Where the Wild Things are.

[Figs]

The behind the scenes chaos is what, to me, makes it seem like this has taken forever to be released. Rememeber when Forrest Whitaker was attached?

What is the behind the scenes chaos for this movie exactly?

 

[K.B.]

Has been in development hell for years. Forrest Whittaker walked because him and studio butted heads numorus times over the direction it was headed when he was attached to direct. Constant reports of a lackluster script. The kid who is playing max has apperently not been what they thoguht (as previosuly mentioned here). Numorus relese dates set and then changed.

 

[terry78]

If they continue with bringing Maurice Sendak's books to the screen, Little Bear should be next. That would just be one straight acid trip.

 

[K.B.]

Budget cut, budget for cgi cut.cgi artists being laid off. reshoots a plenty. was bought by WB from universal as a negative pick up.

 

[K.B.]

(sorry my computer keeps messign up and posting before I finish typing )

A traielr was attached to The grinch. Filming began april 2006. Michelle Williams has also been replaced....ok I think thats all I got for now lol

 

[Timstuff]

This movie should have been animated.

 

[Rez]

Given Spike Jonze, I think a far better film could be made if he just made a documentary about the making of the film. I'm pretty prepared for the movie to be anything from a disaster to a forgettable children's film, which is a shame- it could have been something grand. At the very least, they should just ignore the fact that it's a kid's movie and make all the special features on the DVD be about how many times this movie has been screwed over.

 

[Recherché]

I love this book as a child and I still have it. Can't wait to see the movie.

 

[K.B.]

I agree Rez

 

[bearvomit]

go to my page below to find a link to the newly released footage.

 

[The Guard]

The new footage looks...completely pointless.

I hope the movie features the weird abuse/manipulation angle.

 

[Octoberist]

The clip that was joblo.com and aintitcool was friggin' surreal.

I'm so sad that the movie has been delayed until NEXT YEAR. but i'm hoping that spike will deliver.

 

[Watson]

The clip that was joblo.com and aintitcool was friggin' surreal.

I'm so sad that the movie has been delayed until NEXT YEAR. but i'm hoping that spike will deliver.

I thought that footage was deemed fake?

 

[Octoberist]

i thought it was used via test footage.

The thing is that if it's a fake, then it's an expensive fake then.

 

[Octoberist]

looking at some of the comments here, i do have to agree that the production has been taking a LOOONNGG time.

I remember it was suppose to come out this year, then it got delay until next year. Now it's 2009.

If it's because the kid isn't a good actor, then perhaps they may have to pull a Back to the Future (with Michael J. Fox and the original lead) and reshoot with a new actor.

 

[Watson]

i thought it was used via test footage.

The thing is that if it's a fake, then it's an expensive fake then.

Hmm well I didn't hear it from the most reliable source, but I'm prone to skepticsm these days. Symptom of being a Hype member I 'spose.

looking at some of the comments here, i do have to agree that the production has been taking a LOOONNGG time.

I remember it was suppose to come out this year, then it got delay until next year. Now it's 2009.

If it's because the kid isn't a good actor, then perhaps they may have to pull a Back to the Future (with Michael J. Fox and the original lead) and reshoot with a new actor.

That would make the most sense and probably cost them less money then the development hell it is currently embroiled in. There are decent male child actors out there.

 

[Octoberist]

it's a shame because from the pictures that got leaked, it looks awesome..and organic.

 

[K.B.]

No it isn't fake footage it is simply test footage.

-From FilmIck....

" clip was a test shot in the summer of 2005 in Griffith Park. And that's not the final Max, but Griffin Armstorff who improvised everything you see him do here. Presumably, Benicio Del Toro was then given dialogue to match the improv lines, but it's also fairly clear that the basic scene outline was probably preplanned first of all."

 

[Rezzo]

Where the Wild Things Are... Being Completely Reshot?

We're on the verge of losing a movie. Spike Jonze's version of Where the Wild Things Are is a film with an uncertain future as executives behind the scenes at Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures are right now trying to figure out whether or not to essentially reshoot the entire film.

