野兽家园 第8期

剧 情 简 介

本片主要围绕主人公马克斯的历险展开。马克斯是个非常聪明的孩子,一次在跟妈妈吵架后,他赌气离家出走,结果却迷了路,只能在一个神秘的森林里转来转去――森林被无边无际的海洋所包围,很多惊险正在等待着

他……

本片改编自美国著名儿童插图画家莫里斯・森达克的同名作品。该作品荣获1964年凯迪克奖(Caldecott Medal)。

How do you take a storybook that sparks the imagination and touches the heart with a mere 338 words and expand[扩大,扩展] it into a full-length movie?

With the author’s blessing, of course.

Spike Jonze, whose has a reputation[名声] for quirky[离奇的] and creative films such as Being John Malkovich (1999) and Adaptation (2002), has always been drawn to Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are.

“As a kid, I just connected to it. I wanted to hear it over and over,” he says of the 1963 tale of Max, an angry boy who escapes to a mythical land of untamed[未被驯服的] giant beasts. “It’s like trying to explain why you love somebody. To me, the Wild Things are both cuddly[让人想拥抱的] and dangerous. I wanted to climb atop of them like Max.”

Jonze, 39, has known Sendak, 80, since 1995, when they tried to make a film out of another popular children’s story, Harold and the Purple Crayon. About four years ago, the author came to him to discuss adapting[改编] his best-known work into a movie.

Jonze and his co-screenwriter[电影编剧], novelist Dave Eggers, regularly turned to Sendak for advice as they expanded upon his Wild Things universe.

“He was adamant[坚决的] that I make my own thing,” Jonze says. “He had strong opinions, but he would ultimately defer to[尊重,顺从] us. He said, ‘Make something personal to you.’ ”

Various animated versions of Where the Wild Things Are have been tried, including one in the early 80s by Pixar’s John Lasseter. But Jonze strongly felt that it had to be told with live action[实景真人电影].

“I wanted them to actually be there,” he says of the seven creatures that Max encounters[遇到]. “I think as a kid I wouldn’t imagine it as a cartoon. I would imagine they were in my world. There’s a danger with Max being there on a real location. Dangerous and exciting.”

The voice actors such as James Gandolfini, who speaks for the Wild Thing called Carol in the film, and Catherine O’Hara, who is the Wild Thing known as Judith were recorded in Los Angeles before the production moved to Australia. Though nameless in the book, Jonze decided who was who based on their personalities.

What he didn’t try to do was to dilute[变淡] his distinctive style for a family audience. “I never thought of it as a children’s movie,” he says. “My intention was to be true to how it felt to be nine years old. Maurice’s whole thing is to be honest. You can say anything to kids as long as you are respectful and not pandering[迎合].”

面对一本只用338个字就足以激发无穷想象并触动人心的故事书,你会如何将它拓展成一部完整长度的电影呢?

当然是靠作者的祝福了。

以拍摄情节离奇、充满创意的电影(如1999年的《傀儡人生》和2002年的《改编剧本》)著称的斯派克・琼斯一直对莫里斯・森达克的《野兽家园》情有独钟。

“我自小就和这个故事很有共鸣。我总喜欢听完再听,”谈到这个创作于1963年的故事时他这样说道。这个故事讲述了愤怒的男孩马克思逃到一片神秘土地,那里生活着各种未被驯服的巨型野兽。“这就像你试图阐明为什么会爱着某人。对于我来说,这些野兽既令人禁不住想紧紧抱住,同时也极其危险。我总是希望像马克思那样爬到它们身上去。”

39岁的琼斯和80岁的森达克相识于1995年。当时他们想把另一个备受欢迎的儿童故事《哈诺德梦游仙境》制作成电影。大约4年前,这位作家找到了琼斯,讨论将其最知名的作品改编成电影的事宜。

在给野兽世界添砖加瓦的过程中,琼斯和另一名编剧――小说家戴夫・埃格斯经常向森达克征求意见。

“他坚持要我做自己的东西,”琼斯说。“他很有主见,但最终还是尊重我们。他说:‘拍一些属于你自己的东西。’”

在此之前已经有各种动画版本的《野兽家园》,当中包括80年代初由皮克斯(动画工作室)的约翰・拉塞特制作的版本。但琼斯坚信这部作品需要通过实景真人电影来

表现。

“我希望它们真实存在,”他在谈到马克思遇到的7只生物时如是说。“我从小就没把它想象成动画,而是与我同时存在于这个世界。当马克思身处真实的情境中,危险感便油然而生,危险与兴奋并存。”

配音演员――例如为影片中名叫卡罗尔的野兽配音的詹姆斯・甘多费尼,以及为野兽朱迪思配音的凯瑟琳・奥哈拉――在制作组移师澳大利亚之前已经在洛杉矶完成配音。虽然这些野兽在书中无名无姓,但琼斯决定根据它们的性格将它们区分开来。

但是琼斯不会为了迎合家庭观众而减弱其独树一帜的风格。“我从未把它当作一部儿童电影,”他说。“我的目的是真实地呈现9岁孩子的感觉。莫里斯的整个故事都相当诚恳。只要你尊重童心,不是一味迎合,你可以向孩子尽情倾诉。”