Interview with Maurice Sendak about Spike Jonze and the Wild Things

To continue in the vein of Alvina's post yesterday, a video for your enjoyment! I watched this on Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast yesterday and boy did it give me chills. Every time I see a preview or a clip online about Wild Things I get excited.

Its just so inspiring to see that a) after all his great success and fame, Sendak not at all possessive about his book, that he is excited about collaboration and sharing his vision, b) Spike Jonze seems to have used the same layered, collage-like aesthetic in Adaptation and Being John Malkovich to speak to kids- it just feels so perfectly suited to the confusing, frightening, fantastical time that is childhood and c) the book got BAD reviews at first, panned, it took two years before people caught on.

It is truly humbling to think the impact one book can have. And it just makes me antsy to make something that might move someone just a fraction of the amount I feel moved by Maurice Sendak's work. Though that achievement often feels far out of reach. I saw Maurice Sendak speak at MIT a couple years ago, when he said something to the gist of "I can't believe any good books can come out of the publishing industry the way it is now." Heh. Well one can still hope.

(Sorry about the ad)