 Director Barry Sonnenfeld had not originally planned to use the theme music from the television series in the movie. He included it in the opening sequence after positive reactions to the early trailer, which included the theme. #
# Production began at Orion, which owned the rights to the Filmways TV library and hence the 1960s TV series. However, during production, Orion`s financial troubles, which ultimately led to the studio`s demise and purchase by MGM, began. Paramount bought the film rights, finished the production, and even produced a sequel.
The Addamses` house was built for $100,000 (USD).
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* Writer Paul Rudnick did rewrites on the film and subsequently wrote the sequel, Addams Family Values (1993).
Uncle Fester powering a light bulb with his mouth is a reference to the original TV series, where he does the same thing.
Several scenes reference original Charles Addams illustrations, most notably the introduction sequence where the Addams family pours a cauldron of oil on the Christmas carolers, the passenger on Gomez`s toy train, the octopus painted on the footboard of Wednesday`s bed, and Pugsley with the road sign.
The house set was built on Stage 3/8, the same stage as the house set from The "The Addams Family" (1964)_ TV series. For the TV series, it was known General Service Studios and for the movie, it is now known as Hollywood Center Studios.
Bruno Kirby offered his fat suit from The Godfather: Part II (1974) to Christopher Lloyd in order to play Uncle Fester.
The auction scene in which Morticia and Gomez take turns bidding for an item they themselves donated is based on a similar scene from the episode "Morticia`s Favorite Charity" from "The Addams Family" (1964).
In the television series, Fester was Morticia`s uncle (and hence not technically an Addams), but in the films, he is Gomez`s brother and is referred to as Fester Addams.
The original director of photography, Owen Roizman, quit the production after about a month to go work on another film. His replacement, Gale Tattersall, had his contribution cut short not long afterwards when he had to quit after being rushed to hospital with a severe sinus infection. Fed up with the situation, director Barry Sonnenfeld took over the cinematography himself, reasoning that if anything happened to him then production would be shut down, so he didn`t have much to lose.
Producer Scott Rudin got the idea of making the movie after shuttling various leading executives around in a van one day. One of them spontaneously started humming the theme song of "The Addams Family" (1964), only for the rest of the van`s occupants to start the singing the lyrics. This led Scott Rudin to believe that there was sufficient residual interest and memory of the show and cartoon for him to attempt a feature film.
Anjelica Huston drew inspiration for her portrayal of Morticia Adams not from Carolyn Jones from the TV series but by watching Grey Gardens (1975), David Maysles and Albert Maysles`s documentary about two eccentric old women found living in a decaying mansion. The women, Edith Bouvier Beale (AKA "Big Edie") and Edith `Little Edie` Bouvier Beale, are, respectively, the aunt and cousin of the late `Jacqueline Kennedy (I)
The name Wednesday is a reference to the line in the Mother Goose poem that goes, "Wednesday`s child is full of woe."
Director Cameo: [Barry Sonnenfeld] the passenger on the model train that a giant Gomez looks into the window and laughs at before the two model trains crash into each other.
In the original TV series Grandmama was Gomez`s mother and her name was Eudora Addams. In the films she is Morticia`s mother and he name was changed to Esmerelda Frump (Morticia`s mother in the series was Hestor Frump).
One of the carolers in the opening sequence is Diane Burt, daughter of Alfred Burt, who wrote many famous Christmas carols.
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# Early makeup designs for Gomez included dark circles around his eyes, similar to Fester`s. This was eliminated before filming, but can still be seen on the film`s posters and other publicity material.
Cher wanted to play the role of "Morticia", but Anjelica Huston was cast instead.
Carol Kane can be seen in the background shots of some of the "Mamushka" scenes playing one of the Addams clan. She would later go on to play Grandmamam in Addams Family Values (1993).
Some additional characters shown as Addamses (relatives which had more emphasis in the original script, but less screen-time) were: Dexter and Donald Addams (the two-headed cousin in matching turtlenecks); cousin Ophelia Addams (revealed to Morticia`s sister who looks like a Tennessee Williams heroine); Slosh Addams (a great, fat, toad-like man who was revealed in the script to have "made many a killing on Wall Street"); his child-sized wife, Lois; Digit Addams (a four-armed Addams with an over-aged Heidi-look-alike, complete with thick blonde braids, as his date); and Lumpy Addams (a teenage hunchback cousin in a loud blazer).
Anthony Hopkins turned down the role of Uncle Fester.
Mercedes McNab, who plays the girl scout selling her cookies, went on to play Amanda Buckman in Addams Family Values (1993).
To make Anjelica Huston`s eyes look slanted like the original Morticia, the make-up artists had to attach stings with spirit gum to the outside corners of her eyes and anchor the stings on her head.
# As with the role of Grandmama, Uncle Fester switched sides of the family between the series and the films. In the film Fester is Gomez`s brother in the series he was Morticia`s uncle.
The scene when Morticia trims the blooms off the roses is a direct reference to the television series. Also when the Addams family are evicted from the house Morticia is carrying a plant. Though shorter, the plant is identical to `Cleopatra` Morticia`s meat eating, African strangler plant.
By the time this movie was made, all of the adult cast members from the original series had died except John Astin, who had played Gomez.
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