<P> After years of interest from various producers, Sendak favored Spike Jonze as director, noting he was "young, interesting and had a spark that none of the others had". The film was originally set for release from Universal, and a teaser of the film was attached to the studio's 2000 adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas . Disagreements between Universal and Sendak over Jonze's approach to the story led to a turnaround arrangement where the film's production was transferred to Warner Bros . </P> <P>--NPR, All Things Considered </P> <P> In 2005, Jonze and Dave Eggers completed a 111 - page screenplay, expanding the original ten - sentence story . On July 8, 2006, production began open auditions for the role of Max . The process took months, but, eventually, Max Records was cast . Academy Award - winning make - up effects supervisor Howard Berger (The Chronicles of Narnia) turned down offers to work on the film four times . Although the book inspired him as a child to work in special effects, he felt filming it was a "horrible idea ." Jim Henson's Creature Shop provided the animatronic suits for the Wild Things . </P> <P> Filming began in April 2006 at Docklands Studios Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia . Jonze kept in close consultation with Sendak throughout the process, and the author approved creature designs created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop . To make the set a more comfortable environment for Max Records, Jonze encouraged the crew members to bring their children to the set . Some of them can be seen in the film's classroom scene . </P>

Who dies in where the wild things are