Soberly titled “Wednesday” in the original version, Tim Burton’s series offered on Netflix takes place in eight episodes and looks back on Wednesday’s life during his student years at Nevermore Academy. A soap opera inspired by the film “The Addams Family”, a box office success in 1991 and which will have a sequel two years later with “The values of the Addams Family”, which are themselves a cinematographic adaptation of the comic book characters created by Charles Addams and popularized by the television series of the same name in 1964.
To create a stronger bond, the American director did not hesitate to include Christina Ricci, who played the famous girl with braids on screen, alongside Jenna Ortega, the new heroine. Alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones who plays Morticia Addams, Christina Ricci plays Marilyn Thornhill, a “normal” person and educator at Nevermore. At the start of the series, she always appears smiling, like a perfect example of kindness and limitless patience… but that can’t last!
Big dark eyes, a cadaverous complexion and brown tresses… in 1991, Christina Ricci, aged just 11, played the unforgettable Wednesday on the big screen. An immediate success that will launch his career. We will find her in “Casper” in 1995 which will make the actress say: “It’s an incredible film, a childhood treasure, but I’m horrible in it.” As a teenager, she played roles under the guidance of prestigious directors such as Ang Lee, Terry Gilliam (Las Vegas Parano, 1998), Vincent Gallo (Buffalo’66) or John Waters (Pecker). She takes advantage of her “gothic” doll physique to portray young girls struggling with the supernatural, notably with “Sleepy Hollow” with Johnny Depp and signed by Tim Burton, whom she finds today. She will also make numerous appearances in TV series, such as “Ally McBeal” or “Grey’s Anatomy” in the early 2000s. In “Monster”, alongside Charlize Theron, she does not hesitate to gain nine kilos and make herself ugly to interpret her role as lesbian companion of the serial-killer. She will turn for Woody Allen in “Anything Else” or with the Wachowski brothers (at the time!) on “Speed Racer”, a blockbuster. She extends her talent by lending her voice to animated films or still filming “Bel Ami”, adapted from the short story by Guy de Maupassant with Robert Pattinson.
A discreet star who explodes in the role of Morticia
In “The Addams Family”, I ask… the mother! Anjelica Huston is and will forever be a wonderful Morticia Addams. The daughter of director John Huston and ex-wife of Jack Nicholson (1973-1989) has, at the height of her 71 years, a brilliant career as a Hollywood star. In 1985, she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in “L’honneur des Prizzi”, and went on to perform successively playing the possessive mother of John Cusack in “Les Grifters” in 1990, a performance that will earn her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, as well as the mystical Morticia Addams. Woody Allen directs her twice in “Crimes and Misdemeanors” in 1988 and “Murder Mystery in Manhattan” in 1993. Playing alongside the greatest, Clint Eastwood, Eddie Murphy, she will find herself at the head of “The Tennenbaum Family” and will integrate “The Life Aquatic” by Wes Craven with Bill Murray in 2005. Withdrawn from the big screens, she nevertheless still participates in a few television series.
Raul Julia, a great actor acclaimed by critics and the public
And what would Morticia Addams be without… Gomez! Her inseparable love with whom she shares a taste for macabre and tango. In the cinema, it was Raul Julia who perfectly embodied this handsome hidalgo with crazy charm. An actor who will be directed by the greatest like Clint Eastwood, Sydney Pollack or Roger Corman. His interpretation of the billionaire Aristotle Onassis will be unanimously welcomed. In full success after the two parts of “The Addams Family”, the actor will unfortunately die in 1994, following stomach cancer. At his death, having participated in the video game with Jean-Claude Vandamme, “Street Fighter” will be dedicated to him and he will be rewarded with a Golden Globe and a posthumous Emmy Award for his role as a Brazilian environmentalist in the television film “ The Forest of All Dangers”.
France Live