Okay… so a lot of fans are rolling their eyes at Bryan Fuller’s dramatic reimagining of the classic monster comedy show ‘The Munsters’. Redubbed ‘Mockingbird Lane’, the new show is expected to be a more serious take (or at least as serious as a family of vampires, walking dead, and werewolves can be) on the Munster brood.
‘Mockingbird Lane’ has already cast it’s Grampa Munster (Eddie Izzard) and Marilyn (Charity Wakefield) but no images have come out of the characters in costume or anything from the set… until now.
Recently, Entertainment Weekly caught up with showrunner Fuller to probe his mind about his ideas behind the fresh take on the series. Along with that interview, EW also posted an awesome image of the updated Munsters mansion (which I’ve so kindly posted below). The new Mansion is definitely a beautiful sight to behold and looks like a home right out of a Tim Burton movie. (And one I’d kill to live in by the way…)
When asked about the reimagining, Fuller had this to say:
I always loved the original and was much more a Munsters child than an Addams Family child. The Munsters were the more relatable family. The Addams family looked normal but they acted weird and were sort of mal-socialized in a way. The Munsters were a more functional, sane family unit, they just looked different. [The shows] were almost inverses of the same idea. Obviously, Addams came first, then The Munsters took advantage of the Universal monsters and what they brought to the table. What excited me was to tell this story — and it’s going to sound strange in regards to this property — in a grounded, more realistic way.
And he further went on to describe the thought process that went into both the mansion and the final look of the characters…
We’re not doing bolts in the neck and Bela Lugosi. It’s almost the Real Housewives of Transylvania. These are a blinged-out representation of what monsters would be doing if they lived in our society today. How they would look, how they would interact. Our wardrobe is heavily influenced by Alexander McQueen and his use of animal textures. For instance, with [the vampire] Lily, all of her wardrobe comes from nature. The first time we see her this nest of spiders weaves her dress on her body as she’s standing there. We’ll see ravens come in and assemble her blouse out of their feathers. We won’t see animal skins because the animals are donating as opposed to dying for it. She has domain over nature and nature has a fantastic esthetic.
Naysayers aside, I think it sounds pretty cool so far! And Eddie Izzard is definitely a plus in the cast department. I can’t wait to see some images of the final cast in costumes!