'Addams Family' director Barry Sonnenfeld explains how Christina Ricci saved the film

[TMC]

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/...173222029.html

The plot of The Addams Family, which was written by Caroline Thompson and Larry Wilson, and then extensively re-written by Paul Rudnick, hinges on whether or not Christopher Lloyd's Uncle Fester really is the long-missing brother of Gomez Addams (Raul Julia) or an imposter after the family fortune. According to Sonnenfeld, the original ending went with the latter answer, which infuriated Julia as well as his on-screen spouse, Anjelica Huston, who played Gomez's reigning Goth Queen, Morticia. "They were outraged," Sonnenfeld says. "They wanted Fester to really be Fester."

During that contentious table read, the director tried to make the case for his intended ending. "Gomez says in the original script, 'Family is a state of mind, not biology — so welcome to our family,'" Sonnenfeld notes about what the take-away message would have been. He even asked Lloyd directly which identity he preferred. "I said, 'Chris, do you care if you're the real Fester or a fake Fester?" And he replied, 'I don't care.' So I told the rest of the cast: 'Chris doesn't care. Why do you care?'"

At that point, Huston nudged Ricci to deliver the ensemble's closing argument. "Anjelica said, 'Barry, just listen to Christina.' And Christina explained to me how the audience would be left emotionally adrift if it wasn't the real Fester. Does that mean the real Fester is still out there? And how could Gomez just give up his search for his brother after all these years just because this imposter came into their family?"

Confronted with Ricci's youthful wisdom, Sonnenfeld and Rudnick immediately went back to the typewriter and Uncle Fester was Uncle Fester again by the time shooting started. "Christina convinced us," the director says, chuckling. "We knew right away that she's a formidable intellectual and a very smart actress." Don't forget "box-office savvy," too.

[CanICallYouDad]

Just shows ya that a 10 year old is as good as it gets in that town

[TMC]

This reminds me that it's almost now, been 30 years to the day (October 24, 1994) since Raul Julia passed away.

The Addams Family Cast Members Reunite 33 Years After First Film

The surviving main cast members of The Addams Family have reunited over three decades after co-starring in the original film.

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