I got into a little comment debate last week with BC Smith about the use of CGI in the Where the Wild Things Are. In Ben’s column, he observed that the Wild Things had the “saddest CG-Eyes I’ve ever seen.” I responded “CG Eyes they are not” with authority because of an interview I’d just heard with Spike Jonze on Fresh Air where he spoke about not wanting to use computer-generated-imagery. Ben and I went back and forth on the CGI question; quoting articles we’d read but the last word on the subject wasn’t certain. Spike was keeping his cards up his sleeve.

My curiosity drove me to watch all the Spike Jonze interviews I could find; a pursuit which ended up raising more questions than it answered. For one, I was surprised at how lo-fi most of the interviews were. Besides an appearance on late-night television, most of the available interviews were shot by amateurs in moving cars and cluttered offices. Youtube goes a fair distance towards destroying the pedestals which raise artists high above the rest of us—with a few quick searches we’re watching Spike nearly falling asleep while munching Peanut M&M’s, waiting at a stop light, and losing his train of thought. But here is a director who refuses to step politely down from the pedestal. Jonze would rather play the high-art prankster, setting the pedestal on fire only to bunjee jump down into the firemen’s net. Here are a selection of interviews which show the games Jonze plays to avoid traditional forms of publicity:

First up is Spike’s only television appearance available online. Just after the release of Being John Malkovich, Spike convinced Craig Kilborn to interview him without ever speaking while their “thoughts” are broadcast to the audience:

In this video, Spike interviews his puppet-self to introduce a program of his music videos for the Edinburgh Film Festival. Notice puppet-Spike’s unwillingness to give serious answers to nerd-Spike’s somewhat serious questions:

The next video shows Spike getting sick of being interviewed—literally:

This Atom Films interview has got the be the most frustrating gimmick-interview ever committed to miniDV. A bumbling comedian-interviewer supposedly had the record button reversed and ends up shooting an entire interview with Spike without getting a single answer on tape. See a theme developing here? I don’t recommend watching the entire clip. The punchline is more like a punch in the face:

If you find Spike’s voice more cute than annoying you should finish with this 40-minute interview recorded for British television in which Spike drives around Hollywood in a Dodge Viper while discussing his early music videos. The best part comes 30 minutes in when Fatboy Slim calls Spike a “beautiful nutter” for staying in character during the making of the “Praise You” video. Here we see Jonze coming out from behind the camera to become a brilliantly extroverted dancer. Even as Spike Jonze begins to direct more serious movies and garner more critical acclaim, I believe we’ll continue to see his reluctance to ever fully step out of character or stop his footloose dancing.