Oct 20 2009 Never Invite Kanye West to Your Club
We already knew he was a nuisance at awards shows (remember when that thing happened???); now this Spike Jonze short demonstrates how Kanye West is also a terrible guest at night clubs. Turns out the guy will get soused and makes a huge mess in your bathroom:
Oct 9 2009 Kids Screaming for the 'Where the Wild Things Are' Soundtrack
At last, child screaming is being used for something better than alerting nearby authorities. Spike Jonze and Karen O harnessed untrained kid vocals for the Where the Wild Things Are Soundtrack (remember listening to that?), and now there's this featurette where you can see how they did it, why they did it, if Jonze cried the first time he saw picture & music matched up, etc.
Enjoy--or decry as over-hyped hipster bullshit, if you want to pee on my party:
Continue Reading " Kids Screaming for the 'Where the Wild Things Are' Soundtrack "
Sep 17 2009 'Where the Wild Things Are' Banners: This Movie's Parents Are Driving Her Here Soon!
Only about a month until Where the Wild Things Are comes out, meaning about a month until my unbridled, enthusiastic optimism will have to finally face the harsh reality of an actual film and its flaws. I'm a bit nervous. This film is my internet girlfriend, and while I'm excited to finally meet her face-to-face, I also worry how hard I've fallen for her after only seeing some pictures and a couple videos. Can she meet my expectations? What if there's a reason she never shows anything below her shoulders?
Let's enjoy basking in the idealized pre-meeting period a bit longer with this new set of character banners. I'm sure it will be fine. How can it not be when she looks so good in all these carefully angled photos?
Sep 15 2009 More 'Where the Wild Things Are' Things For Your Eyes
New Where the Wild Things Are photos and information on the New York Times, everyone. I'm hoping that if I expose myself to enough of the film to numb my senses a bit before it comes out, maybe my awe and weeping can be kept inaudible in the theater. Though, I guess it will be pretty hard to hear the bawling and gasps through the paper-mâché monster mask I'll be wearing anyway.
Sep 10 2009 If Alanis Morissette Were a Monster
There you have it.
More Where the Wild Thing Are character posters on the Facebook-style utility webpage known as MySpace.
Sep 4 2009 'Where the Wild Things Are' Has Cassavetesian Dialogue
I just spent the last 20 or so minutes reading a pretty expansive New York Times Article about Where the Wild Things Are and the life and career of its director, Spike Jonze. Maybe you should too, friend. Excerpt:
When I sat down with Jonze, I’d just seen a rough cut of the movie, and although I’d been expecting something unusual, I hadn’t quite been prepared for either the Cassavetes-speak or the lack of any clear conflict or resolution. I told Jonze I’d imagined something more along the lines of a traditional children’s fantasy film, something like “Harry Potter,” for example.He looked at me as if I’d let him down. “It’s in the visual language of, like, some sort of fantasy film, and it is a fantasy film to some degree,” he acknowledged, “but the tone of it is its own tone. We wanted it all to feel true to a 9-year-old and not have some big movie speech where a 9-year-old is suddenly reciting the wisdom of the sage.”
Good for printing on your company's dime, sneaking into the bathroom and wasting some time you can later blame on lady-problems (or, if you're male, blame on masturbating).
(via JoBlo)
Sep 3 2009 'Where the Wild Things Are': On the Cover of Filter
The new issue of Filter has this great Where the Wild Things Are cover illustrated by Geoff McFetridge, whose work you may have also seen in the Wild Things trailer titles and "I'm Rocking on Your Dime t-shirts. Pick it up on September 11 so you can hold it up while riding mass transportation to identify yourself as someone with hip tastes in music, film, and marker drawings.
(via We Love You So)
Jul 24 2009 'Where the Wild Things Are' Featurette: Author Approved
Another reminder to stay non-bedridden until at least after October 16th: a new behind-the-scenes featurette for one of this fall's most anticipated releases, Where the Wild Things Are. In it, author Maurice Sendak voices his enthusiastic approval for Spike Jonze's adaptation, and draws parallels between himself and the director--plus, there's new, awe-inspiring footage. My expectations are reaching a point that, to meet them, the actual film strip is probably going to have to give me a handjob in the theater.
Continue Reading " 'Where the Wild Things Are' Featurette: Author Approved "
May 12 2009 It Turns Out Children Really Are Afraid of Wild Things
Remember all that controversy when Warner Bros. reportedly wanted drastic reshoots on Where the Wild Things Are, citing the fact that kids were scared shitless of the aforementioned Wild Things? Well, director Spike Jonze shouldn't have been surprised, because as you'll see in his early test of a Wild Thing mask, this kid is not having it:
Continue Reading " It Turns Out Children Really Are Afraid of Wild Things "
Apr 7 2009 Wild Things Cannot Effectively Hide Behind Trees
I really don't think I'm able to judge these Where the Wild Things Are posters with a clear head. Maybe with time I'll be able to, but for now, the sheer joy wonder of seeing these beasts made real fills me with such an awe-filled joy that I'm unable to think critically. It's like when I was first getting to see pornography as a kid. Right now, I would wait until my parents went to sleep, creep downstairs and watch staticy Cinemax for several hours if I thought there was the chance I'd get to see another Wild Thing. I'm almost desperate to the point where I'd try watching USA Up All Night to see a Wild Thing, even though I know they never show the full thing.
Also, I think this might be the Herman Blume Wild Thing.
Mar 25 2009 'Where the Wild Things Are' Trailer!
Thank god someone, somewhere digitizes Ellen every day for posterity, because today the Where the Wild Things Are trailer premiered, and holy shit:
Mar 23 2009 'Where the Wild Things Are' Photos: See the Only Non-Horrifying Furry Party!
