On his train ride to Comic-Con in San Diego yesterday, poor Gary Goetzman, head of the Playtone Company and a producer on Spike Jonze's adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are, was accosted by at least three different bloggers, all eager for a scoop on the purportedly trouble-plagued production. Goetzman was doing publicity for next year's Bill Murray–toplined electricity drama City of Ember (yes, on a train, which was surely a mistake) when he was apparently cornered by writers for Cinematic Happenings Under Development, Ain't It Cool News, and Variety (though Anne Thompson's report is not yet online, sadly).

According to Goetzman, reports about Warner Bros. being unhappy with the performance of Max Records, the film's young star, as well as rumors about pants-shitting children at test-screenings, are 100 percent untrue (though we're pretty sure he couldn't possibly have confirmed these even if they were true), and he implies the film's problems have more to do with practical issues stemming from Jonze's aversion to CGI. "Spike wanted to do things low tech," he told CHUD. "He wanted big animatronic Wild Things in the jungle, which look great. As you go deeper in the jungle and weather sets in … We misjudged that, production-wise." The good news is, though, that Goetzman claims Jonze will have final cut on the film. So, when it's released sometime next century, you can rest assured it will be his original vision, provided Jonze lives that long.

PLAYTONE PROTECTS THE WILD THINGS [CHUD]
It's Not a Question of WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, But When… [Ain't It Cool News]

Earlier: Which Will Come Out First: ‘Chinese Democracy’ or ‘Where the Wild Things Are’?