Press | Thrilled to let imagination run 'Wild', October 2009

The creatures in "Where the Wild Things Are" are an unruly bunch, denizens of a mythical island where they pout, rage, run, have fun and make friends with a young boy named Max.

The classic children's book is getting the live-action movie treatment from director Spike Jonze. It opens Friday. When Lauren Ambrose got the call from Jonze to voice one of the "Wild Things," she said, " 'I know which one I'm playing because it's the one redhead.' And it turned out it was," she laughed. "I look like that."

That redheaded Wild Thing is named KW, and stands apart from the rest of the tribe.

"I think KW is an outsider," Ambrose said. "She's shy and she and Carol, who is played by James Gandolfini, they have this - I don't know - this crazy, tense relationship. It evolved a bit over time, but it was all there in their imagination."

For Ambrose, imagination is what's "so spectacular, what Spike and (co-writer) Dave Eggers came up with to fill in this very spare template" to make a movie from Maurice Sendak's nearly 50-year-old book.

"That's why I think people are so interested in this. Everyone wonders, 'How did they flesh it out?' They made a story about imagination."

But more than imagination went into making the film. Ambrose recalled one recording session with Jonze.

"I'm thinking, 'What is this jewel going to be?' and then Spike started beating me up and he was so physical, and all of a sudden I'm going, 'What's happening! Why am I being attacked? This isn't 'Jackass the Movie,' which Spike produced."

She laughed, "He was very physical and got me to be physical, and I got to be a wild woman lying on the floor. It was really organic and earthy."

As to what this says about childhood, Ambrose, who was interviewed at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles, shook her head.

"I think it's silly for adults to talk about the meaning of children's books because it's not for us. They're on a different world. Maurice Sendak tapped into something very deep and big about being a child."