richardmurray

 

 

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is it hard to make a movie it

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[Music]

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is one of the days shooting the interior

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of the fort everything was like really

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not working well and the blocking was

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really complicated I don't even know

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what else but it was just stressful and

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Lucas came up to me like Spike do you

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think you're making a good movie and I

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think I don't know Lucas I don't know

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well I think you're making a good movie

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that was an excerpt from behind the

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scenes of the film Where the Wild Things

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Are with the director of the project

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Spike Jones and this was in the middle

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of the film's production after the

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nearly 5 years that it took Spike to

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fully find his vision for the film and

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convinced Studio exacts to fund this

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movie with the film having an estimated

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budget of 100 million compared to

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Spike's previously directed features

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this was Big Boy money and unfortunately

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this caused for a big boy loss with the

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film not exactly turning a profit in

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making 100 million worldwide at the box

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office when I was looking at critics

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reviews at the time of its release I

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found that there was definitely some

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positive reception but I also noticed

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that there were critics who didn't

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really get it with some complaining

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about the darker tone and how it felt

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gloomy and were expecting something more

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upbeat for kids and what I find

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interesting is the correlation that this

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reception has with what it's adapted

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from the picture book from author mauce

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sendic released in 196 3 which was met

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with similar Thoughts with people

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calling it too dark however 10 years

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later it's a bestseller it's what all

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the kids are reading and since 2013 has

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20 million copies sold Morris keeps

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being really cool and successful and

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making more books and stuff like that

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rest in peace from my personal

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experience though I was a fan of the

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book as a kid and had watched the movie

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when it was released and enjoyed it but

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I found it odd a little weird however

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there was a lot from it that stuck with

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me throughout my childhood as watching

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in it for the first time in several

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years there were specific shots and

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lines of dialogue that I had remembered

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and watching it for the first time in a

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while I appreciated it more and reell in

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love with the world and looking around

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online I found that I wasn't the only

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one who felt this way there were a bunch

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of people who had watched the movie as a

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kid and didn't really get it but watch

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it later on in their youth and adulthood

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and found a new appreciation for it and

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so that's why I'm going to attempt to

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express my thoughts and feelings on this

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film and discuss why I believe it's

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misunder stood and ahead of its

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time before this point in the timeline

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Spike was at the top of his game

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originally getting his start as a

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skateboard photographer slowly moving

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into short films and music videos and in

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each and every project that he did no

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matter how small or large they were

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there was always the same amount of

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passion coming through no matter what

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and looking through spikes filmography

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this is prevalent in his earlier works

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but I even think more so in Where the

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Wild Things Are as this was his first

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film that he was both writing and

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directing on get off the script Charlie

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Kaufman you have more depressing things

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to work on it spikes turn to cook and

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Spike cooked all right my guy managed to

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pull off adapting a 48-page picture book

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into 100 minutes full of emotion

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creativity and humor while staying true

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to what the original book meant but at

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the same time crafting new themes and

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ideas for the film and I think that's

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the craziest achievement from this film

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is that it simply exists and work works

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so well this is a film that dares to be

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bold dares to take risks and stays true

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to itself in the execution it's a

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fantasy film that doesn't portray the

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imaginative World in a grandiose epic

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way but instead Max's imaginary world

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somberly fills the film as pieces of his

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real world bleed into the imaginary one

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what is wrong with you you're out of

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control you lied you're out of control

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I'm not out of control it's a film that

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centers around childhood but depicts it

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in a unique and honest way that I

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honestly haven't seen articulated this

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specifically in a movie before showing

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us the pure joy and excitement of

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childhood imagination but as well

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showing us the fears and frustrations of

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being a kid and the first 5 minutes

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perfectly show us these two elements of

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childhood Max starts out playing using

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his imagination for fun but

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then

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he's neglected by his own sister when he

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needs help those feelings of being left

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out and isolated turn into frustration

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as Max destroys his sister's

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room Spike intentionally starts off this

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film with lots of emotional impact as

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throughout the wholesome and gentle

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moments Max has with his mother there's

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these scenes of frustration with the

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lack of attention that Max craves and

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Spike Jones's priority of capturing the

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spirit and feelings of childhood

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positive and negative are very apparent

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in the film with Spike speaking out

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about his intent unpredictable emotions

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positive or negative you don't know

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where they're coming from you don't know

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what they mean emotions are messy and

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hard to figure out hard to know where

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you start and the next person stops even

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as an adult that's a hard thing to know

