Household pets come in many different forms these days, but cats and dogs rank among the most popular. There are so many reasons why people might choose to have these pets, and companionship is important. Studies suggest that humans have kept pets for a long while, and it is believed that in the Bronze Age we used to keep an unlikely creature as a pet – the fox!

A Discovery Of Foxes

It might seem unlikely, given the current attitude we have toward foxes, but it seems this wasn’t always the case. Archaeologists digging in the Iberian Peninsula discovered the remains of 32 dogs, 19 hoofed creatures, a wolf, and four foxes amongst human burials. This is evidence of the funeral practice of burying domestic pets, that came to prominence during the Bronze Age, and shows that foxes may have been kept as household pets!

Assessing The Diets

As we know, pets need to be fed and nurtured, but back in those days you couldn’t walk into a Walmart and buy pet food over the counter! Back in those times, pets usually had a diet that was consistent with leftovers from their owners. Assessing the diets of the animals and their owners in this investigation, scientists determined that dogs had a diet very similar to their human owners, while at least one of the foxes had a diet rich in cereals.

Man’s Best Friend

It seems that the diets and the skeleton of these foxes points to the fact that they were domestic pets. However, this could be down to the fact that back in those days, people would keep animals of all kinds as pets. Of course, as the world evolved, and civilizations grew and developed, we changed the sort of pets we have. Dogs emerged as the pet of choice, and foxes became the wild, untamed creatures they are today.

Dogs needn’t worry. Foxes might have been close to level pegging with dogs back in the Bronze Age, but these days there is only one winner when it comes to household pets, and that’s everyone’s favorite four-legged pal!

If you have seen The Addams Family Values, then you will never forget Grandma Addams. She was a welcome addition to The Addams Family Values.

The funny part is that the groovy granny was younger than Huston. Ironically, although the team welcomed her for the sequel, she was never considered. She met Kane for a casual chat when Sonnenfeld directly offered the role to her; and, the best part is, she didn’t have to audition for it.

The Addams Family franchise even took a legal route when it came to the credits. Like many other major franchises, there were many issues about some of the characters in the film. Initially, the rights of the franchise were under the hands of David Levy.

However, he sold it to Paramount for $50 million. The legal route that Levy took cost the studio a bomb and resulted in an out-of-court settlement.

You can never forget the hairy but cute character of Cousin Itt, played by John Franklin. It turns out that he had a tough time on the set, considering that he had to wear the wig on the set to play the role.

Not only did he feel hot inside the costume, but it also weighed so much that he had to put on a hoop skirt and neck brace.

The Addams Family was known to be one of the wackiest and weirdest films with out-of-the-world characters. Well, we have to thank the Hooper twins for doing their bit in the role. We all can agree that the character of baby Pubert was adorable in every way.

The glowing cheeks, blond ringlets, and extra cute looks all contributed to the extra cuteness. Who would have thought that Pubert the adorable baby boy was actually played by twin girls?

Debbie Jellinsky played the role of the Nanny in The Addams Family Values. We all remember how she tried to zap The Addams Family but, in turn, was fried herself by none other than baby Pubert.

Her character was indeed loved by many and became a cult classic, and even after she passed away, no one could take on the role the way she did.

The production team added an extra scene in The Addams Family Values to show that Amanda and her family made it out alive. The violent comedy of The Addams Family franchise was, in fact, one of the main reasons why many people loved the movie.

No doubt, some may still scratch their heads while watching the film, but the movie did create the impact it intended to at the end.

Sometimes a scene does not come out the way you expect it to be. The same thing happened during Amanda’s drowning scene. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the makers did want to make it a little glamorous.

However, it ended up being more than what they bargained for. Also fun fact the water was so cold that the crew had to come up with a way to warm the freezing water of the lake for that one shot.

While we all remember every actor who starred in The Addams Family franchise, not many people know that the franchise’s original cast is still alive.

John Astin, who played the original Gomez Addams, survived to see the remade version of the movie. Along with him, you also have Felix Silla (Cousin Itt) and Lisa Loring (Wednesday) are alive, even today.

Cynthia Nixon is known for her acting in Sex and the City and Seven Wishes of a Rich Kid. Nixon also did a cameo in The Addams Family Values, where she played a hippy Nanny – Heather, who was trying to show her love for the environment, and in the typical Addams style, the children declared that they would rather burn the forest down than save it.

Although it was a small role, she did justice to her part and even successfully escaped the haunted house’s horrors and pranks played by the kids

We all have heard stories where many felt that movies had been cursed due to certain unavoidable situations. Many believe that even the production team of The Addams Family franchise had their own share of mishaps.

From constant rewrites to budget concerns and even people quitting in between the movie’s production. The Addams Family franchise has its curse as a series of bad events and incidents played havoc until the movie’s completion.

Christian, who played the character of Wednesday, had to do a kissing scene with her onscreen boyfriend, played by Krumholtz. It turned out that although it looked funny and cute with two little kids trying to understand the nuances involved, the reality was that for both of them, it was the first time kissing ever.

Krumholtz even admitted that he was so nervous and self-conscious after that, but then at least he will never forget his first kiss ever.

The one thing that we can be sure of is that The Addams Family franchise did not have any boundaries or limitations.

When you look at the entire series, the electric chairs, elaborate pranks, throwing the baby off the roof, and whatnot, there was never a dull moment. No doubt, this is one of the most memorable franchises that proves that boundaries can be non-existent.

In 1991, Raúl Juliá was diagnosed with a terminal illness and passed away at the age of 54. His passing was a significant loss to the industry and even ended the franchise era.

The Addams Family Values was one of his last movies, and no one could imagine anybody else bringing in the same chemistry and magic between Morticia and Gomez. However, in the rebooted series The Addams Family Reunion Tim Curry played the role of Gomez.

