Gene Deitch: The Animated WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

Detail from the storyboard.

Animator Gene Deitch talks about the long process of making the WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE animated film. 

The production was long and arduous, five years of on-&-off start & stop, with Maurice demanding change after change, often contradictory. I still have boxes of letters, memos, notes, sketches, scribbled ideas, rejections, arguments, changes, changes, changes.  Was it worth it?  Well, yes, it’s my all-time best-selling film, and the royalties soothe my memories of pain. I’m posting here a few random samples, which can only give you a rough idea of the ups and downs and general angst we endured.

There are several amazing bits Mr. Deitch shares:

• the now-rare original soundtrack version of WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE,
  
• and an unseen 1984 film of Deitch and Maurice Sendak talking about their IN THE NIGHT KITCHEN film.

Go read the entire tale here.

Via wardomatic! Thanks, Ward!