Tim Burton Refused To Change This Song From Wednesday
Champion of the disenfranchised and lover of the gothic, there seemed no person better to spearhead an Addams Family revival than Tim Burton. The inventive mind behind "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and the first two "Batman" films has a flair for the macabre, which was only an asset to Netflix's hit series, "Wednesday." Titular character Wednesday's (Jenna Ortega) hunt for Tyler's (Hunter Doohan) monstrous Hyde that haunts Nevermore Academy is a dark mystery, one that was not only reflected in the story but in editing as well.
"I tried to think about how Wednesday would cut the show — the way she delivers dialogue is very sharp, it's very precise, and I tried to mirror that in the editing of the show as well," editor Jay Prychidny told SyFy Wire. These decisions were precise, right down to the music. Everyone remembers Wednesday's iconic Rave'N dance scene, which notably featured The Cramps' garage-punk classic "Goo Goo Muck," but the more subtle music choices on "Wednesday" are just as important.
"At the end of Episode 3, there's this cello cover by Metallica," Prychidny said, referring to Apocalyptica's cover of "Nothing Else Matters" and its use on the Netflix show. "I was just looking on YouTube for different cello covers of pop songs, and I found that one, and I put it in, and I cut the sequence to that piece of music." Once it was in, any mention of hanging the music fell on deaf ears. As far as Burton was concerned, it was perfect.
The power of Metallica is too strong
Needle drops have long been a television trend, and no one knows this better than Metallica. The metal legends were once careful about who they licensed their music to, holding on tight to their well-known tracks. In recent years, they have come around on this, giving their rights to Netflix's flagship show. Metallica allowed "Stranger Things" to use the 1986 song "Master of Puppets" in Eddie Munson's (Joseph Quinn) heroic rendition of the song in the Upside Down. Fanning the flames of love for the band's music, "Wednesday" was next on the docket to use one of the band's songs. After Tim Burton saw Jay Prychidny's cut of the episode with the music included, there was nothing that would make the director change it. Not even the band itself.
"Tim just loved it and would not hear of changing it," Prychidny mused. "I thought maybe Danny Elfman would write something like an original cello piece for Wednesday. But when that piece was in, Tim was just completely behind it — at one point, even the band wanted to change to a different orchestration of it. And he was like, 'No, no, it must be the original!'" To Burton's credit, the arrangement is a haunting piece of music perfect for the "Wednesday" aesthetic. Tying together all the suspects of the central mystery in a musical montage, the song is a foreboding coda for the episode.