WILD THINGS SERIES
WILD THINGS TV
WILD THINGS FREE

He never went to film school - or, for that matter, to college. These miniatures, which Jonze considers to be of no less artistic merit than his longer works, will be celebrated next month as part of a 10-day retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, an unlikely honor for a filmmaker with his background.

WILD THINGS TV

He is part of the first generation of filmmakers to come up through the music-video world - in the seven years between 19, he was named best director three times at the MTV Video Music Awards - and his inventive, adventurous style is evident not just in the Hollywood movies he has worked on but also in his videos, skateboard-company promos and TV commercials for companies like Ikea, Nike and the Gap. Spike Jonze, who is 39, has directed just two feature-length films, вЂњBeing John MalkovichвЂќ and вЂњAdaptation.вЂќ Both were critical and commercial successes, praised for their originality and absurd humor, and yet they represent only a small fraction of the work that JonzeвЂ™s fans admire. Some readers pleaded with the studio: вЂњPlease please please follow through with the original.вЂќ Others took a more authoritative tone: вЂњDo not turn вЂWhere the Wild Things AreвЂ™ into something common and forgettable!вЂќ There were calls for fan solidarity and several threats of boycott, or worse: вЂњI will personally face-punch anyone who stands in the way of this film being released.вЂќ Such variations aside, though, a common theme emerged: вЂњJonze is brilliantвЂќ вЂњJonze is an artistвЂќ вЂњTrust Jonze!вЂќ

The news rippled through HollywoodвЂ™s online underground.

According to Faraci, executives at Warner Brothers had deemed an early cut of the film вЂњtoo weird and вЂtoo scaryвЂ™ вЂќ and were now contemplating extensive personnel changes and reshoots.

WILD THINGS SERIES

Each episode of Series 3 also features a game involving celebrities competing against each other.In February 2008, a blogger named Devin Faraci led off a post on the Hollywood news site CHUD (Cinematic Happenings Under Development) with a solemn proclamation: вЂњWeвЂ™re on the verge of losing a movie.вЂќ He was referring to вЂњWhere the Wild Things Are,вЂќ a big-budget adaptation of Maurice SendakвЂ™s classic picture book for children. Also unlike the first and second series, where they were in-vision presenters, Humble and Byrne now only narrate the show. Unlike the first two series, where only four out of six teams could enter the Wild Wood to take part, in this series, all six teams enter with the team with the lowest score getting eliminated in each game. In Series 3, the format changed slightly.

WILD THINGS FREE

If one of the other Wild Things catch up and catch the winning Wild Thing before they free their teammate, they win the money instead. However, the camera only stays on for thirty seconds and also the other Wild Things led by their teammates try to stop them. The team with the most points complete the final challenge which features the Wild Thing holding onto a suitcase with the prize money inside while being guided by their teammate (who is locked in a shed near the gates to get out of the Wild Wood) via a camera attached to the costume to travel to the shed to free their teammate by pressing a red button outside the shed. The four teams compete against each other in order to win a cash prize of ВЈ10,000 and escape from The Wild Wood. The costumes are absent of vision, so the second team member must serve as their guide. One member of the team has to wear a mascot costume of a large woodland animal such as an Owl, Deer, Duck, Badger, Mole, Fox, Rabbit or Squirrel and from Series 2, Chicken, Wolf or Beaver thus 'becoming' the wild thing. The gameshow features four teams of two people (relatives or couples) completing challenges on a woodland obstacle course (based in Rushmere Country Park in Bedfordshire) in order to win gold coins.

Wild things