Where the Wild Things Are
Short description
Max is a young boy who feels misunderstood and alone at home, especially after a conflict with his mother. He runs away and ends up on an island inhabited by enormous creatures with strong feelings and unpredictable behaviour. The monsters are looking for someone to lead them, and Max becomes their king. He promises them a happier world, but ruling turns out to be harder than he expected, and disagreements soon arise among them.
The film is an adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book, directed by Spike Jonze from a screenplay he wrote with Dave Eggers. It was Jonze's third feature, following Being John Malkovich and Adaptation., and it came before Her. Max Records plays Max, with Catherine Keener as his mother, while the creatures are voiced by James Gandolfini, Lauren Ambrose, Catherine O'Hara, Forest Whitaker and others.
Released in October 2009, the film had a budget of about 100 million US dollars and took a similar amount at the worldwide box office. On IMDb it holds a 6.7 rating from 112,000 votes, and on TMDB a 6.5 from 2,075 votes. The critics' rating stands at 7.3 from 267 reviews, higher than the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- While writing the script, Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers constantly consulted with Maurice Sendak.
- The filming of the scene where Max runs and barks at the dog proved particularly difficult, due to the need to synchronize the movements. In the end, Spike Jonze filmed Max and the animal separately.
- Initially, the leadership of Warner Bros. was so displeased with the finished film (it turned out to be far less family-friendly than they had hoped) that in early 2008 they even considered reshooting the entire project, which had already cost $75 million. However, Spike Jonze was then given time and financial resources to make some changes to the film and make it more 'palatable' to management.
- In the early stages of the project's development, an animated film was planned.
- The costumes, created by specialists at The Jim Henson Company, arrived less than six weeks before the start of filming. The actors present in the soundstage immediately put them on to try them out, and it immediately became clear that the heads were made too heavy, each weighing over 22 kg. The actors claimed that they could barely stand in these costumes. The heavy, remotely controlled pupils that moved in the eye sockets had to be removed from the heads. This meant that different facial expressions had to be added to the footage after filming during post-production.
- The film was originally scheduled for release in May 2008. The premiere was then moved to October 2008, after which it was rescheduled for 2009.
- At one stage of the project's development, Eric Goldberg was supposed to direct.
- It was reported that the actors and actresses playing the monsters could not endure more than half an hour in the costume with the head on, after which they required a 15-minute break spent in front of an air conditioner. Stunt doubles, on the other hand, spent several hours at a time in the costumes – without any breaks or air conditioning.
- Director and screenwriter Spike Jonze abandoned the idea of making the film fully animated, deciding that using full-body costumes would allow the audience to better empathize with the characters.
- Numerous cameras constantly followed the actors and actresses to capture their facial expressions. The footage from these cameras was later overlaid onto the faces of full-size puppets.
- The film's release sparked debate about whether frightening scenes should be shown to children. Spike Jonze himself repeatedly stated that his goal was not to create a children's film, but a “film about childhood.” Dan Feldman (who was responsible for distribution at Warner Bros.) noted that the film's advertising campaign was not aimed at children as the direct target audience and advised parents to make their own decisions about whether to show the film to children.
- Filming began in 2005.
- Spike Jonze recorded the voices of the actors playing the film's characters directly during filming – in contrast to recording the footage first and then adding sound, or recording the voices separately. The actors and actresses involved in the project wore radio microphones attached to their heads. Even before filming began, Spike Jonze took the actors and actresses to a park where they could play war games (throwing clumps of earth), just like the characters in the film.
- Screenwriter and producer Maurice Sendak persuaded Spike Jonze to take on the project. Before that, the project had been stalled since the early 1990s.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