Christopher Lloyd’s biggest concern was if he would do justice to the role. He was willing to walk to any mile so that he could do his part well. When he got a call from Rudin and Sonnenfeld one day, he went utterly white, thinking that they were planning to replace him.

It turned out that there was something even better in-store. The team decided to take out the option of using prosthetics.

With movies like The Addams Family, makeup and wardrobe play a significant role. Given how different and edgy the characters look in the movie, one can only imagine the efforts that went behind the scenes.

Every character in the film had a tough time as they had to spend hours putting on and taking out their makeup and costumes. It took close to three hours for Lloyd’s makeup to complete. Even Morticia’s hair and makeup took a very long time, but in the end, the hard work paid off.

David Krumholtz revealed that there were times when frustration crept up in the middle of the shoot. In one outdoor scene, he was supposed to shoot using a bow and arrow.

He had a very tough time while doing this scene, especially since the camera was rolling. It got so bad that he literally threw the bow and arrow and walked away. It turned out that everyone actually loved the shot.

One of the most prominent things about the Addams Family Franchise, apart from the twisted story, is the backdrop. No one understood the reason behind the mid-summer Thanksgiving or the funny timing of other elements.

What stood out in this entire ordeal was the fact that it was fun to watch. The crafty dance moves even became the talk of the town and gained their fan following.

No matter which film you take, bloopers happen everywhere. During the shoot of The Addams Family franchise, the crew and actors had their own set of fun.

However, Barry Sonnenfeld managed to get the entire cast cracking up when he got Joan Cusack to do a scene that had everyone stuffing their mouths with paper cups. The way Joan did it was so epic that even Rudnick acknowledged how much fun they had.

We all remember the Thanksgiving play that had the audience wondering if Wednesday had vanquished Amanda or not. Although no one questioned why the play was during the midsummer, what people remember is that it took around two weeks to complete the shoot.

The children were dressed in pumpkin pie and turkey costumes to make it even challenging, which gave the cast and crew a new set of challenges that extended the shooting to two weeks.

The idea of creating The Addams Family was a happy accident for the director – it all started with a song. The Addams Family theme song was hummed by none other than Tom Sharak, the marketing chief’s son. Within no time, everybody joined in and started humming the tune in and around the van.

Based on this tune, Barry Diller and Scott Rudin met and decided to work on the project, which is popularly known as The Addams Family. The production team spent close to $30 million.

It is not a new concept when directors make cameos in their work. From Brooks to Hitchcock and even Tarantino, we have seen directors making a special appearance.

Sonnenfeld also did his part when he played a small role in the film through his character Mr. Glicker, the nerdy father to the famous movie nerd Joel. He enjoyed doing it and felt that it was a unique experience and did bring the character alive.

Mercedes McNab played the cute girl scout in The Addams Family franchise. It turned out that she had to audition for her role on two different occasions.

In the first movie, she played the role of the Girl Scout, while in Values, she played the role of Amanda Buckman. Honestly, the way she played her part took the cake, considering how well she pulled it off both times.

Many people thought that The Addams Family is directed by Tim Burton because of the style of the direction. The fact is that Barry Sonnenfeld made his directorial debut with the movie.

The studio did take a considerable risk by making Sonnenfeld direct it, but in the end, it worked to his benefit. Not only did it become a hit, but it was also one of the most successful films directed by Barry Sonnenfeld.

Coincidentally, Christopher Lloyd’s dream turned into a reality when he was offered the role of Fester. He was already a fan of the character and grew up watching the cartoons.

It is a different thing to be a fan of a particular character, but when you get an opportunity to play that role. Well, that just takes your happiness to a new dimension. Goes without saying that Lloyd did 100% justice to the role – right from taking up the getup to his acting.

The movie’s final scene was shot in the Addams cemetery when Wednesday and Joel visited Debbie’s grave. It turned out that the two took a long time to perfect the scream we all heard.

The actors had to keep on working on that scene until the crew felt it was good enough, and even months after the team finished producing the movie, they were still working on just the scream part of the particular scene.

Although she was just 11 years old, Winona Ryder’s acting did touch the hearts of many through her performance in Beetlejuice. Well, coincidentally, Christian Ricci’s inspiration was none other than Winona Ryder herself.

The characters had many similarities, so when Ricci decided to audition for the role, her mother told her to remember Ryder’s role in Beetlejuice. It turns out that the two share a strong friendship even today.

Many thought that Kim Basinger was also part of the list for the role of Morticia Addams. However, luck had other plans, and Anjelica Huston played the role.

In fact, during an interview, Rudin even confirmed that the team never even planned to consider anybody else. No doubt, some do feel that Cher was made for this character, and she even had the talent to pull it off well.

It was not just the makeup, but sometimes even the costumes took up a lot of toll on characters. Costumes can weigh a ton depending on the need of the character.

However, who would have thought that a wig would agonize over the person who wears it. John Salapatek revealed that he not only got the part through a hilarious audition but had to wear a wig that weighed more than 35 pounds while playing the role of Cousin Itt.

Not many people know that King of Pop – Michael Jackson also did a soundtrack inspired by The Addams Family. The song “It Is Scary” was in the memory of The Addams Family Values movie. He had even done a video.

However, things took an awkward turn when Jackson started his own melodrama. Well, if not on The Addams Family, the song ultimately did become a part of the album Blood on the Dance Floor: History in the Mix.

The transformation to Uncle Fester from Back to the Future’s Doc Brown had fans scratching their heads. The long trench coat, dark rings around the eyes, and pale skin were significant attributes that made up the character.

Bruno Kirby wore a fat suit while acting in The Godfather Part II. he loaned that suit to Lloyd who wore that suit to play the role of Uncle Fester.