Neil Gaiman On The Death: The High Cost Of Living Movie

We have been hearing about a possible adaptation of Death: The High Cost Of Living for year snow. There has never been a director attached, but we heard again and again that it was just a matter of time and that the wheels were in motion. Then we just stopped hearing about it. The story, which focuses on Death of The Endless as she takes human form and walks the Earth every 100 years, is really pretty straightforward and would be pretty easy to adapt..and adapt well. Now, speaking to Vulture, Neil Gaiman talks about how close the film came to being made, and why its not looking too good at the moment..

Well, that one is mad(when asked about the Death movie). We kept almost getting it together, you know, like somebody climbing up the edge of a well. You’re an inch or two away from the top, and then you fall to the bottom and suddenly the film company isn’t there anymore or whatever. We just set it up again at a Warner-related company and everything was all ready. It was weird, though. If you had asked me in March of this year about Death, I would have told you that I thought it was pretty definitely dead. And if you’d asked me in April, I would have been thrilled and happy and said, "No, no, no, it’s absolutely on. And then in June, July, the new powers that be at DC and Warner basically closed everything down.

So everything got closed down for reevaluation to decide what it was, to decide if they were making it or not. And Death is one of those things that’s been closed down. So, whether or not it will come back to life, I don’t know. Death seems amazingly hard to kill. And the truth is I will be happy either way. It was one of those things where I really wanted to make a Death movie because I knew that for me, the tone of voice was the most important thing about the movie. I didn’t want somebody to make a bad Death movie anymore than I want anybody to make a bad Sandman movie or TV series or whatever. So that’s the bit that’s important to me: Is it any good?

Head of DC Entertainment Diane Nelson has said that they intend to focus more on the Vertigo imprint for future movies. I guess she meant generic action stuff like The Losers. Lets just hope they "reevaluate" their plans for this adap, which would cost them next to nothing, be a vehicle for any number of great actors and no doubt make a packet.