Maurice Sendak News

May 8, 2012
Maurice Sendak: 1928-2012
Celebrate the award-winning author's career by watching Spike Jonze's documentary about his life. More...

December 11, 2009
The Effects of Where the Wild Things Are
Spike Jonze's eagerly-anticipated adaptation of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are was initially supposed to use entirely practical effects, but the director soon realised he'd need more sophisticated computer trickery to bring the seven 'emotionally complex' (i.e. grumpy) Wild Things to life. That's where London's Framestore came in, the effects house needing to seamlessly animate all the monsters without compromising Spike Jonze's naturalistic vision for the project. RT went to visit them this week at their Soho headquarters, where Animation Director Michael Eames and Director of VFX Tim Webber told us how they did it, and shared some exclusive behind-the-scenes shots. More...

December 7, 2009
Exclusive: The World of Where the Wild Things Are
It has taken Being John Malkovich and Adaptation director Spike Jonze more than five years to bring Where the Wild Things Are to the big screen. Maurice Sendak, the writer and illustrator of the best-selling children's book (which has sold upward of 20 million copies), identified Jonze as the only man he trusted enough to render his story on film. That story focuses on Max, the boisterous boy in wolf pyjamas who, when sent to his room for bad behaviour, journeys in his imagination and travels to the realm of the Wild Things, a gaggle of hairy monsters who proclaim him king. The book contains only a few hundred words, and yet Jonze has created a full feature film, as wild as the source and as dark and brooding as any ancient fairy tale. The director joins Maurice Sendak and some of his key collaborators to explain exclusively to RT how they shaped the world of Where the Wild Things Are on the big screen. More...

September 24, 2009
Where the Wild Things Are: When Spike Met Maurice
In the latest installment of its ongoing look at how "Where the Wild Things Are" made it to the big screen, the Los Angeles Times goes to the source: Maurice Sendak, who talks about his relationship with Spike Jonze. More...

February 28, 2008
Warner Bros. Finally Knows Where the Wild Things Are
Negative rumors have been swirling around Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are for weeks, but the (supposedly) troubled production just received a bit of good news. More...

May 4, 2006
"Wild Things" Find Their Voice
Not too long ago we shared the news that Maurice Sendak's brilliant "Where the Wild Things Are" would be making the leap to the big screen -- with the help of the enjoyably eccentric Spike Jonze. And now it seems we have a voice cast! More...

January 9, 2006
Jonze to Direct Some "Wild Things" for WB
Now here's a project that I can't wait to see happen! According to Variety, Warner Bros. has hired Spike Jonze ("Adaptation.") to direct a live-action (and inevitably CGI-laden) adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic kid's story "Where the Wild Things Are." More...