No matter how many rumors swirl around his adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are, Spike Jonze can rest easy knowing he has Forest Whitaker‘s full support.
Whitaker, who contributed voicework to Where the Wild Things Are, has heard all the rumors about Warner Bros. being unhappy with the film and/or ordering extensive re-shoots — and he doesn’t mind telling us, through MTV Movies, that he thinks the movie’s fine just the way it is. And so do his children, for that matter — he took his brood, ages 9, 11, and 16, to an early screening, and by his estimation, “It was intense. They liked it, though. They enjoyed it.”
Whitaker’s so perturbed by all the rumors that he’s planning on reaching out to Jonze to see what’s going on. As he tells MTV, the movie’s darker moments are essential:
The thing is, it’s one thing to read [scary stuff] in a book, but when you see an itty-bitty kid running alongside a 10-foot-giant on the side of a cliff, it gets intense. But that’s the point, because we’re representing the things inside of the kid. They represent his struggles, either him being too angry or being confused, or not feeling like he belongs. They’re a gargantuan extension of the way he’s feeling inside.
Wait — what? A film that treats children’s emotions honestly and trusts them to be able to deal with it? Yeah, Spike’s director’s cut is totally doomed. Who wants to break the news to Forest?
Source: MTV Movies