If the entire film gets reshot you will hear that the decision came because of technical issues, specifically the animation of the Wild Things' mouths and facial features. The film uses people in huge Jim Henson Creature Shop suits, and the plan was to shoot the suits and animate the Wild Things' faces later. That has been proving to be more technically difficult than anyone had foreseen, even though test footage had been shot (a leaked clip from the movie that hit the internet this weekend was in fact some of that test footage, according to a statement from Spike Jonze). This is a bad situation, obviously, but one where some footage could be salvaged, meaning that a complete and total reshoot of the film wouldn't be necessary.

Yet I'm hearing that just such a massive reshoot is what is on the table right now. And it's not because of technical issues, unless you want to consider the lead kid actor and the script technical issues. Sources tell me that the suits at Legendary and Warner Bros are not happy with Max Records, the actor playing Max, the mischievous boy who is crowned King of the Wild Things. Worse than that, they don't like the film's tone and want to go back to the script drawing board, possibly losing the Spike Jonze/Dave Eggers script when they do it. Apparently the film is too weird and 'too scary,' and the character of Max is being seen as not likable (check out some of the test screening responses that Slashfilm is running).

Where The Wild Things Are screened for a test audience in Pasadena late last year; my friend BC, who watches a horror movie a day, caught the screening and liked what he saw, but I've also been told that the movie is 'subversive,' which is just the sort of thing that drives studio suits up the wall. The film, I keep hearing, is pretty great at this early stage of post-production, but it could very possibly not be a commercial movie. You can imagine the panic at Warner Bros when they realized they'd made a reportedly 75 million dollar kiddie art house film.

Can Warner Bros force Spike back to do the sort of massive reshoots they want? I've been on the phone to Warner Bros and Legendary and have not been able to get official statements about the status of the film, or whether Spike has final cut. A less reliable source has told me that he does in fact have final cut, which means that if he doesn't want to go back and do the reshoots he doesn't have to - but Warner Bros could still fire him and assign the reshoots to someone more compliant. Spike has a crew he likes to work with and they have not yet been told to gear up for additional shooting although they do know that it could be coming.

The scary thing is that this wouldn't be unprecedented for Warner Bros. Just a couple of years ago they scrapped Paul Schrader's Exorcist prequel and sent Renny Harlin out to remake the thing using the same sets and some of the same actors. Both versions ended up being terrible, but this studio has shown their willingness to do something just this nutty before.

There has been a glimmer of good news, and it's that Spike issued a statement about the leaked clip. For a little while I contemplated the idea that it had been leaked by Spike as some sort of move against the suits, but what could that move have meant? The fact that Spike is making statements about the clip - and that he's making statements at all about the movie - is a sign that not all is lost.

Everything points to Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are being a unique and fascinating film. It's not a cookie cutter kid movie, and I know that was part of the original appeal to folks at Warner Bros - why the hell else do you bring Jonze on? I didn't make it out to that Pasadena test screening, but now I wish I had so that I could report to you just what sort of a movie Spike has made. The reality, though, is that it doesn't matter since I tend to come down on the side of the great talent in these cases, and there's no question that Spike is a great talent. I don't trust the money people to look at a movie that's different and non-comformist and to understand it. Of course they're afraid of it. You can make movies where you don't take risks, but in this case they've decided to take the risk. They should let it play out and see what happens.

It's important to keep in mind that as of this weekend nothing was decided or set in stone. Hopefully all the behind the scenes stuff will settle soon, Spike will get to release the movie he wants to release and Warner Bros will strongly support the film with marketing and advertising. Meanwhile I'll keep my ear to the ground and let you know what I hear.

This would totally suck.

 

[deathfromabove]

please let spike finish this movie!!!

please wb!

 

[gkokujin]

that footage is surreal.


this would be too cerebral (according to the suits) for kids. Kids like BRIGHT COLORS and FART JOKES and *********ION JOKE SCENES

 

[deathfromabove]

that footage is surreal.


this would be too cerebral (according to the suits) for kids. Kids like BRIGHT COLORS and FART JOKES and *********ION JOKE SCENES

all the more reason to let this movie see the light of day...

 

[K.B.]

If this happens then WB blows goats for quarters. Why d othey screw up so many movies these days? They trying to be the next 20th century fox?

 

[Joker]

If this happens then WB blows goats for quarters. Why d othey screw up so many movies these days? They trying to be the next 20th century fox?

They're already just as bad. I mean really, WB is the company that greenlit Catwoman.

 

[DOG LIPS]

Wow, what a mess.