Tim Burton is returning to the world of stop-motion. The stop-mo remake of his 1984 short "Frankenweenie" is still down with Disney for a 2011 release (we'll see), but that's not what I'm talking about.
Today's news, via Deadline Hollywood, is that Burton's next stop-mo project -- which will also be in 3-D -- will be an adaptation of "The Addams Family." He's looking back though, past the two Barry Sonnenfeld-directed movies, the cartoon show, the video games, even the 1960s TV series. Burton will instead draw his inspiration from the original Charles Addams illustrations, which appeared in The New Yorker as single panel cartoons between 1938 and 1988, when Addams passed away.
Burton's plan to use the original illustrations as his inspiration means that fans of the TV series and more recent movies can expect a number of departures from the established fiction. Addams patriarch Gomez, played in the movies by Raul Julia to mirror the dashing young man played on TV by Josh Astin, was depicted in the original cartoons as short and plump.
Perhaps an even bigger change we'll possible see involves Thing. The lovable disembodied hand was never actually pictured in the comic strip; rather, it was referenced once on a sign outside the family mansion which read "Beware of the Thing." When Addams was developing the TV series, he came up with the idea of Thing being a disembodied head that rolled through the house. Ultimately, it was decided that a hand would play better.
All we really know right now, based on Deadline's unsourced (but presumably reliable) report, is that Burton is working on an adaptation of the Charles Addams comic strip as a 3-D, stop-motion effort. MTV has reached out to the director's representation for comment, so hopefully we'll be able to bring you more soon. For now, share your thoughts with us on on Twitter or in the comments section below.
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