We think most of us are in agreement that Where the Wild Things Are—as far as sacred texts go, basically the Koran of childhood—was in safe hands with Spike Jonze, a filmmaker we fear may have at some point been beaten with a genius stick as hard as Kanye gets it with a shovel in his latest Jonze-helmed music video. (It bears noting that he co-wrote the screenplay with McSweeney's founder/ co-genius Dave Eggers, offering further promise that Things won't follow the same road as any number of Seussian big screen disasters.)

The leaked footage above, featuring a quiet moment between the fearsome Max and Wild Thing Carol —rumored to be voiced in the movie by James Gandolfini—was the source of much dispute over the weekend. A few frantic dispatches placed by Warner Bros. to various blogspots, however, has led to the consensus that the scene, bathed in golden hour and possessing a near pitch-perfect tone (try imagining the sub-in actors' voices replaced with the sound of Tony Soprano talking to a nine-year-old AJ at a Yankee's game) is, in fact, a screen test. If we start now, we should be able to produce our own offspring in time to accompany us to its opening weekend, at some point in 2009.