Defamer
And now back to the ongoing drama revolving around Where the Wild Things Are, Spike Jonze's reported $75 million adaptation of the classic Maurice Sendak picture book for Warner Bros. After some early test footage surfaced, a statement from the director qualified that the Wild Thing suit and child actor featured in the scene were both placeholders for what was to come. Still, Slashfilm floated rumors that early test screenings tanked with audiences, calling it "too adult and even too scary for children." (Translation: Probably genius.) Now CHUD.com reports twitchy suits are on the verge of pressing the panic buttons beneath their desks that would conveniently dispense with creator and floundering project through their office trapdoor:
We're on the verge of losing a movie.
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 [...]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..
Sadly, when you agree to embark upon a major studio release—particularly one positioned as a family tentpole—marketability will always wind up trumping vision. Just ask the creators of Surf's Up, who had originally envisioned their CGI epic as an all-field-rodent Watership Down for the Iraq War generation, only to find it reprocessed into the virtually unrecognizable penguin surfing movie that made its way into theaters.
Comments
i bet dakota fanning would shave her head for this one.
Um, they tried that same 'actor in a suit and we'll CG the head' approach with Jar Jar in Phantom Menace. They eventually ditched that idea(but not Jar Jar!).
I know I know, I hate to invoke the Dreaded Curse of Jar Jar Binks(even though I love Episode I), but as was seen in the documentary, it was easier [and somehow cheaper?] to just CG the entire beastie rather than match and apply.
So apparently this is a 'technical difficulty' rerun.
Btw I wasn't overly impressed with the screen test footage, even though I'm a huge fan of Jim Henson and his creature shop.
I kept expecting John Malkovich to appear in the scene.
Something like this is Terry Gilliam's territory I think. But hey, I didn't hate the footage either.
This flap is all carefully designed to promote the scripted Lost-in-La Mancha-style mockumentary about the making of Where the Wild Things Are. And now we have fallen into their trap and are like canaries in a cage doing their viral marketing for them. Soon Spike Jonze will rule the world! Bwahahahahhahahahhahah!
Is it wrong to be slightly gleeful that the annihilation of the last shred of my childhood heretofore unplundered by Hollywood might get delayed a wee bit?
Gives me time to stave off the utter raping of my memories, left raw after Transformers and reports of G.I.Joe and The Smurfs.
Also buys me time to sabotage Goodnight Moon: On Ice! and Paris Hilton as Jem.
Sorry, Transformers raped your memories and came out the victor IMO. = /
Looked like any other weekend afternoon at Griffith Park. Except they would be speaking Spanish and the WT would be filled with unnamed potentially deadly Chinese-made candy to be recalled later.
I've seen some footage and loved it. I'd take Henson puppets any day over CGI. That uncanny valley stuff is still easy to peg and difficult to ignore. This isn't a damn cartoon, this is a story who's largest fan base has been having kids for around ten years. It's OKAY to be scary or creepy. Trust me, if we can handle Lohan's crotch in our face every day, we can handle "Where the Wild Things Are."
@gwendemarco: I know that's what made it so great!
Wait are we talking Wild Things or Transformers?
I'd like to know who the people in these test audiences are? My guess is that they aren't kids...
I mean, if kids from the 80s were able to handle Labyrinth and that flying dog thing in Never Ending Story, then this shouldn't even be an issue. This just goes to show you how much of a downgrade CGI has become in children's movies. The puppets are so much more imaginary friendly than that realistic computer imaging crap (not that I have anything against CGI...)
It's a bit like having sex with Dolly Parton.
Sure it may feel good but it would look kind of silly.
Some things are best left to the imagination.
@Benovite: No comment on the Akira live action remake?
Oh ya, I'm excited. Although I'm a bit torn too because it's such big, weird story, maybe the type that's a bit hard to translate to the big screen unless they dumbed it down. But we all know Hollywood has no problem dumbing things down for us.
I don't know the director's work, I haven't seen his short yet, but what I can imagine for the movie is a cross between Blade Runner, Black Rain and Strange Days.
Are they fucking kidding me?! Kids saw 'The Dark Crystal' and it was scary as fuck and it was muppets. MUPPETS!
Jeez. That's how classic films are made. It's supposed to be a bit scary.
@The Real JR: I almost hurled when I read they were doing the Akira remake. Set in NYC, no less. They BETTER NOT TOUCH GHOST IN THE SHELL THOUGH...
@anotherlovetko: Aye, Akira! Pick me up some PBR!
I can easily see DeCaprio in dripping goth black hair ala Toby Maguire in Spidey 3. He already has an anime look to him, but his age could be a problem.
This is something he should have done around the Titanic/'97 era maybe.
@Benovite: DeCaprio's character in Woody Allen's "Celebrity" is Max plus a few years. And a shitload of Titanic money.
If they could do that thing to Ray Winstone for Beowulf, don't see why they couldn't Max-up Leo.
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