Behind The Scenes

Chapter 1

This is a little different, as it's (naturally still purely fictitious) but written about the great actors behind Morticia and Gomez's movie iterations, Anjelica and Raúl. A sort of 'they fell in love behind the scenes' thing, so if this is not to your liking, please don't read on. What can I say, their chemistry on screen was legendary and it gets me thinking! I have of course taken some liberties with the facts around the filming etc., but as this is all fiction anyway, anything goes!

It had been an awfully long day. Take after take of some of the most physically gruelling scenes in the whole Addams Family movie, and by the end, Raúl's ardour had been wearing thin. Sonnenfeld, the director, had eventually called time for the day, and bade his cast and crew to retire for the night, particularly as there had been rumours of an impending storm to come, and all were to return again bright and early the next morning. As the mansion in which they shot the majority of the interior scenes was so isolated – a good hundred miles of dark wood, sharp ravines and treacherous dirt roads lay in every direction – all involved were spending the next three weeks in caravans and trailers in the grounds, and tensions were running high. They had already been filming for four weeks by this point, and cast and crew alike were desperate for some respite, to return to their families and regular lives. Such was life on set.

Raúl was, for want of a better word, exhausted. Physically, something just didn't feel quite right of late, and he had found that challenges he had taken up with ease in his youth were becoming ever more taxing. He had shaken off his friends' concerns, stating quite forcefully that it was merely a part of ageing, and not to bother him further. This gloomy evening, Raúl consoled his bad mood and fractious temper – something else he put down to the ageing process, alongside the occupational hazard that came with being a hot-blooded Puerto Rican, particularly one who dedicated his life to the arts. Drama and melancholy came easy to him, and he was too set in his ways to change.

It was true that on set, his training came to the fore, his fits of pique were reserved mainly for his evenings alone, and he was a delight to everyone he came across. The children who were playing the Addams' offspring were wise beyond their years, and he was terribly fond of them both. Many of the crew murmured amongst themselves about how it was rare treat to come across such a down-to-Earth actor in this industry.

And then there was his enchanting co-star, the Morticia to his Gomez. Anjelica. Such an apt name for such a heavenly creature. It had been many years since Raúl had worked with such a personable actress. In their game, it was too easy for egos to inflate, and on-screen love affairs to translate to dire fallings-out behind the scenes. But Raúl genuinely enjoyed Anjelica's company. He delighted in watching her break into smiles and laughter the second Sonnenfeld yelled 'cut', and her straight-faced Morticia gave way to infectious giggles and the odd curse word, after a surreptitious glance to see that Christina and Jimmy were not in ear shot. In short, she made the experience bearable, and – dare he say it – pleasurable. Their conversation between takes was easy and unforced, and it did not hurt, of course, that she was an incredibly alluring woman. In his work life, Raúl was usually nothing but professional. But he had confessed to friends that he had purposely asked for more retakes of some of the more intensely romantic scenes between Gomez and Morticia than perhaps were required.

None of this helped his mood this evening though. Raúl sat slumped in his leather easy chair, nursing a scotch and watching a particularly intense storm playing outside the windows, the night sky lit by sheet lightning every few minutes, and the rain thundering down upon the tented roof of his temporary home was quite hypnotic. Having spent many of his formative years in his native Puerto Rico, Raúl had experienced his fair share of tropical storms, and found them almost comforting in their savagery. He was sharply roused from his reverie by a knock at the door; a noise he only heard by chance as it came in a break in the thunder. Frowning, he laid his drink aside and switched on the antique table lamp by his side before rising to answer the call.