Pedestrian Exclusive: Behind The Scenes Of Where The Wild Things Are With Chris Searl

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Published

October 13, 2009

Three years ago Spike Jonze called Monster Children co-founder Chris Searl and asked him to take some behind the scenes shots of his new film “Where The Wild Things Are”. Searl missed the call, but when Spike Jonze leaves you a message you best call him back. Searl did just that and captured some of the most candid and whimsical photographs we’ve seen this year. We caught up with Hollywood to discuss meeting Spike Jonze, “wild moments” on shoots and his serendipitously named son.

P: I guess I should start by asking about the “Where The Wild Things Are” shoot. How did that come about?

CS: That happened I was sitting at home on the couch one day, then the phone call came through and I was like what? And didn’t answer it. Actually Spike had left a message on my phone. He’s been getting the mag for the past 10 issues, so he was familiar with the magazine and had seen my photography. His whole plan for Where The Wild Things Are was to get different guest photographers to come down on set, so he didn’t just get the one style.

So yeah I got the call from him. He left a message saying “Hey its Spike Jonze here just wanted to see if you would like to come down and shoot on the movie”. At first I thought it was a joke. Then I knew it was him with his squeaky little voice. It was awesome to be able to go down there. I spent 2 weeks on it.

P: Yeah, cool. That was three years ago right?. Can you take us back to the 2 weeks that you actually shot it – what that was like?.

CS: It was three years ago because I remember when I was down there, I actually found out I was having a kid. My first kid. I’ve had another one since then, so I’ve had two kids in the time that they’ve made the movie, which is kind of funny.

My time on set? It’s kind of funny with film. I hadn’t been on film sets as such. So it was my first time and there were so many people running around and someone to do every little job. Someone to move a twig. So different to still photography in that it takes so much time. I think there were like 4 shots a day so the amount of time it took, there was a lot of hanging around which was quite good to shoot. It was great to have that creative freedom too, Spike just said come down and shoot whatever you want. And they’re sort of using the images now for PR stuff, the making of book and a bunch of images from the book have just been released.

P: Cool, and what was Spike Jonze like?

CS: He was awesome. I think I went down about 3 months before the film just to meet him say G’day and we went and had dinner. Sort of introduced and met him then, because whilst on set it was a different story. He was so busy and so many different people wanted a piece of his time. So I kind of stayed out of the way. On set he was in a sort of relaxed mood, for a director. I imagine those guys can get a bit stuck up. But he was just nice and chilled and he was having fun with Max, playing around with the characters and was really nice to me. So it was good to hang out.

P: Was the process of shooting that, was it set up or was it kind of organic candid stuff.

CS: It was organic to the point where I just could shoot over their shoulder. Everything is so set up with the film so many takes each time. I was just allowed to cruise around the set and shoot whatever I want. Like there was no set brief. Spike just said come down, have fun and capture it in your own way for the two weeks. I mean, the shots were set up as well. You’re only limited. Even the monsters moving around , they had their own person to look after them and moving them round was kind of a pain in the ass in itself. So you were limited at the time to what they were shooting.

P: There’s a strange parallel I see as well. Obviously the protagonist in the movie his name is Max, the actor’s name is also Max, and your oldest son is named Max as well? Is that a bizarre coincidence or did you name your son Max, because you had Max on the brain?

CS: Nah, even before that we had two names for a boy and a girl. I think once you first start to get together and then after a while once you get married you always talk about names for your kids and I think from that stage we always had Max for a boy and Dylan for a girl. I think it’s just one of those little coincidences.

P: So you were meant to shoot this film I guess?

CS: Maybe Ashley. (laughs) It was good, out of any film to be called up to shoot. That was the ultimate. I’ve appreciated Spike’s work ever since I’ve been into film making, growing up and then moving into that photography and magazine background, so I’ve always been inspired by the work that he’s done. So when I got the call up to shoot on that film, out of any of the films, it was awesome.

P: And just in the vein of WTWTA what’s the wildest thing you’ve seen on a shoot?

CS: I don’t know if I would say wild but I’ve seen a girl, not get blown up, but there was a steamer for one of the fashion shoots used to get the creases out of the clothes. One of those blew up and burnt the hell out of the girl. That was pretty wild. Just the other day a girl flashed her titties to trucks as we were shooting. Not too wild, just another day I guess.

P: What does a typical day entail for you? Obviously you have to juggle a whole lot of different projects.

