Details

Release year: 2009

Storyline

Yearning for escape and adventure, a young boy runs away from home and sails to an island filled with creatures that take him in as their king.

Top credits

Directors

Spike Jonze

Writers

Cast

Max Records — Max
Catherine O'Hara — Judith
Forest Whitaker — Ira
Pepita Emmerichs — Claire

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Did you know

• In July 2006, less than six weeks before the start of shooting, the Henson-built monster suits arrived at the Melbourne soundstage where Spike Jonze and his crew had set up their offices. The actors climbed inside and began moving around. Right away, Jonze could see that the heads were absurdly heavy. Only one of the cast members appeared to be able to walk in a straight line. A few of them called out from within their costumes that they felt like they were going to tip over. Jonze and the production crew had no choice, but to tell the Henson people to tear apart the fifty-pound heads, and remove the remote-controlled mechanical eyeballs. This meant that all the facial expressions would have to be generated in post-production, using computers.

• Each Wild Thing has a different personality, which represent the different personalities of Max: Selfish, Shy, Angry, Lonely, Adventurous, Moody, and a Lack of self-confidence.

• The creatures are being portrayed by actors in six- to eight-foot tall costumes with some additional animatronics and computer-generated faces. The costumes were created by The Jim Henson Company, who is responsible for the Muppets and the creatures from Labyrinth (1986) and The Dark Crystal.