Spike Jonze Talks Kanye's "We Were Once A Fairytale" Short Film

Anticipation for Kanye West's collaboration with Where the Wild Things Are director and music video visionary Spike Jonze was so intense, even West himself couldn't help but post the pair's short film We Were Once a Fairytale when he got his hands on it a few days ago. The only problem: the clip wasn't finished yet, and the version circulating on the Web was a leak.

"I think he was like, 'Oh, it's out. I'll link to it,' " Jonze, who previously helmed West's awesome "Flashing Lights" video, told the New York Times' Arts Beat (West yanked the video from his blog). The 12-minute tale of loneliness and isolation centers around West's 808's & Heartbreak song "See You In My Nightmares" and was supposed to (and will still) be distributed through iTunes.

See Jonze's Wild Things evolve from illustrations to the big screen.

Jonze and West shot Fairytale over two days at West Hollywood club Foxtail. "We rehearsed the night before we shot, and talked about trying to get to that raw place, that sad, pathetic, drunken, lost place," Jonze said. "I told him, the more shameless it is, the more pathetic it is, the better. He just went for it."

In the first half of the video, West is seen partying in the club, and when "See You in My Nightmares" plays over the speakers, Kanye brags that he "wrote this song." Drunken sexcapades ensue in the second half, and the next morning, when Kanye goes to the bathroom, he vomits a wave of rose petals, then commits seppuku, reaching into his wound and producing a small demon rodent (think a really, really tiny Wild Thing) that he sits atop a sink. Then, with a miniature knife, the little Muppet itself commits seppuku. And then the film ends.

Go backstage on Kanye West's Glow in the Dark Tour in photos.

"I like Kanye and I care about him. This video is a side of him," said Jonze, whose interview with the rapper serves as a narrative for the Glow in the Dark photo book that follows West's international exploits on his acclaimed tour. "I don’t know what the reception is going to be, but I love making stuff with him. I love the guy."

Related Stories:
• Inside a Kanye West Tour: "Glow in the Dark" Photos, Backstage Tales
• Kanye West, Spike Jonze's "Fairytale" Short Out in September
• "Where the Wild Things Are": Exclusive Look Behind the Film's Stunning Music and Visuals

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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