X3's Loss Is Neil Gaiman's Gain

Hey guys, it's Donnie...My guess is that right about now, Neil Gaiman is doing his best impersonation of Scrooge McDuck and swimming around in a giant pool of money. Seriously, the man is selling off properties left and right and they're all ending up in very good hands. He's got Dave McKean's MirrorMask in theaters now, Zemeckis is doing his mo-cap Beowulf, and Henry Selick is starting Coraline with Dakota Fanning voicing the title role. Then, this morning, just to top it all off, it was announced that Matthew Vaughn will be directing Stardust, based on Gaiman's fantasy novel.

The film, described as similar in tone to The Princess Bride or The Neverending Story, centers on a young man who promises to retrieve a fallen star for the love of his life. However, to find the star, he must cross from the English countryside to a magical realm, where he'll have to contend with all manner of the fantastic.

Personally, I'm pretty happy with this pairing. If Layer Cake demonstrated anything about Matthew Vaughn, it's that he's a highly visual storyteller. His shot composition, his pacing...it's a very active directorial style, which I think will benefit Gaiman's story immensely. I've heard that MirrorMask was gorgeous but boring as all hell, (and I've heard the opposite as well, so who knows?) so a director who will be able to keep the audience fully engaged at all times is probably a good thing for Gaiman. I've been waiting to see what Vaughn would do after he left X3, and this has me pretty damn excited.