Back in the day, Michelle Williams and director Spike Jonze were an item. This would have been… circa 2008-09. I think they got together in the summer or 2008, and they had split by the fall of 2009. By some accounts, the relationship was pretty serious, and Michelle allowed Spike to spend time with Matilda, and Michelle and Spike even discussed marriage (he was already divorced from Sofia Coppola). What I always found kind of strange about their relationship is that Michelle never made any kind of reference to this year-long affair publicly. I mean, if she wants to keep her dating life private, God bless, but in interview after interview, she continued to put herself out there like The Widow Ledger, which seemed… odd, considering she was in a serious relationship with another man.

Anyway, Michelle and Spike split a year and a half ago and Michelle still never really made a reference to it. I figured it was a amicable split, and hoped they were still friends. The Mail reports this morning that they broke up in 2009 because Spike dumped her, and now he’s trying to win her back:

Oscar-nominated actress Michelle Williams is poised to rekindle her romance with film director Spike Jonze – 18 months after she was left heartbroken when they split.

Spike invited Michelle to see electro band LCD Soundsystem in New York earlier this month in a bid to woo her back.

But actress Michelle, who has a five-year-old daughter Matilda by late Brokeback Mountain star Heath Ledger, wants to take things slowly.

‘Spike realises he made a huge mistake leaving Michelle and he desperately wants her back,’ says a source.

‘They are making a tentative go of their relationship again but Michelle is nervous. Spike broke her heart the first time around.

‘He’s promised that he’s a changed man who is ready for commitment, but Michelle has told him to prove himself before she can trust him again.’

[From The Daily Mail]

I really hope this is true, because despite some stories that I’ve heard about Spike, I think he seems like a nice guy, and I think he was probably really good for Michelle. She’s a strange one, though. I doubt that in real life, she’s anything like the persona she’s created in public. Still… I remember when Spike wandered around looking like a dirty hipster. Nowadays he’s looking rather clean and pretty. Let’s hope this story is true!

Archive photos of Spike & Michelle courtesy of Bauer-Griffin & Pacific Coast News. Additional photos courtesy of WENN.

Where the Wild Things Are came out on Friday and was top at the box office with a $32 million take. (Gerard Butler’s Law Abiding Citizen came in second with $21 million.) People may have flocked to see the big screen version of the children’s classic, but many went away disappointed. The Spike-Jonze directed movie, rated PG, isn’t appropriate for the same audience as the book and many families found it too dark, scary and adult for kids.

ennifer O’Brien wasn’t in her theater seat 20 minutes when she realized she’d made a mistake bringing her daughter.
REVISIT THE REVIEW: Claudia Puig on ‘Wild Things’
O’Brien, 37, of Phoenix, took 7-year-old Eileen to Where the Wild Things Are on Sunday, hoping the girl would enjoy the movie as much as O’Brien loved the 1963 picture book.

Mom was wrong. “She was pretty scared,” O’Brien says at the AMC Century City in Los Angeles. “We spent most of the time in the lobby playing video games. This isn’t a children’s movie.”

Then what is it? Directed by art-house helmsman Spike Jonze, Wild is walking a precarious demographic line.

Though rated PG, the movie plays like a grown-up flick in parts. The film is dominated by dialogue, often about death. The threat of violence to the child hero, Max, is palpable. One Wild Thing has an arm ripped off.

Still, families made up more than half the audience, fueling Wild’s $32.7 million debut, which beat expectations.

“Parents who complain the movie isn’t for kids didn’t do their homework,” says Joseph Vargas, 41, of Fresno, who brought his 9-year-old son, Antonio. “He wasn’t bothered by anything in it,” including the kid being in danger. “If anything, he wanted more danger.”

Warner Bros., which released Wild, says the studio never misrepresented the tone of the movie, which has earned positive reviews. “We were very clear what this movie is,” says Dan Fellman, distribution chief for Warner Bros. “We were careful not to market it to young people. This is a choice parents should look into and make for themselves.”

