INTERVIEW: Visionary director Spike Jonze and young star Max Records speak about Where The Wild Things Are

Spike and his young star Max Records, who plays Max in the film, speak to KATE WHITING about what it was like working with the life-size monster puppets and filming in Australia.

Spike Jonze, director of Where The Wild Things Are, and his young star Max Records, make an endearing pair.

While music video-turned-film director Spike, who recently turned 40, is playful and very much a big kid, Max is thoughtful and speaks in manner which belies his 12 years. He's dressed in t-shirt and waistcoat and even clutching an old-fashioned, wind-up camera.

There's clearly a close bond between the two, as they finish each other's sentences and Max looks to Spike for encouragement whenever he speaks.

Perhaps it's partly this magic that made the book's author, Maurice Sendak, allow Spike to bring it to life on the big screen.

"Many people had approached him many times over [about making a film version]," says Spike of the now 81-year-old Sendak, who was the film's producer.

"He really wanted me to make my movie of this, he didn't want to stand in the way of that and I think he knew that I had to own it. I couldn't just do something because he wanted it or because it was in the book."

At just 10 sentences long, Where The Wild Things Are, lovingly illustrated by Sendak back in 1963, isn't the obvious choice for a film adaptation, but such is its treasured place in generations of children's hearts, Hollywood had been vying for rights for years.

That Sendak gave Spike and his co-writer Dave Eggers the honour, is testament to the Being John Malkovich director's style and vision.

For those who missed out on the book as children, it tells the simple tale of nine-year-old Max, who's sent to bed with no supper for being naughty. His bedroom transforms into a forest and he sails in a boat to the island where the Wild Things live. He soon becomes their king but realises ruling over the Wild Things comes with its own problems.

The film was shot on location in Australia using enormous puppets, made by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, and all from a child's eye view.

"Every decision we made was based on what it feels like to be nine years old," says Spike.

"We wanted it to feel like you showed up on this island with Max and the Wild Things are a stand-in for the way kids see the adult world.

"Kids do see the world from a lower point of view and they do see what we're feeling. I'm not sure if they totally understand the specifics, but they understand the feeling of what we're talking about. If they see an adult anxious, they know that in this situation there's something to be anxious about.

"With the Wild Things, you don't always know exactly what they're talking about but you know what they're feeling. There's something uncertain and unsettling about that and I was trying to capture that feeling."

Talk turns to the logistics of moving the giant puppets around on set, at which point Spike grabs a notebook and starts drawing his version of how they were controlled.

"There were guys standing on each other's shoulders," he jokes, doodling away.

"It was just a lot of really tall, basketball player-sized people inside the suits," says Max, filling the silence as Spike draws.

"The suits weighed up to 100 pounds and they were having to walk around with all this extra weight."

When the artwork is finished, Max jumps up on his chair and winds his camera up to take a photo of it, prompting Spike to pull out his camera phone and photograph Max taking a picture of his drawing.

It's a surreal moment in the proceedings, but gives a hint of how much fun the pair must have had on set.

With all the enormous monster puppets, there must have been some mishaps?

"There was one time that one of them fell," starts Max.

"I'd say more than one," corrects Spike.

"There was one that I actually remember, so that's the only one that counts," says Max, putting an end to the matter.

"It was right when we started shooting and my dad was on set. It was like the funniest sight ever, just this big massive strong creature walking and then falling on his face. My dad burst out laughing and then he was like 'Oh s***, that guy could have been hurt really bad'."

The Wild Things were voiced by an impressive cast of actors, including James Gandolfini, Forest Whitaker and Chris Cooper, who all recorded their parts on a sound stage in LA.

"We basically shot a play version of the movie and recorded all the physicality and used that for what the suits did," explains Spike.

Then it was up to Max to act with the puppets - an intense task since he's in every scene.

"There were some times that were rough, but that was mostly whenever we had too much to do and not enough time to do it," says Max, matter-of-factly.

"We didn't go easy on him though," says Spike, with a smile. "If it wasn't some sort of internal complicated scene, that required a lot of focus, it was something physical like running through the woods with the Wild Things. We'd have him do that like 50 times in the wolf suit, or have him jump off the boat into the water - there weren't a lot of easy days for Max."

The only person who couldn't be on set was Sendak, but Spike made sure he was involved by sending weekly video messages from the cast.

"We tried everything to get him to come to Australia, but he can't travel, so every week we made him a little video letter, so he felt he knew what was going on."

The only time Spike and Sendak disagreed was over the scene in the book where Max's bedroom turns into a forest. Given the technology these days, it would have been easy to recreate, but Spike wanted Max to run away from home to the forest.

"When we sent Maurice the dailies where Max runs out of the house and gets in the boat, he called and said, 'I know I always wanted it to be in the bedroom, but now that I've seen this, I think it's beautiful', I think you've made it cinematic and I see what you're doing now."

For Max, the dizzy heights of child stardom beckon, but he doesn't seem that bothered about his new-found fame.

"My friends are cool with the whole thing.

"I've only had one person recognise me and that was in a pumpkin patch, in Portland where I live. If there's a place to recognise someone, then it's a pumpkin patch."

"The interesting thing is, Max and his family don't look at acting as some career," says Spike.

"They all talked about it before they decided to do the movie and said, 'Let's do this for this experience' and the four of them came and lived in Australia."

"It's a hobby, not a job," adds Max.

Spike seems equally laid-back about his next career move.

"I don't know," he says of his next project.

"He's going to take another seven-year nap," quips Max.

Where The Wild Things Are is out now in cinemas.