The Wednesday Cast Bonded During Filming By Making And Screening Their Own Short Films
Cartoonist Charles Addams first brought "The Addams Family" to life in the pages of The New Yorker back in 1938 (via The New York Times), but over the years several adaptations of the comic strip have been produced with varying degrees of success. The most successful and popular incarnation of "The Addams Family," with both fans and critics, is the television series that aired for two seasons in the mid-1960s, according to Rotten Tomatoes. Now the streaming series "Wednesday" is ready for its shot at bringing a fresh and nostalgic take to the source material on Netflix.
Helmed by "Smallville" creators Miles Millar and Alfred Gough, "Wednesday" follows the adventures of the titular character who is now portrayed by Jenna Ortega. Ortega takes on the mantle carried by Christina Ricci who played the diabolic daughter in the 1991 film and its sequel, "Addams Family Values," and Ortega is thrilled to have Ricci onboard portraying Marilyn Thornhill. "She's a sweetheart," Ortega said about Ricci during an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
All the classic, fan favorites from the movies and TV show are present and accounted for, including Gomez (Luis Guzmán), Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones), and Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen), but the Netflix series introduces a slew of new characters for Wednesday Addams to loathe and terrorize at Nevermore Academy. But did you know that Ortega and her castmates connected while producing and screening their own mini-amateur movies?
Wednesday's cast bonded over making short films
While filming abroad in Bucharest, Romania, the cast of "Wednesday" got to know each other and bonded through a shared interest in filmmaking. Everyone spent their downtime producing amateur, short films. Actor Percy Hynes White, who portrays a new member joining the "Addams Family" mythology, Xavier Thorpe, reminisced about his own attempt titled, "One Gun." "We filmed it in the basement of our hotel," White said during an interview at the "Wednesday" streaming premiere, according to Netflix Tudum. "We used buckets of fake blood and these ridiculous accents. Then we had a premiere at our little fake film festival."
White has been acting since he was six years old (via IMDb), and the young thespian was astounded by the connection he forged with the "Wednesday" cast. "What surprised me the most was how much I got along with everybody on the set," White said during the same interview. "I made actual friends, which is very rare when you work on a movie or a show. It's rare to continue relationships with people afterward."
Showrunner Alfred Gough provided some insight into White's new character prior to the premiere. Gough described him as a "mysterious boy" who Wednesday (Ortega) can't quite figure out (via Netflix Tudum). "Nothing less shadowy would interest Wednesday," Gough explained in the same interview. Thorpe and a number of newbies join the "Addams Family" universe in "Wednesday," and critics are giving the latest iteration of the source material a Fresh rating, according to Rotten Tomatoes.