Here’s the official flier (lovingly illustrated by Stevenfiche) for tomorrow night’s Cinefamily event that we mentioned last week. The evening will consist of Maurice Sendak’s greatest animated adaptations, the sneak preview screening of Spike and Lance’s documentary about Maurice, and a few fun surprises! Tickets are on sale now.
As if being an artistic genius weren’t enough, Maurice Sendak is an endlessly fascinating man. His candid, acerbic wit is underscored by a generous intimacy. The shocking jokes spilling out of his mouth come off as invitations to share in a special rapport. And as sharp as his fangs seem to be, most of his jabs are directed inward in hopelessly self-deprecating dismissals. When Sendak gets serious, it’s like listening to a wise sage. He’s verbose yet understated, naturally paring even his conversational speech down into economically worded insights.
Tell Them Anything You Want is Lance Bangs and Spike’s compelling personal document of Sendak’s life during the five years of Where the Wild Things Are’s production. The film airs October 14th on HBO. A special advanced screening will be held at Cinefamily in Los Angeles, this Wednesday, September 30th. Expect the unexpected!
A Tribute To Maurice Sendak
In 1963, with just 10 short sentences, a dark and dreamy emotional landscape of hairy monsters and tropical jungles, and one wannabe feral child, Maurice Sendak created one of the most critically acclaimed and popular childrens’ books of all time– “Where the Wild Things Are”. In this loving tribute to everyone’s first favorite author, the Cinefamily will show original animated adaptations (on 16mm!) of “Where the Wild Things Are” and “In the Night Kitchen”, along with new short films made by Lance Bangs and Spike Jonze while the new live action adaptation of “Wild Things…” was in production. Jonze had been friends with Maurice Sendak for more than five years before he began working on his feature film, and these new short films capture a sometimes melancholy but always wickedly funny Sendak as he reflects on his Depression-era childhood in the Brooklyn shtetl, a joyous day at the World’s Fair, the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby, his books “In The Night Kitchen” and “Higgledy Piggledy Pop!”, his two beloved Hermans (Melville, and his German shepherd namesake), and a long-buried secret. Lance Bangs, co-director of Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak will be in attendance!
Tickets - $12
Hits news stands on the 11th. Our friends at Filter just passed along some pretty stellar advanced copies. Includes interviews with with Spike, Karen O, Max Records, Catherine Keener, Dave Eggers, Catherine O’Hara, Lance Bangs and some pretty great never-before-seen photos and art from the set and crew plus the above cover illustrated Geoff McFetridge. Nuts!
Spike has been hard at work on a top secret robot-related short film. When Dallas and I visited the set, the first person we bumped into was Family owner David Kramer (more on Kramer in Lance Bang’s doc Family Portrait), furiously memorizing a verse of lyrics inscribed on his palm in a parking lot beneath the freeway. Kramer, a non-musician who had joined the project only one day earlier, was preparing to play the lead singer in a fake band called The Lost Trees, alongside the members of Moonrats.
Miranda July showed up and the four of us made our way through the vast maze of a fantastically decaying abandoned building to the room where Spike was setting up The Lost Trees’ big show. Waiting for the shoot to begin in earnest, Dallas and I decided to explore the building’s musty labyrinthine corridors. Scattered remnants left over from other Hollywood productions blurred unsettlingly with authentic artifacts from the location’s functional former life as a ballroom hall/radio station.
After conquering the rooftop with its epic vistas and then descending to the depths of the building’s eerily Saw-esque basement, we returned to the set and found “The Rec Center” now occupied by a couple of radical robots adrift in a roaring sea of extras feigning their fandom for The Lost Trees. Check out the photos above to see David Kramer embracing his inner rock star, Spike and Miranda talking shop, weird finds from our backstage explorations, and Lance Bangs shooting documentary footage in his trademark visor.
Keep an eye out for the short’s premiere in November and the unveiling of Spike’s new robotic stars!
Lately, it seems like all the rad creative people and places in L.A. have become closely intertwined, like a cat’s cradle of overlapping awesomeness. Sure, an extensively detailed flow chart might help you get the picture– or you could just watch this astute new documentary from Lance Bangs! Family Portrait centers on the bookstore Family and spider-webs outward from there, touching on some of our favorite places in Los Angeles, like The Smell, Hope Gallery, and Ooga Booga, as well as the people who make those places great. Watch the rest of Family Portrait after the jump.
Part 1: An intro to Family Bookstore, the crazy range of items they stock, and the origin of the store’s name.
We usually limit Lance Bangs to one awesome photo per week but when he sent over these shots from Little Rock we couldn’t resist sharing ASAP.
This week’s selection from Lance Bangs archive of Where The Wild Things Are on set photography is “Sonny and EZ burnt out from the heat”. The Sonny pictured is Sonny Geras the mastermind behind making the Wild Things look as amazing as they do. In addition to being an excellent creature creator he is also the subject of Spike’s photo zine published by Nieves. He is also a wizard.
The frenzy over Where the Wild Things Are went into full swing Friday at Comic Con, prompted by the premiere of Lance Bangs’ behind the scenes featurette and an exclusive sneak peek at 10 minutes of the film. Max Records courageously braved the hoardes of fanboys hungry for autographs amidst a signing in the model fortress and also introduced the clips at WB’s big presentation, relaying a message straight from Maurice Sendak: “You know I really love this movie and I hope people like it, because if not they can all go straight to hell.”
Throughout Comic Con, fans, nerds and cinephiles from all walks of life were spotted sporting lovely cardboard Wild Things crowns akin to those nostalgic fast food hats of childhood yore, emphatically displaying their breathless anticipation for this fine film. Yet others went full out, rocking homemade wolf-suit Max costumes in spite of the scorching San Diego sun. Amidst the flurry of activity I was lucky enough to get a chance to catch up with Shawn and Max Records (stay tuned for a video interview!), the couldn’t-be-radder Catherine Keener, and Mr. Lance Bangs himself (pictured above in an orange visor), whose young son Marshall proudly showed off the signed Chewbacca autograph he had just received from Peter Mayhew. Comic Con– the place where dreams come true!
Jonze, Barrett , Bangs , Gondry – Echo Park.
*How could Lance have taken this photo when he is in the photo with his eyes closed holding a camera? He’s just that good.
Spike Jonze’s feature film rendition of Maurice Sendaks classic story Where The Wild Things Are has hit movie theaters worldwide.
The film represents years of work from hundreds of different artists, writers, photographers, musicians, actors, and creators of all degrees.
This place has been established to help shed some light on many of the small influences that converged to make this massive project a reality.
Site designed by Landon Metz, developed by Ricky Irvine, in cooperation with Matt Rubin.
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