Danielle Herrera wasn’t concerned whether her 10-year-old son, Carlos, could handle the movie’s mature themes.

“Have you seen what they show on TV?” says Herrera, 38, of Los Angeles. “It’s worse than anything they showed in this movie. Kids handle more than we think.”

For his part, Jonze is unapologetic about the film’s tone. “It was a dangerous, daring book,” Jonze said in an interview earlier this month. “The movie should reflect the emotions of the book.”

Whether those emotions are suitable for young children is splitting audiences, a schism that puzzles some film experts.

“This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone,” says film critic Scott Mantz of Access Hollywood. “You can’t hire a visionary director and expect his movie to be another Alvin and the Chipmunks.”

[From USA Today]

My five year-old cried during the main conflict scene in UP, so there’s no way I’d take him to see this movie or let him watch it until he’s much older. He asked about it as he loves the book, but I told him it’s not for kids. I’m not a real Spike Jonze fan. I found Being John Malkovich and Adaptation a little too strange to enjoy, although my husband loves his work. Of course no one would expect Jonze to make a movie for kids, so then why did they hire him for one? This is a movie based on a children’s book, and it seems like it should be suitable for children. I can’t judge, though, and have admittedly not seen it yet. It’s getting mixed but overall positive reviews, with some critics calling it “poignant,” and “innovative,” and citing the amazing visuals, and others saying it’s “emotionally lacking,” and “tiresome.” Several critics say that while it’s not a film for kids, it’s made from a kid’s point of view and captures that perspective well.

Did any of you see it over the weekend, and what did you think?

Photos via AllMoviePhoto

Michelle Williams and director Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) have been dating for less than a year, sort of. We don’t really know when they started dating, but they seemed to start really enjoy spending quality time together last summer. Michelle seemed to be moving on in her life at her own pace after Heath Ledger’s death – and Spike Jonze quickly seemed part of that. Spike has even been photographed with Michelle and Matilda. And why shouldn’t he be? No one expected Michelle to don black widow’s garb for life. She’s a young woman and a young mother, and it’s healthy for her to move on.

Star Magazine is reporting that over the course of the past year, Spike and Michelle have grown extremely close – to the point where Spike wants to marry Michelle and raise Matilda as his own. If this is the case, it would be Spike’s second marriage. His first was to director Sofia Coppola – from 1999 to 2003. Star has more:

Spike Jonze adores Michelle Williams’ daughter, Matilda, and he’s made the former Dawson’s Creek star smile again after the devastating January 2008 death of the tot’s dad, Heath Ledger.

So Michelle, 28, is happily planning to take a trip to the altar with her Being John Malkovich director beau of almost a year — as early as this summer, sources tell Star!

“They’re in love and absolutely thrilled with each other,” says a source. “They don’t see why they should wait much longer.”

Spike, 39, is already treating 3-year-old Matilda as if she’s officially his own. “Spike loves being with Matilda. He’s teaching her to skateboard and to ride a bike,” says a source.

“He never makes Michelle feel like taking care of her is a burden, because he truly thinks of them all as a family.”

[From Star Magazine]

Spike (real name: Adam Spiegel) is a man of many personas – sometimes, he seems like a guy’s guy, because he’s so into all of that BMX and Jackass stuff. Other times, he seems very sweet and shy. God knows what he’s really like, but I suspect he probably does love Michelle and Matilda. If they’re not already engaged, I bet they’re both thinking about it. God bless.

Here’s Michelle and Spike in Brooklyn with Matilda on April 10th, and sharing a kiss (alone) on March 22nd. Images thanks to Pacific Coast News.

Actress Michelle Williams, 28, wore a gorgeous pearl-colored dress with criss-cross panels to a screening of her film Synecdoche, New York in New York City last night. Mother of one Williams has quietly been dating the director of the film, Spike Jonze. The two have managed to mostly avoid photographers and seem to have taken pains to hide their relationship, but they didn’t hold back at the after party for the film last night. People reports that they were making out like a couple of teenagers with a curfew:

After attending a Cinema Society screening of their new film, Synecdoche, New York in Manhattan Wednesday night, the couple walked out of the auditorium with Jonze caressing Williams’ back and wrapping his arm around her waist.

