Wild Things author: Go to hell, parents
Where the Wild Things Are author: Go to hell, parents
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Thursday, 22, Oct 2009 02:51
By Lewis Bazley.
Parents worried the film based on Where the Wild Things Are will be too scary for children can "go to hell", according to author Maurice Sendak.
The Warner Bros film, starring young actor Max Records and voice work from James Gandolfini and Forrest Whitaker, recently hit the number one spot in the US box office charts.
Based on Sendak's beloved 1963 book, Where the Wild Things Are tells of an incorrigible young boy who, after being sent to bed without his supper, journeys to a magical realm populated by the titular monsters.
While some parents have voiced their concern that Max's voyage to become "king of the wild things" could frighten some youngsters, Sendak has this week said he would "not tolerate" parental complaints.
"I would tell them to go to hell," he told Newsweek.
Asked if children themselves were upset by the film, he advised them to "go home".
"Or wet your pants," Sendak added. "Do whatever you like. But it's not a question that can be answered."
The Newsweek interview, conducted with Sendak, the film's director Spike Jonze and author and screenwriter Dave Eggers, also saw the former label the work of Disney as "terrible" for children.
"I adored Mickey Mouse when I was a child. He was the emblem of happiness and funniness," he explained.
"I think what happened, was that he became so popular - this is my own theory - [and] they gave his cruelty and his toughness to Donald Duck.
"And they made Mickey a fat nothing. He's too important for products. They want him to be placid and nice and adorable."
Sendak concluded: "He turned into a schmaltzer. I despised him after a point."