Exclusives
Christina Ricci Reflects on ‘The Addams Family’ 30 Years After Playing Wednesday Addams [Exclusive Interview]
This year marks the 30th anniversary of 1991’s The Addams Family movie, which is being released on 4K Ultra HD this month with a brand new extended version of the film.
Newly remastered and restored under the supervision of director Barry Sonnenfeld, The Addams Family will be presented in both the original theatrical version and a never-before-seen “More Mamushka!” version, which expands the film’s dance number. The Digital 4K Ultra HD, 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc, and Blu-ray releases also include a brand-new featurette looking back at the making of the film that includes behind-the-scenes footage and a new interview with Sonnenfeld, as well as an introduction to the restored cut and an archival featurette.
You can pre-order the “More Mamushka Version” on 4K Ultra HD today.
One of the standout highlights of the 1991 movie and its 1993 sequel was of course Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams, which has become one of the most iconic performances from a child actor in the history of popular culture. Speaking with Bloody Disgusting’s The Boo Crew Podcast, Ricci reflects on her Addams Family experience now 30 years later.
Specifically, she recalls the filming of the famous school play scene, which drenched both a young Christina Ricci and her co-star Jimmy Workman (Pugsley) in buckets of blood.
“That’s one of my favorite things I ever shot in my entire 30-plus-year career,” Ricci recalls. “That was my audition scene. I loved it. Nobody ever asks children to do this… I thought that in itself was super fun. And then when we got to the day, we were doing the scene… we did fencing training leading up to it. That was so fun. We had tubes running up our legs, and I had that prosthetic… and the tube of blood would come and shoot out of it. So he had a tube and arm that would just… thud, to the ground. And then the blood spurted, and the whole thing.”
Ricci continues, “It was just great. I got in trouble, actually, because at the end… we would fight like brother and sister. They called cut on the last take, and I drenched him in the blood that was coming from my neck. And he was very upset about it. He felt that I had embarrassed him in front of an entire audience of people. Yeah, I got in trouble for that.”
During the conversation with The Boo Crew, Ricci also talks about the enduring appeal of The Addams Family brand as a whole, and she hits that particular nail squarely on the head.
“I think that they really tap into our sort of most mischievous nature,” Ricci explains. “I think especially with children. Just the idea of, these people are doing things we’re not supposed to do. They’re having so much fun in life, living in a way that is wrong, or bad… but not really hurting anyone. I think that that really appeals to people. We eek out what joy we can. So to see people living in such a joyous manner, I think it’s really appealing to people. Especially when it’s not your stereotypical kind of lifestyle. It’s fun to see people happy.
“And the source of that happiness to be so macabre… I think is so freeing to people.”
So were there ever plans to make a third live-action Addams Family movie back in the 1990s? According to Ricci, she personally never heard of any plans to continue the franchise.
“I was thirteen during the last one… nobody would’ve told me,” she notes.
You can listen to The Boo Crew’s full interview with Christina Ricci below, which also touches upon Casper, Sleepy Hollow, Wes Craven’s Cursed, and new Showtime series “Yellowjackets.”
Exclusives
‘The Haunting of Pennhurst’ Exclusive Clip Trains Scare Actors For Historic Haunt in Tribeca Doc
The past and present collide in haunting, poignant ways in the genre documentary The Haunting of Pennhurst, which sees a Halloween haunt serve as a reclamation of true historic horrors.
Ahead of its world premiere at the 25th Tribeca Film Festival, we have an exclusive clip that sees scare actors in training for the Halloween season. The catch? This haunt is opening at the historic Pennhurst State School & Hospital site, a facility that caused immense harm to its disabled patients over decades of its operation.
In the documentary, “For over seventy years, Pennhurst State School & Hospital was called a place of care. What happened inside killed over half its population. It closed in 1987, leaving behind unmarked graves and an unresolved history. Today, on those same grounds, disabled performers – many living with the same conditions that once sent people to Pennhurst – put on their makeup, pull on their costumes, and prepare to scare people for a living.
“Through grit, compassion, and buckets of blood, the eclectic performers of the Pennhurst Asylum haunted attraction are wrestling with a space that is at once a lucrative business and a gravesite.”
The upcoming documentary hails from directing trio Nathan Stenberg, Mike Attie, and Katarina Poljak, who explore their socially-relevant subject through archival footage, first-hand accounts, and an immersive verité.
“Pennhurst has haunted us since we first passed through its dragon-tooth gates; the horrors of the institution echo through the site today. We are so grateful to bring this film to the Tribeca Festival, particularly the Escape from Tribeca section, which feels right for a story where past and present bleed together. We hope audiences leave unnerved and asking the same uncomfortable questions we did,” Attie, Stenberg, and Poljak said in a statement.
Watch the clip below that sees disabled and neurodivergent scare actors learning the ropes of a Halloween haunt, reclaiming the site’s grim history in the process.
Tribeca Screenings:
- Public 1 (Premiere) Screening – Friday, June 5 at 9:15PM at Village East by Angelika
- Public 2 Screening – Sunday, June 7 at 3:15PM at Village East by Angelika
- Public 3 Screening – Tuesday, June 9 at 6:15PM at Village East by Angelika