The pair held hands as they walked through the lobby, where they met up with Synecdoche costar Catherine Keener. While the two women chatted and munched on popcorn, Jonze snaked his arm around Williams’ waist again.

“He couldn’t seem to keep his hands off her,” said an onlooker. “It was very cute.”

But the sparks really started to fly later that night, when they headed to the Gramercy Hotel’s rooftop club for the Mulberry-sponsored afterparty.

While the two – who have been romantically linked since this summer – talked with friends, they stood so close they were “practically spooning,” said one fellow guest.

And later, when they decided to leave the bash at around 1 a.m., Williams and Jonze shared a mini makeout session – on their way to the elevator.

[From People]

Good for them! It sounds like they’re in the honeymoon phase of their relationship. Reports first surfaced that they were a couple around the end of July, less than three months ago. They seem to not be able to get enough of each other, and hopefully it will turn into a long term stable relationship if it’s right for both of them.

Everyone was worried about Williams after Heath Ledger passed away from an accidental prescription drug interaction this January. Ledger was her ex boyfriend and the father of her now almost three year old daughter, Matilda. Little Matilda is the splitting image of her dad. It seems that her mother may have found love and happiness again after so much tragedy.

Photo credit: WENN and Fame. Header image from Bauergriffinonline taken at Cannes on 5/23/08.

Michelle Williams and Spike Jonze are shown at a photocall for Synecdoche, New York in Cannes on 5/23/08. Credit: Axelle/Bauergriffinonline.com
Actress Michelle Williams is reportedly moving beyond the grief of losing her ex-fiance, the late Heath Ledger, and is cautiously becoming more serious with indie film director Spike Jonze. Sources say that Jonze makes Michelle very happy, and it looks like the new couple have been spending a lot of time together. OK! Magazine says that Jonze was spotted shopping for groceries at a market near Williams’ Brooklyn apartment.

Although Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger had broken up before his sudden death last January, the shock of losing her former partner and father to her daughter, Matilda Rose, has had her looking somber for months.

But lately, the smile has crept slowly back onto Michelle’s face, perhaps because she’s quietly dating director Spike Jonze.

“Michelle is starting to have her old glow back,” a source tells OK!. “It’s the Michelle we were used to seeing when she and Heath just had Matilda and they were on cloud nine. Her eyes light up again. She’s finally coming out of the shock of losing Heath.”

Spike and Michelle met back in 2006 when she was up for a role in his movie Where the Wild Things Are (she got the part but later withdrew) and then again more recently on the set of Synecdoche, New York in 2007.

And lately, the two have been spending a lot more time together: Spike was recently spotted at a convenience store in Brooklyn, buying a toothbrush, toothpaste, eggs and pancake mix before heading back to Michelle’s home.

“Spike said he was visiting his girlfriend and just needed to get a few odds and ends,” a local tells OK!. “They were going to try and make breakfast for her daughter.”

[From OK! Magazine]

I really like Michelle Williams. She’s a decent actress and appears to be a very devoted mom. She hasn’t really been linked to anyone since her breakup with Heath, and if she’s introduced Spike to her daughter, I would imagine that this relationship has some legs. She’s the anti-Kate Hudson: I could never imagine her letting her boyfriend du jour hang out with Matilda. I hope she finds some peace and happiness with Jonze.

When I first heard the story that Michelle Williams, 27, was dating director Spike Jonze, 38, I was pretty skeptical. The rumor seemed to originate in Star Magazine and was based on the two sharing a goodbye kiss that lasted too long outside Jonze’s apartment. Michelle and Spike worked together on the film Synecdoche, New York, and there wasn’t much evidence that they were a couple. The late Heath Ledger’s best friend from Australia, Trevor DiCarlo, was staying at Michelle’s place for a while and I guessed that he was her new love interest, not Jonze.

