morpheus, the role Tom Sturridge is now playing in the Netflix series.

"In 1996, I was taken to Warners, where the chairman of Warner Bros. sat me down and said that Michael Jackson had phoned him the day before and asked if he could play the part. of Morpheus in 'The Sandman,' Gaiman shared. "So there was a lot of interest in it, and they knew it was one of the crown jewels and what did I did I think of it? And I was like, 'Ooh.' "

Gaiman's comic book series ran from 1989 to 1996, with television adaptations airing as early as 1991. Jackson, a two-time Emmy nominee, previously starred in "The Wiz," "Moonwalker," and "Men in Black II" before his death in 2009.

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"The Sandman" productions were also tied to Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who was slated to play Morpheus in 2013 before leaving the production due to creative differences.

Gaiman recently told Rolling Stone that he foiled the studio's past attempts to adapt "The Sandman." Gaiman said he deliberately leaked a "really dumb" script written by "Man of Steel" and "A Star Is Born" producer Jon Peters years ago.

"A guy from Jon Peters' office called me up and said, 'So, Neil, did you get a chance to read the script we sent you?' : "Well yes. Yes I did it. I didn't read it all, but I read enough,” recalls Gaiman. "He said, 'So, pretty good, huh? "And I said, 'Well, no. This is really not the case. ' He said, 'Oh, come on. There must have been stuff in there that you liked. I said, "There was nothing in there that I liked." There was nothing in there that I liked. It was the worst scenario I have ever read. It's not just "Sandman's" worst-case scenario. This is the worst case scenario I've ever been sent.'"

Gaiman added, "I don't know if it would have been an action movie or quite what it would have been. It was a mess. It was never better than a mess."

Netflix's "The Sandman" series, co-created by Gaiman, just topped the streamer's charts pending a season 2 renewal. Turns out, waiting over three decades to adapt correctly the comics was worth it.

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