Jonze explores the ‘Wild’ side of childhood in adaptation of classic children's book

Before an early screening of Spike Jonze’s new film “Where the Wild Things Are” at the Paris Theatre on Wednesday, “Daily Show” star John Hodgman, who emceed the event, remarked that this was not a traditional children’s film. “It has no fart jokes, no wink-wink pop culture references that adults would understand, no references to ‘The Real Housewives of Atlanta,’” he said. In other words, the movie is no “Shrek.” And certainly, this adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s beloved children’s book, set to release on Friday, is a different type of work for the director of “Being John Malcovich” and “Adaptation.”

Other than Hodgman and Jonze, screenwriter Dave Eggers, actors Max Records and Catherine Keener, and soundtrack composer Karen O were all in attendance at the screening benefiting Egger’s educational charity 826NYC.day.

Hodgman started the evening with a Q&A featuring Eggers and Records. The main topic of conversation was the number of injuries the young star, Records, had accumulated on the set. “On the first day of shooting, I was filming a snowball fight scene and Spike was throwing snowballs off-camera. He hit me in the face and I went home crying,” the actor said. Eggers then listed Records’ other injuries and harms, which included a “claw in the face” and a “shortage of breath while in a monster suit.”

Before Eggers and Records went off to “bed,” Eggers encouraged the audience to howl whenever they felt “compelled” during the movie. And the audience certainly did. Profound and visually dazzling, “Where the Wild Things Are” creates an allegory that taps into the feral feelings of both children and adults. The Wild Things are not monsters but rather representations of complex and unbridled emotions. The film is not a children’s movie, instead it is, as Jonze said, “about childhood.”

Once the credits rolled, Hodgman welcomed Jonze, O, and Keener to the stage. The group of old friends discussed everything from Jonze and Egger’s writing process to Keener’s favorite wrestling position (Four on the Floor). Jonze had decided to take on the project when he had realized the already symbolic nature of the monsters. “Once I realized I could use the Wild Things as representations of wild emotions, I knew I didn’t have to add anything to the story, but rather use what was already implied in the text,” he said. He and Eggers had started their work on the adaptation by writing in a “stream of consciousness” form and getting in the “mindset of a nine-year-old boy,” wrestling and having BB gun fights to relax.

Turning to the subject of production, Hodgman inquired as to why Jonze had chosen to use actual puppets instead of CGI creations for the Wild Things. When Jonze seemed at a loss for words, Hodgman added that the director had once told him that he had wanted the Wild Things to be “huggable.” Jonze began to explain the various high jinks and his use of distraction techniques on set, “In order to help Max react when he was with the Wild Things, we had our friends do things like rev up a chainsaw or pretend to cry. We actually had John Hodgman act out a light saber duel from ‘Star Wars Episode I.’”

Jonze’s use of these techniques works brilliantly, as Records interacts with the Wild Things with equal plausibility as he does with the live-action Keener and Mark Ruffalo. It certainly helps that the monsters can convey extremely nuanced and complicated emotions through their large, animation-enhanced faces. In a private moment between Records and Wild Thing Alexander (played by Paul Dano), the pair reveals a constant feelings of fear, self-consciousness, and loneliness­—a kind of honesty often ignored in most kids movies. With a combination of shaky camera style, natural lighting, and fantasy, “Where The Wild Things Are” seems like Jonze’s most personal film to date.

To conclude the night, Jonze gave some valuable advice to aspiring filmmakers: “Just keep making stuff.”

“Where The Wild Things Are” will be released on Friday.