| Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
| Subject: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Sat Sep 27, 2008 7:36 am | |
| In 1963, children's author/illustrator Maurice Sendak wrote a short but very sweet story, Where the Wild Things Are. It has since become one of the best loved childrens books of all time. Now, this well loved book is set to become a film, it was once considered to have been made by Pixar, but now, it's gonna be in live-action, with the Wild Things created by CGI and animatronic puppets. It might seem impossible to make a short story into a film, but it's in the hands of Spike Jonze, the acclaimed music video director who made a name for himself with Being John Malkovich (1999) and Adaptation (2002). So now, Where the Wild Things Are is becoming a film, but can Jonze make a good family film out of a beloved book?? The books plot is about young Max, a mischievious young boy who is causing trouble in a wolf costume, he is sent to bed without supper by his Mum. In his room, Max's imagination causes the room to grow into a forest. It is there he takes a trip to the land of the Wild Things. Although they appear fierce, it is Max who is more fierce, and the Wild Things crown him as King of the Wild Things. Now, Spike Jonze has only made 2 feature films, (he also produced the Jackass movies and Michel Gondry's underrated Human Nature (2001)), he's shown great potential with what he's made so far, music videos included. But, now this is his first film without writer Charlie Kaufman, and it's been 6 years since Adaptation, so we've been waiting a while for him to make his next movie. He's picked an offbeat project, but he might be able to surprise us all with it. Plus, a family film will could be commercially beneficial for him. The film was made during the summer of 2006 in Melbourne, Australia. But, it would appear that the film will not be released in America until October 19th 2009!! It's a bit away, I know, but Jonze wants to ensure he does it right. There have been widely rumoured reports of trouble between Jonze and Warner Bros. Earlier this year, they allegedly wanted the WHOLE film reshot, which they denied. Last month, Alan Horn, President of Warner Bros. said, ""We've given him more money and, even more importantly, more time for him to work on the film. 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." Lets hope Jonze gets the version he wants released!! Despite overcoming problems like these, Jonze has also assembled a stellar vocal cast to voice the Wild Things, including Benicio Del Toro, Forest Whitaker, Michelle Williams and James Gandolfini. The live-action cast is rounded off by newcomer Max Records as Max, Paul Dano and Jonze regular Catherine Keener. Tom Hanks is producing the film, (he got the rights years ago, and Sendak is producing too), and Jonze has assembled his usual team from his music videos and films to make the film, including cinematographer Lance Acord and production designer K.K. Barrett, (both of whom also work for Jonze's ex-wife Sofia Coppola.) Here's a little test that was shot back in 2006 whilst the film was in pre-production. Plus, the Wild Thing sounds alot like Benicio Del Toro... Look here!! Does anyone think this is a good idea?? It's always a risk trying to expand short kids books into feature length films, the recent Dr. Seuss adaptations felt stretched and wanting, (I'll make an exception with Horton Hears A Who!). But, with Spike Jonze taking on Sendak's well loved classic, could he change all that?? From the looks of the first image, it certainly looks faithful to the book. It'll be good to see how the Wild Things are realised, but there's no shame in Jonze doing a family film, but it has been a while since Adaptation, (it'll be 7 years once this comes out!! ) Could he pull off a work of magic here??
Last edited by Donald McKinney on Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:27 pm; edited 1 time in total | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
| Subject: Re: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:42 am | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
| Subject: Re: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Thu Dec 04, 2008 2:32 pm | |
| This article again, and it also applies to Spike Jonze as well... :-| THE OXYMORONDirector Spike Jonze has never made a wide-audience commercial studio movie. His highest-grossing pics, New Line's "Being John Malkovich" and Sony's "Adaptation," were considered arthouse crossovers, grossing $46.4 million and $32 million worldwide, respectively.
He has never made a family movie, nor a visual effects picture.
Thus it is not a huge surprise that his and Dave Eggers' adaptation of Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" has run into some turbulence at Warner Bros., which took the $75 million-budget movie in turnaround from Universal.
Jonze's initial idea was to shoot the wild things in nine-foot suits with animatronic faces in the jungles of Australia and New Zealand. CG-faces would be required. After a disastrous December 2007 preview of Jonze's first cut, the studio shut down the project. The movie is "dark, adult and deep," wrote Cinemaniac1979 on aint-it-cool-news, "heart-wrenching and scary. This isn't a movie for children -- it's a movie about childhood."
Jonze did reshoots a year after he first shot the movie, mostly of the young lead, Max Record. About 10 minutes were added: two scenes at the start and one at the end.
"We wanted more emotion for the story on the whole," says Warners president Jeff Robinov, who will screen the new cut this month. "He's making a Spike Jonze family movie. I can't tell you how young it's going to play or its intensity. It's magical and beautifully shot. It was a long process to end up in a good place." The visual effects won't be added until Jonze has locked the final cut.
ESTIMATED COST: $78 million-$80 million. While the studio is aiming for a fall 2009 release, the movie doesn't seem to be the family-friendly commercial picture the studio had in mind.Hmm, an arthouse kid's movie, I don't think we've had a weird kid's film since the early 1970's!! Oh, and New Line didn't make Being John Malkovich, Universal did.... | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
| Subject: Re: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Sat Jan 03, 2009 6:34 am | |
| Here's a special article on it by Entertainment Weekly!! | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
| Subject: Re: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Sat Jan 17, 2009 10:22 pm | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
| Subject: Re: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:33 pm | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
| Subject: Re: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Mon Mar 23, 2009 8:12 pm | |
| NEW IMAGES!!Plus, there will be a teaser trailer attached to the start of Monsters Vs. Aliens!! It looks absolutely beautiful, and it could be Jonze's best film!! As for the Wild Things, I could just hug them!! | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
| Subject: Re: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:25 pm | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
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Gimli The Avenger Admin
Posts : 27722 Join date : 2008-07-23 Location : Middle Earth
| Subject: Re: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Sun Apr 12, 2009 4:30 am | |
| Looks enticing. I agree, very cute creatures. | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
| Subject: Re: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Sat Apr 25, 2009 2:28 pm | |
| Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's is working on the score with Carter Burwell, she talks about it here!! | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
| Subject: Re: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Mon May 25, 2009 7:33 am | |
| Click here to read this blog from Spike!! | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
| Subject: Re: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Sun Jun 28, 2009 3:34 pm | |
| Empire Present's the 5 W's of Where The Wild Things Are!! | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
| Subject: Re: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Fri Aug 07, 2009 4:25 pm | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
| Subject: Re: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Wed Sep 02, 2009 7:57 pm | |
| A bumper New York Times article on how and why Jonze did the film!! | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
| Subject: Re: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:18 pm | |
| New featurette!! | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
| Subject: Re: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Mon Sep 14, 2009 7:21 pm | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
| Subject: Re: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Sat Sep 26, 2009 10:33 am | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
| Subject: Re: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Tue Oct 06, 2009 9:27 pm | |
| It's been rated PG over here for 'mild threat and brief violence'. That's good then... | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
| Subject: Re: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Sat Oct 10, 2009 4:50 pm | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
| Subject: Re: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Sun Oct 18, 2009 10:44 pm | |
| It opened this weekend in America to the tune of $32.5 million. Not bad!! | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
| Subject: Re: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are Mon Nov 09, 2009 4:55 pm | |
| Here's another new featurette!! It's grossed nearly $70 million in America so far!! | |
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Donald McKinney Admin
Posts : 24450 Join date : 2008-07-21
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| Subject: Re: Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are | |
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