The Addams Family has entertained generations of kids and adults alike, but there’s something about the ’90s adaptations that just hit different. The 1991 film and its 1993 sequel are some of the darkest, funniest movies around.
Here are some pretty interesting behind-the-scenes facts about the films, that you probably didn’t know. This list is sure to get you thinking about Halloween and all things spooky.
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Mercedes McNab had a small (but memorable) scene in the film.
McNab, who went on to star in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel , later recalled thinking the scene might not have made it into the film: “My parents kept warning me, ‘You know, it’s such a small scene. Don’t even be surprised if it’s not in the movie. It could easily be cut out.'”
“And then, we found out later that when they were doing screenings with test audiences, it was voted everyone’s favorite scene.”
And yet, despite the sheer hilarity and recognition of the scene, McNab still had to audition to appear in the second film. She ended up playing a completely different character named Amanda Buckman, who had nothing to do with that girl scout.
The movie didn’t have to cut any jokes to keep its rating.
The 1991 film managed to maintain a PG-13 rating, despite the fact that it had a lot of humor that was dark or sexual in nature, and came pretty close to crossing the line.
But it never did cross the line, and so nothing had to be cut.
David Krumholtz — who played Joel Glicker in the film’s sequel, told BuzzFeed, ” There’s a lot of adult humor in it . That script is super wickedly smart. It’s very snarky and there’s a lot of references for adults.”
Uncle Fester had a trunk with suitcases from different dark locations.
“Jonestown, Black Hole of Calcutta, Death Valley, Devil’s Island and 3 Mile Island,” according to a Reddit post . All of these locations have been tied to dark, tragic events, and the implication is that Uncle Fester visited them all.
Michael Jackson made a song for the film, but ended up being used as a joke instead.
Michael Jackson had recorded a horror-themed song for The Addams Family Values , but it got cut due to celebrity Evan Chandler accusing the singer of abusing his son.
Paul Rudnick recalled that the intended music video might’ve been too poignant.
He said, “I think it involved him living in the Addams Family mansion and all of his neighbors storming the place with pitchforks and torches. So it was a little too close. That’s why it wasn’t included.”
But Jackson still appeared in the movie (in some capacity).
“There’s a moment in the film when Wednesday, Pugsley, and Joel, to discipline them, were placed in the Harmony Hut. It’s the most sparkly, wholesome, vanilla place imaginable,” Rudnick continues when discussing how Jackson still made it into the film.
Joel begins screaming while looking at a poster of Michael Jackson.
The humor was unintentional, but worked out surprisingly (and unfortunately) well. David Krumholtz, who played Joel, said, “The accusations didn’t full-on come out until the movie came out so it was kind of perfect timing.”
Tim Burton was set to be the director of the film.
Due to scheduling conflicts with Batman Returns , he had to refuse the job, and Barry Sonnenfeld stepped in. Sonnenfeld ended up directing the sequel, too.
But it looks like we’re finally going to see a Tim Burton interpretation of the Addams Family.
It only took three decades (and another scrapped attempt at an Addams Family film), but Burton is the showrunner for the upcoming Netflix series , Wednesday .
The actor who played Cousin Itt took the job very seriously.
John Salapatek, actor turned high school teacher, recalled going to the audition and telling them he wanted to perform a Hamlet monologue, but just spoke Itt gibberish.
“And they were laughing so hard, a couple of them were crying. Then the producer and director looked at each other and just right then, they said, ‘You’ve got the part.'”
But the real work was walking around in that wig.
The wig Salapatek wore to transform into Cousin Itt weighed over 35 pounds, and the whole costume was very hot and hard to work in. “The first day, I plowed on through, but it’s dark brown and it attracted the sun. I did two or three hours and I was ready to pass out,” he said.
The wig was a bit easier to move around in for the sequel.
“They lightened it up 5 or 10 pounds by removing the layers of the hair. It was a little bit better, a little bit easier.”
Itt wasn’t the only character whose costume was difficult.
Christopher Lloyd, who played Uncle Fester, said, “It was a lot of blending and it took some time to get it all worked out, which is fine. I’ve done a lot of roles that’ve required a lot of makeup so I didn’t mind that at all.”
And Anjelica Huston’s makeup took time and effort, too.
Paul Rudnick recalled Huston’s transformation into Morticia Addams: “The hair and makeup on Morticia are very extreme. To capture that sort of Addams essence, they did develop a certain hair and makeup and lighting technique to give her that wonderfully, unearthly glow. She was valiant because the dress was so form-fitting and the wig was very heavy.”
And Carol Kane, who replaced Judith Malina as Grandmama in the sequel, wore a pretty heavy (and hot) costume.
Her transformation included a very hot, floor-length wig: “That wig was amazing. It weighed I think 5 pounds and it was down to my feet,” she said.
Joan Cusack made the whole set laugh.
Paul Rudnick, writer for The Addams Family Values , said, “I was on set the day we were shooting that monologue and she’s talking about Malibu Barbie. People were stuffing paper cups in their mouths to stop themselves from laughing because Joan was sublime.”
Baby Pubert was originally meant to be in the comic strip.
The original comics by Charles Addams were meant to show Gomez and Morticia have a third child, named Pubert Addams. But that was cut because the name was much too provocative at the time of publication.
And, no, Amanda wasn’t killed during the Thanksgiving party.
McNab recalled how her character was implied to have been killed in that scene: “After they showed the movie to test audiences, people thought that they had killed Amanda.”
“They didn’t want kids watching the movie to think that because that obviously doesn’t really look too good for them to be out there killing off children, no matter how awful the child is.”
Don’t worry, though. A scene at the end was added to show that she was alive and well, on the plane ride home.
