If you had spent a day in the preschool classroom I taught this summer, it would've been easy to spot my favorite children's book. Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are is that book, and it will certainly be read to my own kids when I have them. It's that certainty that leaves me with very high hopes for Spike Jonze's upcoming film adaptation of Where The Wild Things Are, finally set for release on October 16.
I say "finally" because it hasn't exactly been a short road to that day. Where The Wild Things Are has been through a lot on its journey to release. John Lasseter actually headed up the project for Disney a long time ago. Check the test footage here. Obviously, that fell through, and Lasseter went on to direct a little movie called Toy Story, among others.
If you jump ahead quite a few years, and if you have an acute memory, you may remember seeing an early teaser trailer attached to Ron Howard's live action version of How The Grinch Stole Christmas, starring Jim Carrey. Yes, that was all the way back in 2000.
A lot has happened since then. Sendak apparently liked Jonze's earlier work, and deemed him the right director for the job. Following a dispute with Universal, however, Jonze decided to take the film to Warner Bros. and demonstrated to audiences that the teaser may have been a bit premature. Jonze co-wrote the screenplay with author Dave Eggers, and the film was on its way to finally becoming a reality.
Sadly, problems plagued the production of Where The Wild Things Are, especially after test footage was leaked, making many very skeptical of Jonze's vision for the film. Rumors abound of test audiences full of frightened children, a sign that maybe Jonze had to tone his film down a little in order to cater to target audiences (primarily kids, I would imagine).
Warner Bros. delayed the film an entire year from its originally-intended 2008 release date, bumping it to October 16, 2009. Where The Wild Things Are stars newcomer Max Records (who you may remember from this summer's indie The Brothers Bloom) as Max, the famous young man with a wolf suit who goes to bed without dinner and creates a world of his own. Catherine Keener plays his mother, and Mark Ruffalo plays his mother's new boyfriend.
The Wild Things are voiced by an ensemble cast that includes Forest Whitaker, Lauren Ambrose, James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hara, Chris Cooper and Paul Dano. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of this new film is Jonze's choice to use practical costumes for the Wild Things' portrayal, with the help of computers to get their faces just right. It's nice to see a director who isn't afraid to use practical effects in place of CG these days.
Sendak has voiced his opinion on Jonze's film in a series of video featurettes created by Jonze. He says he loves Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are, and that the director has stayed true to the original work without being tied down to it.
I won't pass any judgment on the movie until I see it, but watching the Wild Things in the trailer is an absolute joy, and I can only imagine the theatrical experience. I've read that Jonze really tried to capture what it's like to be a nine-year-old kid, which is an interesting endeavor that I hope he succeeds at.
Most of all, however, I hope that the dark side of this story hasn't been compromised. I'm not sure if Jonze is a filmmaker who makes a movie and leaves it be (like Christopher Nolan) or the kind who never seems to be done tweaking his films (like George Lucas), but I'd love to see Jonze's original cut on some DVD special feature someday, just to witness what allegedly scared these children so badly. I'm confident that the dark side ("We'll eat you up!") will stay intact, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Again, Where The Wild Things Are opens on October 16. The teaser and trailer are available at the official site.
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