I'm looking at the $4 million man in the mirror

I hate Neil Gaiman.

I hate him because he's a brilliant and innovative writer. I hate him because by all accounts he's a fantastically nice guy. I hate him because he's too damn smart and tosses out perfect gems on his blog talking about buying toothpaste and making homemade salsa. And now I hate him because he and Dave McKean (primarily McKean) made a $4 million movie that looks like it's got fifty times that budget.

They were approached by the Jim Henson company in hopes they could create a movie like the Henson classics 'Labrinyth' and 'The Dark Crystal.' The Henso Co. hasn't made a movie like this in years. And they picked Gaiman and McKean. The catch: do it for $4 million. What you get: freedom. No guy in a suit telling you that your 'Sandman' adaptation really needs to have a giant mechanical spider. Freedom.

So, for literally 1/30th of his standard rate, Gaiman wrote it, McKean shot it, then spent 18 months in post production. And, by all accounts, the movie just sings.

Granted, it's a Neil Gaiman/Dave McKean/Henson Co. movie, so that's not gonna be everybody's cup of Joe. But for the investment, $4 million plus, what, $4-8 million in marketing, this movie is going to be profitable (DVD sales, foreign markets: McKean and Gaiman have a built in audience overseas). I'll go see it. You might go see it. And it'll be, like all their other stuff, damn good. And then I'll want to send you a copy of the first 'Sandman' trade so you can be there nearer the start.

So that's what (among many other things) Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean did over the last two years: made a film in the basement with complete creative control. And now it'll come out. And you'll see it, hear about it, realize that these guys are doing more before tea time than is humanly possible, and you'll hate Neil Gaiman too.

I hate that guy.