2007-10-16

An early look at Spike Jonze and David Eggers' 'Where The Wild Things Are' script

New York Entertainment posted an article about a version of the 'Where The Wild Things Are' script, which was turned in sometime in 2005.

They give a lot of praise for the script, which they say focuses less on crazy plot twists, and more on exploring the psychology of Max's character.

They go on to mention some of the plot elements:


"Max, the hero of Wild Things, is now an 8-year-old with an absent father, an older sister who's drifting away from him, a mother whose personal and job concerns leave her little time or energy for the rambunctious boy she dearly loves. Eggers and Jonze — mostly, we suspect, Eggers — touchingly sketch this troubled family unit and carefully track the rising frustration and alarm Max feels as his world becomes darker and more unhappy, until, on page 21, he runs away, climbs aboard a boat, and sails to the island of the Wild Things.

There Jonze's influence begins to be felt, as the enormous creatures — with names like Carol, Alexander, and K.W. — look to Max as their King, and in a series of marvelous adventures, wrestle tornadoes, eat mud, and tame hawks. Always, though, there's a subtle undercurrent of menace, and it becomes clear that while spinning a yarn, Jonze and Eggers are also taking us on a tour of Max's psyche, as he works out so many of the issues that plague his young life. But any time the drama threatens to overcome the story's wonder, along comes another visual cherry bomb to shake things up: a tiny model of a city with rivers for streets; a pile of Wild Things, wiggling and wet, with Max sleeping against them; Max's final hiding place, and how he gets out. We won't give too much more away, because the pleasures of this screenplay are in its moment-to-moment details and discoveries."



Click below for the full article.

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