If, like me, you are super excited for Spike Jonze's film adaptation of Maurice Sendak's beloved children's book, Where the Wild Things Are, I have a couple of suggestions that might tide you over until its October 16th release. First off, there's the sweet and dreamy soundtrack, primarily written by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' awesome front-woman, Karen O. You can have a listen here.
Next, there are a couple of exhibitions of Sendak's art you can check out and be reminded of your childhood dreams of fantasy lands and footie pajamas. The Animazing Gallery in Soho currently has on view Sendak in Soho, displaying and selling approximately 200 works by the author/illustrator including lithographs, watercolors, and drawings featuring the furry, rumpusing menagerie from his classic tale. Unfortunately, and maybe apropos, I almost had my head chewed off for attempting to take pictures, but you can see the works in the exhibit at animazing.com. A portion of the proceeds from this show will go to the Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia and the Jane Goodall Institute. Through November 8th.
The Animazing show coincides with exhibits at The Morgan Library & Museum in Manhattan and the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. The Morgan Library exhibit, Where the Wild Things Are: Original Drawings by Maurice Sendak, which opens today, features early drafts, manuscript pages and a preliminary sketch of Max in a scene that did not make it into the final, published book. Through November 1st. Learn more at themorgan.org. The Contemporary Jewish Museum in SF presents There's a Mystery There: Sendak on Sendak, featuring "original watercolors, preliminary sketches, drawings, and dummy books from more than 40 of Sendak's books, all from the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia, the repository for Sendak's artwork and working materials. This major retrospective sheds light on the many mysteries of his life and art by exploring the intensely personal undercurrents in his work; and it does so using Sendak's own words, insights, and remarkable stories" (from the Contemporary Jewish Museum's website). Learn more about this exhibition at thecjm.org. Through January 19, 2010.
MoMA has scheduled Spike Jonze: The First 80 Years celebrating the 39-year-old artist's imaginative and creative works in film (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Where the Wild Things Are), music videos (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beastie Boys, The Breeders, Bjork, Daft Punk, Fatboy Slim, Weezer) and even commercials (the Gap, IKEA). Learn more at moma.org. From October 8-18th. Read more about Jonze from this September 2nd article from the NYTs Magazine.
If you're a serious, die-hard fanatic of the book, you can even dress like the characters with an exclusive clothing line made for the awesome boutique Opening Ceremony. The line includes the iconic, white wolf suit Max wore (for adults), a furry K.W. dress or coat, and a hirsute vest called Judith (these items were named after the monikers given to the monsters in the movie). See here.
And finally, you can have a peek at the official Where the Wild Things Are movie website here.
Maurice Sendak was born in Brooklyn in 1928. He has written or illustrated over 100 books throughout his 60 year career. Where the Wild Things Are was published in 1963. According to IMDB, Sendak had wanted to make a film adaptation of his book since the 90's but was not able to find a suitable director until he personally approached Spike Jonze to take on the project. The film, which was initially going to be fully animated, has been in production since 2005 (though Jonze and Dave Eggers had been working on the screenplay prior to that)! Originally scheduled for May 2008, the film's release date was bumped back twice! I hope all the hype and my inflated expectations for this film don't ruin it for me. Let the wild rumpus start!!!
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