Random Dark And Morbidly Funny Behind-The-Scenes Stories From The '90s 'Addams Family' Films (14 items)

(#3) Anjelica Huston's Costume Required A Metal Corset

Anjelica Huston made Morticia equally cold and motherly, but her recognizably slender frame was hard to create. To get the Morticia look, Huston wore a metal corset, had her chin tucked, and temporarily lifted her eyes with gauze.
The physical demands put her through the wringer. “The eye lifts got tighter and tighter, and the temples started to throb,” she claimed. "It could leave you more wasted than having a very emotional day on the set."
(#13) Mercedes McNab Appeared In Both Films - But As Different Characters

If you pay close attention, you may notice Mercedes McNab appears in both The Addams Family and its sequel - as different characters. In the first film, she's a Girl Scout who inquires about whether or not Wednesday and Pugsley's lemonade comes from real lemons. In turn, Wednesday asks if her cookies come from real Girl Scouts.
In the sequel, McNab returned to play Amanda Buckman, the enthusiastic camp kid Wednesday takes down in a Thanksgiving play.
Even though it looks like a natural progression on screen, McNab had to audition for the second role. She explained, "Obviously, they remembered me from the first movie and loved that scene, but it wasn't as though the part had been written as a continuation of that character. So I had to fight to get the job again."
(#11) 'Addams Family Values' Almost Got Its Own Michael Jackson Tune

The production team booked Michael Jackson to make the theme song for Addams Family Values. In the music video for the song, Jackson's neighbors chase him from his home in the Addams family mansion with pitchforks. The whole project imploded, though, when the singer encountered legal issues. MC Hammer released a song for the film instead.
Even though producers cut ties with Jackson, they left a joke in the movie at his expense. Writer Paul Rudnick explained:
“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. Joel starts screaming uncontrollably and then the camera cuts to a poster of Michael Jackson on the wall, which was a good joke when we began and then, after the scandal, it became an enormous laugh. It was just so in the air at the time.”
(#7) Animating Thing Was Incredibly Difficult

Christopher Hart, the actor/magician who played Thing in both Addams Family films, got into some weird situations to portray a living hand. To get the correct posture for the character, he had to lay face down on a dolly, wearing a black leotard, while crew members pushed him around set. Hart was digitally edited out later.

More complex effects required the use of stop-motion animation - a time-consuming process. Consequently, a 10-second scene where Thing jumps between lily pads took eight hours to film.
(#4) The Original Production Studio Went Bankrupt

Figuring out who owned the rights to the movies proved challenging. Orion Pictures started The Addams Family, but the studio went bankrupt in the middle of production. Instead of waiting out the huge financial windfall from Barry Sonnenfeld's movie, the heads of the studio were forced to act out of self-preservation.

Paramount stepped in and bankrolled the rest of the picture, which eventually made almost $200 million worldwide.
(#14) Partway Through The 'Addams Family' Shoot, Barry Sonnenfeld Had To Pull Double Duty As Director And Cinematographer

In most cases, movie directors control the overall film set, but they leave the technical aspects of capturing images to a cinematographer. But Barry Sonnenfeld handled some of those duties on The Addams Family himself after Owen Roizman, the credited director of photography, left early to work on another project.
Gale Tattersall briefly assumed the role, but medical situations rendered him unavailable.
It makes sense, of course, that Sonnenfeld was able to easily slide into the cinematographer's chair. Prior to his still-burgeoning directorial career, he had been one of the most successful cinematographers in the business, having shot each of the Coen Brothers' first three films, as well as Misery, When Harry Met Sally…, and Big.