One of the most beloved children's books of all time, written by Maurice Sendak, is coming to the silver screen. I have mixed feelings about it being taken from the realm of the reader's imagination - where it has remained for 45 years - and having Director Spike Jonze's vision of the story laid out in moving color, but the bottom line is that I'm looking forward to this film.
The film has been a long time coming. Apparently, the adapted screenplay was written by Jonze and Dave Eggers, the celebrated and youthful author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. The first trailer for this film ran before The Grinch when it opened in 2000. When Jonze and Universal Studios didn't see eye-to-eye over Jonze's vision for the film, the project died and Jonze took it to Warner Bros. Rumor has it that Warner Bros. didn't like Jonze's product and threatened to re-shoot the entire thing in the past couple of months. Jonze patched things up by shooting a number of short, small scenes that apparently fortified the story line involving Max's relationship with the Wild Things. Now, the film is slated for an October 2009 release, and the trailer is running rampant before Monsters v. Aliens.
The conflict that I feel over the book being made into a movie is not unique. Apparently, Warner Bros. worked very hard to try to get Howard Berger, one of the most respected make-up and effects people in the film business who won an Oscar for his work in Narnia, to join the project. Apparently, they weren't comfortable with Spike Jonze's vision of 9-foot foam mascot suits over which animated faces would be inserted. Anyway, Berger, who loved the book and said it inspired him to work with effects in film bringing imagination to life, turned down the project, stating that he couldn't stand the idea of the book being filmed. Wow.
I just read the book to my seven month old son a couple of weeks ago. I don't think he gets it quite yet, but he did get a good look at Sendak's illustrations. My strategy is to give my son a few years of enjoying the book - my mother must have read it to me 1,000 times, easily - and then let him see the film after he has already developed his own imagination of how the characters sound and move. Then, he can enjoy the film without it ruining the magic of the book, or so I hope.
Allegedly, Sendak's story was going to be that Max, after being sent to bed without dinner, went to a land of wild horses. The legend continues that Sendak realized he couldn't draw horses, and he changed it to monsters, or "Wild Things."
Anyway, here's the trailer.
1 comment:
Easily my favorite childrens book. I have been excited for this film release as well, but I also share your curbed enthusiasm. I cant wait to read this to my son or daughter.
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