The Addams Family Director Used A Cruel Tactic To Make Kids Cry On Camera
In one of Charles Addams' original Addams Family comic strips for the New Yorker, we see Gomez, the family patriarch, perched by a large window in his sepulchral home, looking out the window. His children and wife are standing near him. Outside the window, an apocalyptic storm is raging. A tree has been stripped of its leaves and a home across the street appears to be blowing over. "Just the kind of day that makes you feel good to be alive!" Gomez comments.
Barry Sonnenfeld's 1991 film version of "The Addams Family" captures that outsider spirit. This iteration of the Addams Family values the gloom that most people eschew, presenting Gomez (Raul Julia) and Morticia (Anjelica Houston) as horny, enthused monsters who you kind of fall in love with.
The plot of the movie is somewhat plain: a scheming a-hole finds someone who looks exactly like the long-lost Fester Addams (Christopher Lloyd) and uses him to infiltrate the Addams mansion and pull a scam to wrest control of their massive, valuable estate from them. Kicked out of their haunted house, the Addams have to move into a dull motel and — shudder — find real-world jobs. Morticia, chillingly, becomes a kindergarten teacher. When she reads "Hansel & Gretel" to her classroom, she is horrified when the witch is shoved into the oven to burn to death. "Boys and girls," she asks, "what do you think that feels like?" The children all cry.
In a 2020 oral history of "The Addams Family" published by Entertainment Weekley, Sonnenfeld recalled the crying scene with clarity. Stressed out and facing a time crunch, the director was ordered to get real tears from his five-year-old actors ... and he had to be a little mean to do it.
Barry Sonnenfeld and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day
Sonnenfeld's mind wasn't focused on filmmaking on the day in question. His wife Susan Ringo, whom he called Sweetie, had been admitted to the hospital for some exploratory surgery, and Sonnenfeld had convinced himself that she was about to receive a cancer diagnosis. Ringo would eventually emerge from surgery with no cancer whatsoever, but Sonnenfeld was worried sick. He recalled:
"Several times while filming, I feared Sweetie was dying, and this was one of them. The doctors were going to operate the next morning to see if she had cancer or was totally fine. I was booked on the redeye that night, scheduled to get to NYC the next morning during her surgery."
Scott Rudin, the film's producer, was understanding and allowed Sonnenfeld to take a day off to be with his wife. But Rudin was also aware of what needed to be finished to keep production of "The Addams Family" on schedule. "The good Rudin had somehow convinced the studio we needed to shut down on Friday so I could be in New York for my wife's surgery," Sonnenfeld said. "The bad Rudin almost made me miss the plane." It seems that Rudin required Sonnenfeld to shoot the kindergarten scene with Morticia before he would be allowed to leave for the day.
Houston read her lines about the witch burning up. At first, Sonnenfeld directed his kid actors to merely look sad and worried, got a few appropriate shots, and immediately headed for the door, saying, "We got this." Rudin informed him that, in fact, "You don't have this. Those kids have to cry." Rudin said it would take 15 minutes to get to the airport, and that Sonnenfeld needed to stay and elicit real tears.
You all need shots
Rudin was quoted as saying: "Whatever it takes, Barry. Those kids have to cry. You're the director. Go direct."
Well, shoot. Sonnenfeld had to make something up fast. He continued:
"Just roll the damn camera, I thought. [I said], 'Okay, kids. You guys did great. We're done filming, and all we have to do now, so stay where you're sitting, is to give you your measles vaccination.'"
One of the kids comforted his fellow young actors, saying that Sonnenfeld was just kidding and that they wouldn't be getting measles shots. This comfort was, of course, counter to the reaction Sonnenfeld wanted. So, he doubled down:
"'No. No. Didn't your parents tell you? It's a rule. Whenever you work on a movie set you have to get a measles shot. It's a rule. I'm surprised your parents didn't mention it.' Man, this was a horrible, horrible thing I was doing. [...] And then, [an] adorable smartass curly blonde haired kid crumples up his face, and then ... starts to cry. To bawl. Which makes all the other adorable blonde haired kids start to cry, since he was their de facto leader. Every child in the classroom is sobbing. I see the camera teams panning from one kid to the next. I know we have the shot."
Sonnenfeld also recalled having to bolt from the set, recognizing that the kid actors' parents were furious. One dad, he said, even chased him to his car, screaming and banging his hands on the hood in a moment right out of "Midnight Cowboy." And Sonnenfeld certainly didn't feel proud that he made a room of children cry.
Sonnenfeld made it to the hospital on time. As mentioned, Ringo went through surgery with no problems, and she and Sonnenfeld are married to this day.