AICN’s Drew McWeeny recently sat down with Where The Wild Things Are director Spike Jonze. After reading most of the interview I still wasn’t sure what was mandated by Warner Bros. on the re-shoots after a reportedly disastrous December ’07 preview screening. How precisely will the final film differ from the 12.07 version? Spell it out for me like I’m eight years old.

Jonze initially shot the wild things in nine-foot suits with animatronic faces in the jungles of Australia and New Zealand with the idea of pasting on CG-faces in post. Then came the 12.07 screening and hoo-wee.

The movie is “dark, adult and deep — heart-wrenching and scary,” wrote Cinemaniac1979 on AICN. “This isn’t a movie for children — it’s a movie about childhood.”

WTWTA costars Catherine Keener, Forest Whitaker and Australian actor Angus Sampson. It was adapted by Jonze and Dave Eggers.

The current plan is to release it on 10.16.09. The film began shooting in April 2006 at Central City Studios in Melbourne, Australia. The cast includes Catherine Keener, Max Records, James Gandolfini, Angus Sampson, Forest Whitaker, Michelle Williams, Catherine O’Hara, Rachel Rivera, Melissa Davis and Paul Dano. Lauren Ambrose was cast to replace Williams as the voice of one of the monsters.

Producer Gary Goetzman was quoted earlier this year as saying, “We support Spike’s vision…we’re helping him make the vision he wants to make.”