General Information

Scheduled Release Date(s):  October 16, 2009 (US)

Distributor:  Warner Bros.

Budget:  $80 million USD (estimated)

Producers:  John B. Carls, Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks, Jon Jashni (Exec), Vincent Landay, Scott Mednick (Exec),Maurice Sendak, Thomas Tull (Exec)

Story:  "Where the Wild Things Are" follows the adventures of Max, a head-strong young boy who leaves home after having a fight with his mother – only to find himself in a mysterious forest bordering a vast sea. Misunderstood and rebellious, Max sets sail to the land of the Wild Things, where mischief reigns.

Shooting Locations:  Shooting has been on 2 sound stages at Central City Studios, Melbourne, Australia. Other locations have been in regional Victoria, such as along the Mornington Peninsula, as well as some location shooting in Northern Australia.

Cast & Crew

Director	Writers (Screenplay)		Writer (Book)
Spike Jonze	Dave Eggers	Spike Jonze	Maurice Sendak

Max	Alexander (voice)	Mom	Carol (voice)
Max Records	Paul Dano	Catherine Keener	James Gandolfini

Ira (voice)	(voice)	KW (voice)	Wild Thing (voice)
Forest Whitaker	Catherine O'Hara	Lauren Ambrose	Tom Noonan

Daniel the Bull (voice)	Mr. Elliott	...	...
Michael Berry Jr.	Steve Mouzakis	Angus Sampson	Alice Parkinson

	...	Schoolgirl (uncredited)
	Sonny Gerasimowicz	Kalia Prescott

Trivia

• Early development of a film version were leaning towards a fully animated film.
• Spike Jonze was approached by Maurice Sendak and was asked to take on the film adaptation. A movie had been on the burner since the early 90s, and Mr. Sendak had not being able to find anyone fitting to take it on.
• Throughout the writing process, Jonze and Eggers kept in close contact with Maurice Sendak, consulting and sharing script changes, models of the monsters, etc.
• The creatures will be actors in 6-8 foot tall costumes, operating from inside. The faces will be computer-generated.
• The open call for Max took several months and thousands of boys auditioned from several countries worldwide.
• The film was originally set for release from Universal, but disagreements with Jonze led to him taking the film to Warner Bros.
• It's said that stuntmen in the monster costumes would wear the head for no more than half an hour at time, after which they'd have 10-15 minute breaks in front of an air-conditioner.
• Numerous cameras followed the actors around to get our expressions and feelings. The images would then be digitally 'infused' onto the faces of the puppets and the how they moved would move based on the actors' performances.