I think it’s pretty safe to say that, with “Avatar” proving to be disappointing in the face of impossible expectations, “Where the Wild Things Are” has moved up as the fanboy Oscar film of choice and a hotly anticipated one at that. The film could perfectly blend fantasy and profundity, as the trailer suggests. Then again, it could be waiting to disappoint like so many heavily anticipated projects. Time will tell.
One of the elements of the film that has helped to sustain interest is Dave Eggers’s involvement. The author tried his hand at screenwriting for the first time earlier this year with Sam Mendes’s “Away We Go,” which yielded some troubling results as far as I’m concerned. But I’m holding out hope that “Wild Things” will be a different beast altogether (no pun intended).
Eggers recently sat down with Logan Hill at New York Magazine to discuss the project. Among other things, he talks of sending a fan letter to director Spike Jonze after seeing “Being John Malkovich,” the fact that he adored “Wild Things” author Maurice Sendak from an early age (and even wanted to write children’s books for a time) and the changes that were necessary translating the work from page to screen.