Jonze and Williams were spotted together at the airport last week boarding a private plane to Oregon with her daughter, Matilda, 33 months. They were also seen kissing at dinner in LA on August 2. It looks pretty obvious at this point that they’re a couple.

Michelle Williams and director Spike Jonze, who were recently spotted getting cozy together in Brooklyn, have taken their relationship bicoastal.

The twosome shared an intimate dinner at Little Dom’s in Los Angeles’ Los Feliz neighborhood on Aug. 2. According to a fellow diner, Williams, 27, and Jonze, 38, started off their late-night meal sitting across from each other. “During dinner they would lean in and kiss each other over the table,” the diner says.

By the end of the meal, Williams had hopped into Jonze’s lap and the pair were smooching, according to onlooker.

Jonze, the ex-husband of Sofia Coppola, produced the actress’ upcoming film Synecdoche, New York. At the Brooklyn deli, the director “had his arm around [Williams] and kissed her on the cheeks, then on the lips,” PEOPLE reported recently.

[From People]

Jonze was married to director Sofia Coppola from 1999 – 2003 and was briefly linked to actress Drew Barrymore last year.

Michelle doesn’t seem like the PDA type to me at all and I’m really surprised that she would sit on a guy’s lap at a restaurant and start kissing him like that. She must really be crazy for him, and it sounds like the feeling is mutual. Jonze must be the affectionate type and these two sound like they’re head over heels for each other.

Michelle Williams and Spike Jonze are shown at a photocall for Synecdoche, New York in Cannes on 5/23/08. Credit: Axelle/Bauergriffinonline.com

Michelle Williams, Heath Ledger’s ex-fiancé and mother of his child, is dating again, according to the Daily Mail. Michelle and Heath broke up last September, and he passed away four months later in January.

Michelle didn’t seem to date publicly after the breakup, and definitely hasn’t been seen dating since Heath’s death. Which makes perfect sense. Most people would need a good deal of time to get over the ending of an engagement, especially when the couple has a child together. I cannot even imagine what it must take to move on after your former fiancé dies tragically.

But it seems Michelle may finally be finding some happiness in life again, in the form of director Spike Jonze. The pair have known each other since 2006, and seem to have become an item recently.

Seven months after the sudden death of her ex-fiancé Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams appears to have found happiness again. A U.S. magazine reports the former Dawson’s Creek actress, 27, has started dating film director Spike Jonze, ex-husband of Lost In Translation director Sofia Coppola.

Williams and Jonze, 38, have been spotted together several times near the film-maker’s £1.5million New York apartment in recent weeks. … now it appears she finally has something to smile about again, thanks to a burgeoning romance with Jonze. American magazine Star reports Williams was seen kissing Jonze outside his Lower East Side Manhattan apartment on July 2nd.

An onlooker told the publication: ‘Michelle kissed Spike with a closed mouth on the corner of his lips. There was definitely a bit of caressing going on. She was clutching his arm. The body language was very romantic.’

Williams first met Jonze in 2006 when she auditioned for his film adaptation of the Maurice Sendak children’s book Where The Wild Things Are. She was offered a part, but later withdrew from the film. But last year, the pair finally worked together on Synecdoche, New York in summer 2007 and struck up a friendship.

[From the Daily Mail]

It’s good Michelle is moving forward with her life. I don’t think you can ever really get past what she’s gone through, but she certainly deserves happiness. It seems like she’s done a good job of focusing on Matilda and creating a supportive, stable environment in which she’ll grow up. It’s heartbreaking to think it won’t happen with Heath around, but it seems like he’d probably be proud of how everyone in his life is handling it.

Here’s Michelle at the photocall for the ‘Synedoche, New York’ Premiere in Cannes on May 23rd, along with Samantha Morton, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Catherine Keener. Images thanks to WENN. Spike Jonze is shown at a Fahrenheit 9/11 screening in 2004. Credit: Lee Roth / RothStock / PR Photos