I think that’s what freaked the studio out about the movie too. It wasn’t a studio film for kids, or it wasn’t a traditional film about kids. We didn’t have like a Movie Kid in our movie, or a Movie Performance in a Movie Kid world. We had a real kid and a real world, and I think that’s sort of where our problem was. In the end they realized the movie is what it is, and there’s no real way to... it’s sort of like they were expecting a boy and I gave birth to a girl.

[Laughs] So they just needed their time to sort that out and figure out how they were going to learn to love their new daughter.

It could have been worse, Spike: We hear Baz Luhrmann's newborn faced a full-blown sex-change over at Fox.

• Moriarty Sits Down With Spike Jonze... [AICN]

TH: It was the surprise of a lifetime, you know? It really was. I was like, "Wait a minute, How did this take place?" There was no explanation, but it was gone. It was gone like life; it up and vanished. Then I read something in the trades that implicated it was about money or something. But apparently the contracts that we write and sign aren't worth the paper that they're printed on. [...] And now the challenge is not to be angry, but you just keep moving forward. You keep moving forward. Like a lot of Americans, I lost my 401(k), basically, because that was a very promising thing. But to have to keep working, that's even more promising.

NPR: You've played pimps. Is there a difference between their business principals and the ones in Hollywood?

TH: No. Promises aren't kept, and good-faith negotiations aren't always held up. You know? Even friendships, people you support. When it comes down to it, the only true support you have is the work that you've done — the laurels of your work and the ethics by which you stand.

For Marvel's part, president of production Kevin Feige first offered no comment to MTV News, later implying that even Cheadle isn't necessarily booked for the sequel: “As is the policy with most people, when you talk about dotting I’s and crossing T’s, certainly that isn’t the case yet on a number of things we’re doing. But that [Hollywood Reporter story] was not an announcement. That was, as it tends to happen in the business, is rumors and leaks and things like that. I do think there will be clarity soon.” No rush, Kev — only 18 months until Iron Man 2 opens, and Justin Theroux was desperately hoping to cut Howard's climactic, contractually obligated musical number anyway.

• Terrence Howard Talks Tunes, Family, Science [NPR]

• Terrence Howard Calls ‘Iron Man’ Casting Switch A ‘Surprise’ [MTV News]

Things quickly deteriorated from there, alas, but Kassovitz's loss is our gain today as he disowns Babylon A.D. in the most spectacular, career-immolating fashion imaginable:

"It's pure violence and stupidity," he admits. "The movie is supposed to teach us that the education of our children will mean the future of our planet. All the action scenes had a goal: They were supposed to be driven by either a metaphysical point of view or experience for the characters... instead parts of the movie are like a bad episode of 24."

The last stroke, Kassovitz says, was when Fox interfered with the editing of the film, paring it down to a confusing 93 minutes (original reports were that 70 minutes were cut from the film; Kassovitz says the number is closer to 15). ...

""I don't see how people who went through all these amazing blockbusters like The Dark Knight and Iron Man this summer will take it. ... I should have chosen a studio that has guts," he says. "Fox was just trying to get a PG-13 movie. I'm ready to go to war against them, but I can't because they don't give a s—t."

Fox was not available for comment, according to the author, but we don't mind defending the studio on the basis of its clear interest in rich "points of view" belonging to everyone from Manoj Night Shyamalan to Eddie Murphy to Space Chimps — this year alone, in fact, as evidenced by its glamorous run of greeting cards memorializing those perspectives and experiences. Furthermore, if you can't get a metaphysical hard-on watching Jack Bauer clamp jumper cables to terrorist nipples, then maybe it's your point of view that requires more worldly considerations, Matty. We're almost loath to say it, but seriously: Team Fox.

• 'Babylon A.D.' Director Mathieu Kassovitz Describes a Disastrous Production[SciFi Scanner]

And while the release has now been postponed indefinitely and Horn assures us that Jonze is staying on the project, tell us if Horn's comments after the jump read as one of the less emphatic endorsements you've seen from a studio boss this year:

"We've given him more money and, even more importantly, more time for him to work on the film," Horn said. "We'd like to find a common ground that represents Spike's vision but still offers a film that really delivers for a broad-based audience. We obviously still have a challenge on our hands. But I wouldn't call it a problem, simply a challenge. No one wants to turn this into a bland, sanitized studio movie. This is a very special piece of material and we're just trying to get it right. ... The jury is still out on this one. But we remain confident that Spike is going to figure things out and at the end of the day we'll have an artistically compelling movie.""

