With any comic book adaptation, nailing the character visuals is one of the most critical tasks.

For Tom Sturridge, who plays the titular Sandman in the new live-action series, that meant starting with the source material from the late ’80s. 

“We had a series of camera tests to try to find out what [the look] should be,” Sturridge tells Tudum. “And I’m an intense fan of The Sandman, and the first thing that I wanted was a literal translation of what’s on the page onto my body. And so we painted my skin as white as an A4 piece of paper. I had black contact lenses with stars, and the hair was huge and wild exactly as it is. And I thought I looked amazing.”

Tom Sturridge in The Sandman is the Stuff of Dreams Morpheus leads us into the realm of the Dreaming.

As amazing as that literal translation looked, Sturridge and Neil Gaiman, the creator of the comic and executive producer of the show, knew that it wasn’t quite right.

“I would walk around the corridors of Shepperton Studios [dressed] like that, and people would just double take and go, ‘What the fuck? Are you going to do some sort of Halloween movie?’ ” Sturridge recounts. “And so it just didn’t work.”

“Neil, who was there the entire time and guiding all of it, felt that the most important thing with Morpheus was as if he was walking through the streets of London or New York or wherever, that he blends in with his surroundings. That he’s at one with the fabric of the world,” the actor continues.

Liam Daniel/Netflix

Morpheus (Tom Sturridge) and Rose Walker (Vanesu Samunyai) film in a suburban neighborhood

The task of modifying and modernizing the Sandman, aka Morpheus’ look, fell to veteran makeup and hair designer Graham Johnston.

“To me, it was a sort of slightly new romantic goth feel to him,” Johnston explains. “And the main thing was his hair. What I wanted to do was give a sort of unreal look to it, but also a look that would be acceptable moving amongst mankind — so that he can be striking but not out of place.”

“It’s a LOT of hair products,” he recalls, laughing. “We had a session with Tom where I sat down and was like Edward Scissorhands attacking the hair.”

Laurence Cendrowicz/Netflix

A pale Morpheus (Tom Sturridge) gets some much-needed sun

 The result? A creative coif fit for a king. Or at least the Lord of Dreams.

Johnston also designed wigs for Sturridge to wear that are highlighted in Episode 6, in which Morpheus is seen throughout different centuries (non-spoilers ahead).

Johnston’s favorite look from the time-spanning sequence? The late 1700s pre-Regency look with ponytail and bow. But he says, “Tom is very handsome, so it’s easy to make him fit many styles.”

Sturridge’s favorite look is the long hairstyle from the late 1600s.

Morpheus (Tom Sturridge) with long straight hair circa late 1600s.

Morpheus with long hair tied in a ponytail circa late 1700s.

“I felt it had a kind of Interview with the Vampire quality, which I thought was quite fun... or funny,” he recounts with a smile.

Speaking of vampires, Morpheus has quite a signature pallor, but getting his pale skin tone right was a bit easier than his hair.

Ed Miller/Netflix

Makeup artist Graham Johnston describes Sturridge as naturally “alabaster.”

“Luckily, Tom is very alabaster,” explains Johnston. “So really, it was just enhancing that slightly. ”

“I definitely stayed away from the sun,” Sturridge recalls. “It was the height of COVID, and we were all imprisoned in our homes, so that wasn’t very difficult. Part of the thing when we were doing the camera test, Neil ended up kind of coming up to me and going, ‘The thing is, Tom, you are sickly pale, and your hair is always messy. And if I look very closely into your eyes, I can see the cosmos. So we’re good. [laughs]’ ”

See Morpheus’ final look when The Sandman premieres on Aug. 5.