About 30 years ago, Christina Ricci portrayed Wednesday Addams in two “Addams Family” films. Now she is also part of the cast of the Netflix mega-hit “Wednesday”. Still, she hasn’t taken her successor under her wing.
With the gigantic viewing figures of “Wednesday” (now the third most successful Netflix series ever), we wouldn’t be surprised if some viewers came into contact with the quirky family of the titular teenager for the very first time via the series. The roots of the “Addams Family” actually go back to a cartoon from 1938.
And as we know, “Wednesday” is far from the first adaptation of the cult comics. The two “Addams Family” films by “Men In Black” director Barry Sonnenfeld, in which the then 11- and 13-year-old Christina Ricci embodied the role of the Addams scion Wednesday, were particularly popular in the early 1990s.
As a special homage to this, Ricci is now also part of the ensemble cast of “Wednesday” some three decades later – albeit in a completely different role, namely that of Nevermore teacher Ms. Thornhill. Given her close connection to the main character, one might assume that she was a kind of mentor to her successor Jenna Ortega in the new interpretation of the part. But that was not the case at all…
NO WORD ABOUT WEDNESDAY ON SET
Although Jenna Ortega and Christina Ricci were in front of the camera together for several scenes, and thus spent some time together, they curiously never discussed the central character they both bonded over during filming. “I didn’t ask her about it,” Ortega revealed to Entertainment Tonight. “It was strange, it was like an unspoken agreement between us. When our eyes first met, we were just like, ‘Let’s never talk about her.’ I don’t think I even said the word ‘Wednesday’ in front of her at the time. “
On Ortega’s part, this was partly because she felt a little intimidated by the idea of portraying Wednesday Addams in front of Ricci, of all people, not least because the new Wednesday is also based on Ricci’s portrayal of the character at the time, for which Ortega has the greatest respect.
After all the pressure of filming and reinterpreting the cult character fell off her, Jenna Ortega and Christina Ricci later had the opportunity to share their respective Wednesday experiences with each other, as Ortega told E! News. In the process, the two were relieved to discover that they had to overcome very similar hurdles when playing the role, which, however, would have made the work all the more exciting. So in the end, Ortega’s excitement was all for nothing, though all too understandable.
