But Will The Kids Like It…?
The debate has been ongoing for over 2 years whether Spike Jonze’s pending Where The Wild Things Are film will be too dark and scary for kids. Although the subject matter revolves around young Max, there have always been dark undertones throughout.
Here are case studies that can prove two things — Kids will love it and kids will be piss in their pants scared.
Link: Spike Jonze Doing Costume Research on His Son
Link: Baby Watching Trailer Reaction
We think we’ll have a bit of both reactions.
WTWTA: Heads on and We Shoot
Whaddya know? Another book was just announced for the highly anticipated (and obsessed about) Where The Wild Things are film. We mentioned the loosely based 300 page novel coming out in October. Now we have a behind the scenes look at the making of this very lengthy production. “Head’s On and We Shoot: The Making of Where the Wild Things Are” is 240 pages and releases on Oct. 13th.
The thing that makes this film and production so intriguing is the decision by Spike Jonze to go “old school” by using giant puppets. 99% of films solely rely on CGI when needed. The problem is that an element of humanity and soul is lost with these computer generated images. Think Beowulf. Or Star Wars. Or basically any modern film that heavily relies on CGI characters. Jonze knew that in order for this film to work on all emotional levels, the Wild Things needed to be as real and soulful as possible. This is a throwback to classics such as The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. The only difference is that the Wild Things will have CGI’d mouths in order to match the words with the lips.
This decision by Jonze to use actors in giant puppets ended up costing him an extra year of production, though. There were many unforseen issues throughout and bad weather in Austrailia halted production many times. Here’s hoping this obsession doesn’t turn into false hopes.
Wild Things or: How a 200 Word Children’s Book Turned into a 300 Page Novel
For those who can’t wait until the October 16th release of Where the Wild Things Are — do not fret. According to Amazon , on October 1st a full 300 page novel “loosely based on the works of Maurice Sendak” will be released. This novel is essentially the screenplay to the highly anticipated film.
Here is Amazon’s synopsis:
The Wild Things — based loosely on the storybook by Maurice Sendak and the screenplay cowritten with Spike Jonze — is about the confusions of a boy, Max, making his way in a world he can’t control. His father is gone, his mother is spending time with a younger boyfriend, his sister is becoming a teenager and no longer has interest in him. At the same time, Max finds himself capable of startling acts of wildness: he wears a wolf suit, bites his mom, and can’t always control his outbursts. During a fight at home, Max flees and runs away into the woods. He finds a boat there, jumps in, and ends up on the open sea, destination unknown. He lands on the island of the Wild Things, and soon he becomes their king. But things get complicated when Max realizes that the Wild Things want as much from him as he wants from them. Funny, dark, and alive, The Wild Things is a timeless and time-tested tale for all ages.
So there you have it. Full disclosure on 10/1.