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as a kid it can be really confusing

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because it's all new and you're trying

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to sort of make your map and through the

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emotionally used feelings we see from

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Max at the start you see why this world

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that he's created is perfect for him

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there are these things there that

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initially feel like family they give him

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attention and they look up to him

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contrast to the frustration that Max

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feels in the real world where he feels

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like he's being looked down on as Max

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longs to connect with his family and

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tries to invite them to his imaginary

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worlds but then gets denied this causes

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Max to grow hatred for his new arch

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nemesis Mark Ruffalo curse you mark ruff

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for your presence alone with my mother

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causes her not to contribute to my

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imaginary Fortress may you rot forever

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and because of your dastardly ways I

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have already portrayed your younger self

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in Ryan Johnson's 2008 film The Brothers

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Bloom point is the imaginative World

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from Max's mind while not being Lush and

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looking that inviting is thematically

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inviting to Max there's a sense of

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community as Max feels like he belongs

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with his crew Max sails up onto the

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island and see some stuff going down he

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gets a sniff down to see if he passes

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the vibe check and he does success he

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has now won

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with the actual process of making one of

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these Wild Things is pretty wild I would

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say as it's the biggest example from the

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film of blending new school film making

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with the old school film making this was

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back in the early 2000s where practical

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effects were still relevant but digital

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effects were getting better and becoming

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more accessible to films origin

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originally Spike wanted the whole Wild

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Thing to be completely animatronic with

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real and practical movements from the

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body and the face however critically

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acclaimed and beloved director/ loser

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Nobody David Fincher told Spike that

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having the head be animatronic would

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make the film suffer and he would just

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come by and look at what we're doing

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he's like you're idiot you're an idiot

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can't do that you do not want to get

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like have these 150 lb heads with

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animatronics in it you're going to be

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you're going to be after the first day

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of shooting you're going to be a month

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behind schedule wow and fure was right

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before the movie started shooting the

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animatronic heads were not working at

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all it was too much effort and took away

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so much time so that's why Spike landed

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on the final look still using the

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physical large puppet but blending it

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with digital effects did you have some

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type of green screen with dots or no

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better than that we had we had the face

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finished really beautifully furred and

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you know and the eyes wet the nose wet

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and then they would the basically they

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manipulated that in post they create the

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3D model that would uh map to that face

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and then manipulate that and having this

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Blended look definitely helped make the

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process smoother but also kept the

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practicality of these Wild Things

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overall still making it feel tangable

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there's more effect to these creatures

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with them stomping around because it was

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real the character designs of these

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creatures as well are so impressive with

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Spike having so much creative intent for

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each of these characters and it shows in

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the final form that we originally went

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over the script with Spike and he was

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describing what the movie is about and

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how he wanted to do the characters he

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definitely talked more about how

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individual they were and where they came

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from what their inspiration was and what

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makes them up and how they relate to

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each other and and if you're unaware or

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forget all of the wild things you know

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it's okay I'll run you through them real

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quick we got Carol played by James

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gandini KW played by Lauren Ambrose

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Douglas played by Chris Cooper Katherine

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O'Hara as Judith Forest Whitaker as IRA

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and Paul Dano as Alexander the reason

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why I bring up the actors involved in

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this is because there's two soprano

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actors in here Spike Jones wanted that

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Gaba goul the real reason why I bring up

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the actors that played each Wild Thing

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is because the acting is incredible all

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these actors have been previously known

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for amazing performances they've given

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in films prior and Spike Jones knows

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that and utilized them so well for this

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any other director would have just

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slapped them together in the movie and

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just have record their lines separately

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in recording booths but not Spike

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instead of doing it the easy way Spike

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wanted to actually capture the actor's

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performances and place them into the

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wild things not only having the actors

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physically act out the scenes with one

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another but Spike had a camera focused

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on each actor's face for the special

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effects artist to use each facial

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expression as a reference no matter how

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big or small to be used as a guide for

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how the wild things look and I find this

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method paid off really well in the

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Finish film as there's moments where the

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film lingers on the facial

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expressiveness from the wild things and

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it communicates so much more to every

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scene the performances in here are so

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crucial to the execution of each

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character not only with facial

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expressions but the line deliveries as

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well I'm a bad guy I'm a bad guy I'm a

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bad guy a bad guy am I a good guy yes of

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course you have the best arm the

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dialogue in here can be jarring to some

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people as each Wild Thing talks

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childlike they don't talk with high

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intell Ence or importance but speak with

