Turns out the ever popular 1991 movie was filled with an abundance of behind the scenes secrets

Wednesday Addams

Well it’s official, we have now entered into full spooky season and with that we find ourselves keeping cosy on the autumn nights and watching comfort films.

The Addams Family has always been a favourite for so many of us and with The Addams Family 2, the latest instalment in the animated series, being released in the UK this Friday, the spooky yet loveable tribe are firmly back on our pop culture radars.

With a snappy theme tune and kooky characters to boot, The Addams Family originally came to life as a series of cartoons in The New Yorker by Charles Addams in 1938.

In the 1960s that the gang first burst on to our screens starring in a TV sitcom before returning as a Saturday morning cartoon in the 1970s.

It was the 1991 movie, The Addams Family, that saw the pale and interesting bunch make the leap on to the big screen as we joined Morticia, Gomez, Uncle Fester, Wednesday, Pugsley, and Lurch.

Part of The Addams Family in all their spooky glory
Widely regarded as an absolute classic – and followed by an arguably better sequel in Addams Family Values – let us take you on a journey with some behind the scenes facts of the 90s flicks which brought us the iconic and ever quotable “Wednesday’s at that very special age where she’s only got one thing on her mind” “Boys?” “Homicide.”

1. The application of Anjelica Huston’s makeup took three hours minimum. It wouldn’t be uncommon for Huston or the other cast members to arrive at the makeup chair at 4am each morning of filming.

2. The makeup team used to hoist Huston’s eyes upwards and secure them with glue and string.

3. This practice would often leave her with headaches, only worsened by the fact that she was unable to lie down and rest due to the painful metal corset she had to wear to achieve Morticia’s iconic waist.

4. The wig for Cousin Itt was accompanied by a full time ‘wrangler’ who would keep it in check and stop it getting tangled.

5. The very same wig weighed an astonishing 35lbs.

6. Sorry cinephiles, The Addams mansion depicted in the movie was not a real house, rather a façade built by the crew in an abandoned dump in California.

7. Christopher Hart who played Thing, the disembodied hand, had to shoot his scenes over a four month period as they would have the shoot every scene twice. The first with Hart wheeled on a cart so his hand would appear to be running around and the second without him. Hart’s body save for his hand then had to be edited out of each frame.

8. Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, and David Lynch were all invited to direct the movies, and they all declined. So, Barry Sonnenfeld became the director having previously worked as director of photography for the Coen brothers.

A scene from the sequel to the 1991 movie, ‘Addams Family Values’, 1993 (Image: 2013 Getty Images)
9. Both Danny DeVito and Bob Hoskins turned down the role of Uncle Fester.

10. Cher wanted to play the character of Morticia, but the producer, Scott Rudin, always had Anjelica Huston in mind for the part.

11. MC Hammer actually wrote an award-winning song for the movie. The “Addams Groove” music video played before the film during its first few weeks after release in to cinemas. This would result in being MC Hammer’s last placing on the top 10 of the Billboard singles charts in the US.