Goldstein brings up a good point that for better or worse, Warners gambles (or used to, anyhow) on directing talent more aggressively than most studios are prepared to do, but that for every Christopher Nolan franchise reboot there's a Darren Aronofsky (The Fountain) or Oliver Hirschbiegel (The Invasion) lurking in the distance. The worst thing Horn and Robinov could do, though, is nudge Jonze somewhere toward the middle — somewhere ostensibly "safe," where the edge and the bloom wear off in short, mediocre order, leaving everyone dissatisfied.

Which, of course, is where it's headed considering Warners' recent hard right turn. Thanks a pantload for the pep talk, Horn.

• Can Spike Jonze save 'Where the Wild Things Are'? [The Big Picture]

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.

• WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE... BEING COMPLETELY RESHOT? [chud.com]

"After careful consideration, I have decided to formally announce the end of my involvement as one of the overseas artistic advisers to the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games."

"I have made repeated efforts to encourage the Chinese government to use its unique influence to bring safety and stability to the Darfur region of Sudan. Although some progress has been made ...the situation continues to worsen and the violence continues to accelerate."

"With this in mind, I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue with business as usual. At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies, but on doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that will continue to be committed in Darfur.

While we respect Spielberg's decision, we must admit to being more than a little disappointed at the outcome. If the rumors were true, audiences will now be robbed of witnessing one of Olympics history's most spectacular set pieces, in which the entire Israeli cycling team would take miraculous flight across a moonlit Beijing sky, a blanket-wrapped Mary Lou Retton leading the way with one illuminated finger outstretched.

• Spielberg pulls out of Olympics [Variety]

[Travolata] was "let go about two weeks ago. He had the role of J.R. Ewing taken from him and given to Ben Stiller."

However, a rep for Stiller denies the comic actor accepted or was offered the part.

"John was given a nice seven-figure 'gift' to go away quietly," our source added. "He also got five family members roles in the movie, and they aren't going to be in it now, either."

A friend of Travolta confirmed, "He is not doing the movie. They've gone in a different direction than was originally intended. I don't know about any 'gift,' and I don't think the family member thing is correct."

The actor shuffle is down to the flick's re-imagining as a "'comedic, behind-the-scenes' movie instead of the originally intended drama," so watch for the oh-so-knowing shot of Ben on his cell phone berating his agent and begging for Judd Apatow to return his phone calls. (This will also appear on the DVD extras as actual behind the scenes footage.)

• Travolta Gets 'dallas' Boot [Page Six]

"I was pregnant [with daughter Alice] at the time and probably a little moody, but I remember thinking, 'She's a disaster! I gotta prop this lady up and get her on TV,'" Fey dished.

She said Abdul was "disastrous ... in the way she generally appears to be.

"It was an American Idol sketch, and she wanted to change parts. So Amy Poehler had to play her."

A year later, Fey recalled seeing Abdul on a flight.

"We both looked at each other like, 'Do I know that girl?'" she said. "And then we both had that moment of recognition, and she was like, 'uuuggh.' I saw it register on her face that she had had a terrible time with us."

As it turns out, the only usable amount of Abdul would include a brief appearance at the end of an Idol sketch, in which she was called upon to register her displeasure over Poehler's substandard characterization, the versatile Not Ready For Prime Time Player having apparently failed to capture Paula's trademarked stiff-armed clap or the Oxy-and-Stoli-flavored lilt in her voice. Thankfully, Abdul wasn't so disastrous that a nervous Lorne Michaels had to go through with his emergency Plan B—having Horatio Sanz leap off the balcony and tackle her, justifying the ambush as a surprise reunion with plus-sized AI contestant Scott Savol.

• Tina Fey Says Paula Abdul Was 'Awful' As SNL Guest Host [US]

· "Is there a Razzie Award for worst casting? If so, it's one of several that can be reserved early for this fourth, spectacularly lousy screen version of Jack Finney's 1954 novella The Body Snatchers." [LA Weekly]
· "The movie isn't terrible; it's just low-rent and reductive...This is just a glorified zombie movie: 28 Days Later with monsters — they even spread the virus by vomiting! — that look like you and me." [EW]

· "While it's impossible as a viewer to tell where one person's work ends and another's begins, it's clear that all those voices and influences have resulted in a film that feels truncated, rushed, unfocused and—worst of all—not the slightest bit scary or suspenseful." [AP]
· "Philip Kaufman's Invasion of the Body Snatchers haunts you for years, whereas The Invasion is forgotten before the end of the credits." [CBS5.com]
· "All good things must come to an end — in this case, the lucky streak that's made every adaptation of Jack Finney's 1955 sci-fi novel "The Body Snatchers" distinctive and effective, until now." [Variety]