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Simplicity adding to the childish

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surrealism that the whole film builds

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around and yes this is something that

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sounds like it could ruin a film but the

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actual delivery of the lines are what

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add to the core emotions of the

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scenes step on my head what do you mean

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it's a war Douglas just did it yeah but

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he did it by accident you did it on

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purpose I want to focus specifically on

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James gandini's performance as Carol as

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someone who's currently watching The

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Soprano there's little details in james'

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performance that he uses both in The

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Sopranos and this Tony Soprano is a

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character who tries to hide his

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vulnerability but sometimes that side

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comes out and James Gan delini perfectly

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plays into that side of the character we

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see in The Sopranos that these feelings

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of insecurity and vulnerability

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ultimately lead into feelings of anger

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and rage with Tony Soprano basically

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becoming this monster of a character in

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these scenes and watching it you feel so

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uneasy and afraid of him and in Where

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the Wild Things Are Carol is ultimately

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a reflection of Max he's a character

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that carries these confused emotions of

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resentment and loneliness which build up

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inside and become feelings of anger

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however compared to The Sopranos the

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situations are much more simplistic and

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childish in Where the Wild Things Are

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but what I noticed is that the

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performance from James gandini is still

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as emotionally complex as it is in The

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Sopranos an example of this can be seen

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an hour into the film Where the wild

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things are becoming closer to Max

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especially Carol and Max and they

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basically completed their Fortress that

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Max is the king of a fortress that only

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allows them and Outsiders that aren't

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allowed get their brains removed however

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KW brings in Bob and Terry this causes

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Carol to freak out and get

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jealous why would you bring them

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here huh this place was supposed to be

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for

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us they are not sleeping in our pile and

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on the surface this seems very you know

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childlike and simplistic but the film

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portrays these childlike emotions very

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heightened and dramatic for the film as

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the actual context of the scene isn't as

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important as the emotional weight that

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the scene carries which is Carol feels

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left out and

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defeated and the film is full of scenes

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like this one where the conflict at hand

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on the surface you know might seem

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meaningless with characters bickering or

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arguing about the fort that they made

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but the film portrays them in a

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perspective of a 9-year-old Max and

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these situations seem larger than life

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because being a child at that age

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everything seems Larger than Life and

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the tiniest of conflicts seem way more

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intense at that

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age I don't think I can fully understand

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what Where the Wild Things means boo

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tomato Tomatoes why did you put it in

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the title man why the [ __ ] because yes I

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did explain my understanding of scenes

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and analyze the effect that they have on

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the film but in the end I don't think I

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need to understand it all and yeah the

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ending is so heartbreaking with Carol

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just howling at Max but I don't feel the

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need to analyze that you know

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everything's specific about that scene

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and and how it how it works so well and

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and what the emotions because watching

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that scene after being a part of Max's

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world for almost an hour and 20 minutes

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you just feel it the emotion the film

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captures childhood in a pure and honest

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way but delivers it in a strange and

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surreal way that maybe critics weren't

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ready to handle back in the day and I

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think the reason why I felt the urge to

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talk about this is because how it made

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me feel watching it 14 years later and

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how it made me reflect on my childhood

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as there were aspects from Max that I

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saw myself as a child and I really love

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when films can do that be the exact same

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but after doing so much life you watch

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it again and then you see it differently

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you know who knows 14 years from now and

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I'll watch this movie differently maybe

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like maybe 14 years from now I I hate

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this movie what do you think you're

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making a good movie and I think I don't

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know Lucas I don't know and maybe at

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that point in Spike Jones's life he

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wasn't even sure if he fully understood

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his own movie not saying that spike is

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some sort of like brainless Bozo or

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something but after watching the movie

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and knowing the struggle that it took to

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finally get there it you know it would

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make sense for him to feel this way

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Spike fills the film with so much

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ambition and creativity with his ideas

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but at that stage there's so much

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uncertainty with how it's going to all

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work out but in the end I think it did

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work out maybe it isn't as perfect as

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Spike envisioned it to be but it doesn't

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matter what matters ultimately is what

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you take away from a film and if you

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didn't watch the entire video I took

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away a lot from this film it's a film

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that presents specific themes and ideas

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of childhood and a really cool and

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fascinating way and it works so well due

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to the pure ambition of the project with

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the amount of passion behind it it fully

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goes into the style that it wants and it

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works wonderfully due to the core

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creator of the film Spike Jones Awesome

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movie you made there Spike Jones I'm so

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glad that it

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exists