When I first heard that Neil Gaiman’s Stardust (my favorite work of his, which is a feat) was being produced as a film, and had in fact proceeded past the option limbo where most fantasy and sci-fi scripts go to die (just when is Neuromancer coming out, anyway? 2009 now?), I was desperately hopeful. When I heard some of the attached cast, I became more concerned: Claire Danes as Yvaine is a good match in temperament yet hardly a snow-blonde, but Michelle Pfeiffer? Robert de Niro?! Was this going to be a case of names trumping plot?

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