Tim Burton Turned Down The Chance To Direct 1991's The Addams Family
Looking back, it's a small miracle that "The Addams Family" became the box office smash that it did when the pitch-black comedy debuted in theaters over Thanksgiving in 1991. According to a Variety interview for the film's 30th anniversary, director Barry Sonnenfeld painted a pretty grim picture for the film that got caught up in a studio change when Orion Pictures was suddenly sold to Paramount halfway through filming. "The whole second half of the shoot we were working for a studio that thought we were uncuttable and unreleasable, so things got more difficult," Sonnenfeld said. "They stopped letting us have bottled water on the set." That seems like a bizarre way for executives to cut costs. Was the water budget for "The Addams Family" really that out of control?
Of course, "The Addams Family" ended up grossing close to $200 million globally, spawning the even funnier sequel "Addams Family Values." Two highly successful animated versions, "The Addams Family" and "The Addams Family 2," kept the macabre family going strong and featured the voice talents of Oscar Issac as Gomez, Charlize Theron as Morticia, Chloë Grace Moretz as Wednesday, and Finn Wolfhard as Pugsley. The twisted branches of the Addams family tree are sure to keep root for years to come.
Sonnenfeld went on to direct "Get Shorty" and "Men in Black," but he was an untested first-time filmmaker on the set of "The Addams Family" and, apparently, he wasn't the first choice to direct.
What could have been
Not surprisingly, there was a pretty short list of directors that had the visual acumen and the weird, mad-hatter energy that "The Addams Family" needed to work as an off-center pro-family film. There's a weird, quirky sensibility that's required to give the movie its infectious charm. A childlike, imaginative take was crucial in capturing the whacky tone that "The Addams Family" desperately needed. In the early days of development, Orion Pictures had two names in mind, preferring to go with a couple of established directors that had proved they were eccentric and successful enough to re-introduce the Addams' to mainstream audiences. Sonnenfeld was the third choice, telling Variety:
"I will tell you that there were two other directors approached — Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam — and they're both really good choices. But they both turned it down, so that's how I ended up getting it. [Producer] Scott Rudin thought he wanted a visual stylist, not just a comedy director. He thought if I can't get Tim or I can't get Terry, I'll get someone with a strong visual sense."
Sonnenfeld is right. It makes perfect sense for Burton and Gilliam's names to come up. With his experience at Monty Python, Gilliam knew how to steer a unique group of players to mine comedy gold. With 1988's fantastical visual feast "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen," Gilliam had also proved he knew how to work with practical and special effects, components that "The Addams Family" would heavily rely on. Gilliam turned the opportunity down, and would go on to make "The Fisher King" and "12 Monkeys" instead.
Burton was the perfect, obvious choice to direct, but he was on a major role at the time with "Beetlejuice," "Batman," and "Edward Scissorhands." Of course, Burton has now finally gotten the opportunity to play in this particular sandbox with the new series "Wednesday," which has already become Netflix's third-most-popular English-language show ever with 752.52 million hours viewed.