Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.

So it looks like Warner Bros. has spent most of the weekend chasing a leaked clip from WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE around the internet.

It started its viral life over at Buzznet, and since then it’s been popping up all over the place. And along with the clip, there’s been a lot of speculation about what it is and where it fits into the movie. People are wondering if it’s test footage or an actual clip or what.

Let’s check it out before they yank it again, and then I’ll try to explain what I know about it:

Now, I’ve seen this film. Or rather, I saw a version of it. And I can tell you that there’s a reason this film isn’t coming out in 2008 anymore. There’s a lot of work left to do on it, and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear about some fairly massive reshoots in the months ahead.

I wish I could be more specific, but because of how I saw it, I can’t offer any sort of real review. I can tell you that there’s something odd about the clip above. The Wild Thing in that clip is Carrol, played in the version I saw by James Gandolfini. That is most definitely NOT Gandolfini’s voice in that clip though. But it’s a very finished piece of film, because in the rough footage, none of the Wild Things have articulated faces. The costumes were all built to have immobile features that would be replaced in post-production by CGI, and it looks like this clip has had that work done on it.

So what are we looking at? Tone-wise, this is the film. It’s a little bit strange, a little bit sad, and it looks like a real world, not some greenscreen fantasy land.

We’ll keep you posted on this one as work continues on it, but for right now, this one’s a looooooooong way away, so enjoy this little taste.

Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles