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.
As he opened the door, a flash of lightning illuminated the surrounding trailers, housing the now-stranded cast and crew, and beyond, the dark woods that kept them more or less captive. Standing in front of him, drenched to the skin and visibly shivering, was Anjelica.
"May I come in?" she asked, courteous as always, despite her teeth chattering with cold.
"Of course! My apologies, come!" Raúl reached out his hand and helped poor Anjelica to climb the steps, not an easy task as she was still dressed in her restricting costume, much to Raúl's surprise. As he pulled the door closed, fighting against the howling winds outside, Raúl turned to face his co-star, who at that moment was wringing out the rainwater from her Morticia wig. She turned and grinned apologetically as she realised her clothes had dragged half of the storm in to Raúl's clean and tidy cabin.
"What happened? Here, let me get you some blankets, towels. Why were you ever out in this weather? Madness!" Raúl's Puerto-Rican accent, once not on camera, was far more pronounced, and although his English was fluent, when not following a script, his speech was peppered with Spanish turns of phrase, which Anjelica found both endearing and oddly attractive. As he spoke, Raúl was hunting through his generous wardrobe for the aforementioned items, and Anjelica reached out a hand to stop him.
"It's quite alright," she replied, her own accent more evident now; a soft mid-Atlantic tone, the result of having lived in Ireland and England in her youth, before retuning to the States.
"I stupidly got myself locked out of my cabin," she continued, flashing her easy smile at her host as he stood before her, arms full of blankets, and a wry smile of his own playing about his mouth. "The storm came on before any of the wardrobe girls could help me out of this infernal contraption, and it's getting harder to breathe now. Would you be a dear?"
Raúl was taken aback by Anjelica's evident trust in him and their closeness as she turned and gestured at the myriad buttons that must be undone in order to free her of that first obstacle. Raúl dutifully made short work of the dress, suppressing an appreciative groan as Anjelica allowed the soaked black fabric to fall to her hips.
"It's this damned corset," she gasped, turning her head to glance over her shoulder. Her breaths were more pronounced now, and if it weren't so clearly due to discomfort from the metal corset into which the plucky actress was imprisoned each day, Raúl could have sworn she was deliberately teasing him. There were certainly some fairly impure thoughts running through his mind as he helped her to remove the offending item. Once freed, Anjelica allowed herself to collapse face down on the comfortable couch that sat alongside Raúl's armchair.
"That's so much better. Thank you," she muttered against the cushions as she relished the feeling. Fourteen hours now she had been trussed up as Morticia, and being locked out of her own caravan had been the last straw. She could have called at the trailer of one of the wardrobe mistresses, she knew, but something had driven her to seek out dear Raúl. She felt a true delight in his company, and knew he would not hesitate to offer his help and sanctuary.
Raúl himself had removed his wire-rimmed glasses as he knelt by Anjelica's side; an inner ethical dilemma was playing out, as he cast his eyes over her bare skin, and listened to her sighs of relief. His moral side chastised him thoroughly for the thoughts that were running unbidden through his head at that moment, paradoxically encouraged by his red-blooded self. He was just a man, was he not? And what man could resist the odd fantasy when confronted with the image of a topless and breathless beauty in his presence? Shaking his head as he tried to remember himself and his manners, Raúl frowned as he noted the red marks on Anjelica's skin, clearly where the corset had cut into her skin.
"You are hurt? Is there something I can find for you…?" he began, gently placing a blanket over Anjelica's shivering form as she lifted her head to smile at him.
"I will be fine, love," she replied lightly, unaware of the impact such a simple use of the typically British term of endearment had on him. "Could I trouble you for a shower though?"
"Of course!" Raúl leapt to his feet and strode across to his en suite, turning on the shower in an effort to warm up the room for his most welcome guest. He handed her an armful of towels, which Anjelica struggled to balance alongside holding up the blanket to cover her modesty. She grinned as she stepped inside and thanked him once again for his hospitality.
"It might take me a long time to take all of this off," she said with a wave at her make-up – half of which had been removed already by the storm.
"Please, take all the time you do require. I will be just here if you need..." Raúl trailed off, realising there was no way he could offer to help his good friend shower and remain thought of a gentleman.
"I think I can manage!" Anjelica laughed as she closed the door behind her and stepped forward into the cloud of steam that emanated from the shower already.
