Director Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are has been in a state of limbo ever since news broke earlier this year of screaming children running from test screenings and a very unhappy Warner Brothers. Since then news has been very tight on the rumored reshoots and the overall status of the film. However, in a recent interview with Variety's Anne Thompson producer Gary Goetzman asserted that the studio stood behind Jonze, saying:
"We'd like to find a common ground that represents Spike's vision but still offers a film that really delivers for a broad-based audience. We obviously still have a challenge on our hands. But I wouldn't call it a problem, simply a challenge. No one wants to turn this into a bland, sanitized studio movie. This is a very special piece of material and we're just trying to get it right."He went on to say that the live-action animatronic wild things that Jonze had intended on using had just not worked in context of filming in the Australian jungle and that the film was being redone with CGI. "CG can always look right," he said.
Jonze and Where the Wild Things Are has always struck me as an odd couple. It's a bit confusing that any studio would expect the director of movies like Adaptation (2002) and Being John Malkovich (1999) to pump out a family movie with wide-spread appeal. The worst part is, while the original vision might not have been for everyone, I think I might have really liked it. I'm hopeful for a positive ending the this whole debacle, but lamenting the fact that I'll never get to see it in its original form.
