How The Fourth Production Designer Found Gothic Castle Addams Family Vibe – The Hollywood Reporter

To revive the Addams Family for Tim Burton, production designer Mark Scruton’s brief was clear. “We’re not trying to copy anything else — it’s not a sequel, it’s not a reinvention, it’s something new,” he said. Scruton has returned to cartoonist Charles Addams source material to evoke the world of Wednesday and, with Burton and an illustrator, begins by sketching dull Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) and the room Enid’s (Emma Myers) funky dorm, which sets the tone for everything else.

“It’s the micro of everything. the difference between [boarding school] Nevermore and [the small town] Jericho is like between Enid and Wednesday,” explains Scruton. “Window grew out of a desire to create a strong graphical connection with the fact that the two are complete opposites. I want half stained glass and half completely monochrome. But we had to go back to that and say, ‘Enid did all the coloring himself, so Wednesday could shave it all off and then it would cause even more tension between them.’ You get this great literal split in the middle, which works very well in the show.

That’s when things got complicated, when their plan to shoot the Netflix series in Toronto fell through and the scene Scruton imagined was cancelled. “[Toronto] basically inconsistent. We had to find another place that could give us more space,” he said. Step into Romania, which has become the home of quaint Nevermore Academy, the fun amusement park Pilgrim World and the quintessential American small town Jericho, to name a few of Scruton’s creations. “In 15 weeks, we went from a swampy bushland to the town of Jericho as you see on the show,” says Scruton. “There is a large farmer’s field next to the set that we can rent by the strip. We could say, ‘We’re going to have 30 of these,’ and build from scratch.

The castle used as Nevermore was chosen for its Gothic Revival quality. “It has an Addams Family vibe,” says Scruton. “Tim is not a big fan of color. I know, who would think? But this castle is made of fine gray stone and has a heavy feel to it. It was perfect for us.” While the turret and facade existed in real life and decorated for the show, the rest of the exterior was CGI magic. “Once we found a new location, we went back to bring the design details to fit the castle. The entire front balcony was redesigned, and we removed the bricks and the details from the real castle so it all ties together.”

Knowing he was just as strong as the team he assembled, Scruton commended the Romanian team for bringing game A to them. “[We] really found people who want to show what Romania can do and make it work,” he said. “Those who have left the industry have returned to work on this program. Sculptors and plasterers, they were once part of the film industry and left because there wasn’t enough film industry to support so many. After all, we weren’t rich at the right time and we wouldn’t have made it without them.”

This story first appeared in the December independent issue of The Hollywood Reporter. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.