Joseph Gordon-Levitt reveals what's going on with his Hollywood adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Sandman

For comics fans, there are few ideas greeted with more excitement or wariness than Sandman, the upcoming Hollywood adaptation of Neil Gaiman's beloved comic book series of the same name. Over 75 issues, Sandman told dozens of stories and spanned countless years — a risky prospect for Hollywood, which tends to dilute most comics into fighting and flying.

It's easy to see why fans are nervous. But rest assured, says producer (and rumored director/star) Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Sandman is in very good hands. "It's good, man. It's slow but steady," said Gordon-Levitt, when asked for a Sandman update, in an interview with MTV News.

Sandman is "a grand spectacular action film, but that relies on none of those same old ordinary cliches," says Gordon-Levitt. "Big spectacular action movies are generally about crime fighters fighting crime and blowing s--t up. This has nothing to do with that. And it was actually one of the things that Neil Gaiman said to me, he said ‘Don't have any punching.’ Because he never does. If you read the comics, Morpheus doesn't punch anybody. That’s not what he does."

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For more on the Sandman adaptation, click over to MTV News.