Neil Gaiman updates MTV.com on his various projects, including the upcoming Graveyard Book and a movie adaptation of Anansi Boys:

MTV: So by the end of this year, you’ll have “The Graveyard Book”; your new movie, “Coraline”; and then there’s the 20th anniversary of “Sandman.”

Gaiman: That’s always been the way of my life — things I’ve done years and years apart always seem to come out more or less at the same time. Last year, I was at the “Stardust” premiere in the U.K., and then two weeks later, I was at the “Beowulf” premiere, two things that were done years apart. I would never have expected “Beowulf” to be made. It was a script I wrote in 1987 that I thought was dead in 1988. But it clawed its way out of the grave, pulled itself up and coughed, and then you’re watching Angelina Jolie in it. That’s what happens. Right now, I’m writing an “Anansi Boys” movie.

MTV: That’s actually happening? What else is happening?

Gaiman That’s actually happening. It suddenly came to life when a film producer was stuck at an airport with a star on a tour, and they picked up the book, just as something to read on the plane. Halfway through, they were reading it to each other. When they landed, I got a call saying, “Can we make this into a movie?” And the lovely thing about “Anansi Boys” is that it’s more or less movie-shaped — it just needs a little trimming so it won’t be a five-hour movie. So I have to write that. And “Neverwhere,” which I walked off of in 1999, I was asked to come back and polish the script that I did then and bring that back to life, so I’m doing that.

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