USA Today has new Where the Wild Things Are production stills! If you can stare at these endearing and fantastical photos without your pupils burning, it means you aren't composed of pure evil. They are the new goodness/evilness litmus test.
Mar 17 2009 'Where the Wild Things Are' Poster: These Wild Things Are Really Huge (and Wild)
Sorry about the trailer fake-out earlier. That wasn't fair. Please accept the genuine happiness you're feeling from this poster as an apology.
Note: the official website isn't up yet, but it looks like Warner Bros. did manage to get wherethewildthingsare.com from whatever wild pornography site most likely had that domain.
Mar 17 2009 Finally, a 'Where the Wild Things Are' Trailer
Not yet. Soon, though. Like in two weeks, claims an informant for CHUD, who says the trailer will screen before Monsters vs. Aliens. The source adds that it's a full length, 3-minute trailer set to Arcade Fire's "Wake Up", and it looks "beyond the most grandiose superlatives." Still having concerns about the creatures' huggability? DON'T. They reportedly look "very, very huggable." You will be so desperate to hug these things.
So that's good, right? Maybe the trailer will even finds its way onto internet, and we can watch it shirtless, together, as an online community.
Jan 16 2009 Where the Wild Things Totally Grind Ollie Kickflip Shred Tony Hawk Pro Skate
A reader on /Film pointed out that Spike Jonze's skateboard company has released new a series of limited edition Where the Wild Things Are boards, each picturing a wild thing from the movie, so now you can get an idea of why kids might really get freaked out when they watch this film. Did the original illustrations of the bird-like one really have human ears? That's a horror.
Continue Reading " Where the Wild Things Totally Grind Ollie Kickflip Shred Tony Hawk Pro Skate "
Jan 12 2009 'Where the Wild Things Are': The Beach
Another new production photo has turned up for Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are--currently set for an October 16 release. And by production photo, I mean what appears to be Thomas Kinkade-rendered fan art.
New Images: 'Beth Cooper', 'Avatar', 'Wild Things' and More! [Cinematical]
Jan 5 2009 How is 'Where the Wild Things Are' So Sunsetty?
What I really want to see is how that beak-faced freak is going to look, but until I get that, this new shot from Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are will have to do. What still impresses me most about everything I've seen from this production is that everything looks like was shot around sunset. How can you afford to shoot a whole film given only an hour of shooting light each day? Either Spike Jonze can stop the Earth's rotation (like Superman) or he's been granted access to our government's secret romance research facility, which includes a permanent sunset chamber. If it's the secret government romance lab access one, take me next time, Spike. I really want to sleep on the mile-long satin sheet covered in never-wilting rose petals.
Nov 18 2008 New 'Where the Wild Things Are' Photo and Inter-view!
Someone give me this movie. Put it on one of those video discs and give it to me. Moriarty has posted a lengthy, engaging, reassuring interview with Where the Wild Things Are director Spike Jonze, along with the above, new production shot, over at AICN, and I've now reached a point where I'll give an organ to see this movie. Anything I have two of, one is yours, Spike Jonze. Just come and claim it; no need to call. So long as I awaken in a pool of ice with a screener at my side, the authorities will not be contacted.
Jul 24 2008 'Where the Wild Things Are': Good News, Depressing News
In case you haven't been following the disheartening saga of Where the Wild Things Are and its production woes, the rumor that's been going around for months is that director Spike Jonze's creative vision didn't match the studio's blander, Happy Meal toy-friendly ideals, leading to reshoots, delays, and questions of whether we'd ever see Jonze's cut. But here's some reasonably positive news from CHUD:
Good news: Gary says that Spike has final cut. And that Playtone is standing behind him."There was an Alan Horn conversation where he said his vision and Spike's vision weren't on the same page," Goetzman said. "We support Spike's vision. We're helping him make the vision he wants to make."
Goetzman does cop to technical problems on the picture - "Spike wanted to do things low tech. He wanted big animatronic Wild Things in the jungle, which look great. As you go deeper in the jungle and weather sets in... We misjudged that, production-wise."
He dismissed rumors that the film isn't kid friendly. "Kids are much smarter than [the studio types] think," Goetzman said. "Spike won't talk down to kids. He's got a kid's soul."
Man, why do studios have to be such a-holes? Unsurprisingly, the answer is because the studios are run largely by a-holes. A friend of mine recently ran into one of these dudes at a Chicago bar, and the meathead, who somehow had insider knowledge of Where the Wild Things Are, provided some insight on how the "other side" (a-hole side) sees things. Below the cut, read my friend's entire really depressing email.
Continue Reading " 'Where the Wild Things Are': Good News, Depressing News "
Jul 14 2008 'Where the Wild Things Are' Will Not Be 'Bland, Sanitized Studio Movie,' Assures Studio Stooge
After months of speculation on the fate of Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are, Warner Brothers' Alan Horn has come forward to speak about the reportedly doomed project. Speaking to the LA Times, Horn clarified that Jonze has not been taken off the project, adding that Warner is not trying to make the dark children's book into a "bland, sanitized studio movie." They simply want it cut in such a vapid, anodyne way that it will appeal to everyone:
"We've given him more money and, even more importantly, more time for him to work on the film," Horn said. "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.
Horn then added that the title will be changed from Where the Wild Things Are to Where Those Lovable, Cuddly Things--Think Sort of a Live-Action "Monster's Inc." Vibe--Are. Such as Toy Stores, Where You Can Buy Plush Versions of These Wonderfully Charming Characters.