CS: I guess the good thing is it’s not a typical day, at the moment I’m trying to juggle the magazine as well as my still photography work. So I guess a typical day and a typical week is so different. It gets busy on deadlines so I try and stay in the office for those, for those three weeks where it gets really busy and if I get called up to do a photography job then I’ll head out. Whether it’s just a day, 3 days or a week. I don’t think there’s one typical day at the moment. Describing what I do is a whole lot of juggling at this stage.

P: So what have you been working on at the moment?

CS: Recently I just came off a couple of commercial jobs for Virgin mobile, which is a nice one. Just did my first feature for Harper’s. Which was a nice 14 page fashion feature, which is actually based on WTWTA, that’s for their December issue, so I’m surrounded by that movie at the moment.

P: How do you approach commercial work, do you get a lot of say in how the shoot is run, or are there other pressures in place?

CS: I think for each job you’re chosen for your style, so you’ve got as much say as they’ve booked you, as in they like your work and that’s the sort of outcome they want. I get thrown some nice briefs, as in the Virgin mobile was a great one to do. And a lot of the work are companies who are associated with the magazine as well. So there’s things like catalogues and anyone that needs work done with the magazine.

P: And what kind of process do you follow for shooting? Do you have preconceived ideas that you walk in with or do you improvise a bit?

CS: I think you’ve got to let it flow a bit more. With the magazine we sort of have an idea of what we want to do and how we might come across, because our magazine is such a loose thing, it’s kind of like we can shoot whatever we want magazine. Like shooting the Kings of Leon, and spending 24 hours with them, with just me out there shooting, so there’s not really a set up its more reportage.

P: What has been your favorite shoot so far?

CS: Where The Wild Things Are I guess, it was an awesome opportunity to be part of that one. I guess in regards to results there was one fashion shoot that we did where there was this little gap of light that comes between an overpass…

P: Oh yeah, “Shadow Play”?

CS: Yeah. It was like a swimwear shoot. That one was with a small crew, we were running in and out of traffic, it was just us doing whatever the hell we wanted. So the results, I was happy with how it came out.

P: Do you ever run into problems with shoots that have big set ups or work in pubic places? Has there been any logistical disasters?

CS: I try and keep my crew and the equipment I use low key. And now when it gets to a stage where we need a bigger budget, you get all the permits in place to shoot. I think before when we were running around for the magazine, you just sort of run around and shoot wherever you can. You just break in. The last issue, 24, we tried to get all these permits from council to shoot in this pool, and you go through the right channels and they shut you down. So we just broke in and shot in the pool in Central park anyway and it was perfect. So you keep the crew pretty small and you can get away with a few more things.

P: So you’re still doing things pretty guerrilla…

CS: Yeah, it was so crazy. You think that going through the right channels, you’re doing the right thing but then they shut you down, so you end up doing it anyway. The energy is probably better as well. The whole vibe of everyone is better, it’s more fun. Breaking and entering isn’t really something you’re meant to be doing…

P: How does your partner respond to your job description – shooting beautiful, half naked models all day?

CS: I think at the start she was like ‘what the fuck is going on?’ but I think she’s just come to accept that part of my job. She’s just happy that it’s a job. That’s what it is, it’s a job. She designs her work so that’s a job for her. At the start she was a bit iffy about it, and so many people asked her, ‘what the fuck, he’s going to shoot naked girls all day’ but now she just brushes it off, I don’t think she really cares anymore.

P: That’s good. And what’s your favorite part of the job?

CS: Probably shooting topless girls.

P: No sarcasm?

CS: Nah, no sarcasm. Probably shooting in general. It’s the thing I enjoy. Going away with a camera in my hand, I really enjoy that. Seeing the results a whole team of people can come up with is probably the best thing.

P: And what’s the worst part of the job?

CS: Probably releasing the mag 4 times a year. All the issues we have to carry, is probably the worst thing. Every time the truck pulls up out the front of the office, me and Campbell can’t believe that we’ve either moved into a place with stairs or that we’ve been going for that long.

P: Finally, this is a bit off topic, but I wanted to ask you with Movember coming up. You’ve got one of the gnarliest beards I’ve ever seen. Do you have any tips for growing facial hair?

CS: (Laughs) That’s pretty funny because after having my baby girl, I sort of shaved it all off because of her. And I kind of missed it so I thought fuck it I’m going to grow it back. Now I don’t know if I should keep it. You know how everyone’s got someone that they look like? Well I get Ned Kelly, Jesus, Allen from The Hangover. In regards to tips…Guys like beards, and girls don’t really like beards. Its pretty funny I was walking through a bar the other day and every guy was like ‘that’s a fucking big beard’ and you never get those comments from girls.

To see more behind the scenes photos you can purchase issue 24 of Monster Children here or check newsstands for the bad boy below…