With the help of a four minute sizzle reel that was screened for fans, it was one of the hot topics at SDCC ’12. Mockingbird Lane, a modernization of the classic sitcom The Munsters stars Portia de Rossi as Lily, Jerry O’Connell as Herman, and Eddie Izzard as Grandpa with Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies) at the helm of this reboot.
Here are a few excerpts from an interview he gave to The Hollywood Reporter, in which he shares his thoughts on the theme song, the family pet, and what other monsters may show up in future episodes.
There were a few fun homages to the original series, including hints of the famed theme. Will you be using that as the show’s theme song?
That was for Comic-Con only. We’re going to talk to the rights holder because it was actually composed by producer Frank Marshall’s father, Jack Marshall. We have to negotiate the rights to be able to use that theme with him but he’s very enthusiastic about it. We’re going to try to work it out so we can use the theme in the show. But we don’t know yet if we can. I like what our composer Jim Dooley did; the point is to have a taste of it but we didn’t want to do the comedy. We didn’t want the score to be Pushing Daisies. As we’ve been working on the music, we’ve been talking about how to differentiate Mockingbird Lane from Pushing Daisies. They’re both vibrant, but Mockingbird Lane is obviously much darker and more fiendish. We have the same composer doing the music, and we needed to create our new sound for Mockingbird Lane using the old sound from The Munsters.
How soon could the ferocious family pet Spot appear?
You see him at the end of the pilot in CGI. He’ll look like a Harry Potter dragon. It’s like Eddie’s invisible friend.
Your plans are to bring in some of the classic Universal monsters — Wolfman, Creature From the Black Lagoon, etc. Will they be live-action or CGI?
The Creature from the Black Lagoon will be like [1988's] Splash, Too: When he’s wet he’s the Gillman. That’s one of the best makeup effects — prosthetics — that anybody has done, that monster costume. And when he’s dry, he’s a handsome guy.
Also on the horizon for an appearance is The Phantom Of The Opera and Fuller goes on to say: The Wolfman, Frankenstein, Dracula, the Metaluna monster from Silent Earth and the Mole People. I would love to rope in all of those characters from those stories, as well as get the Cat People and get those types of things. But we can’t just do Monster of the Week; they have to have a reason for being in the story — an emotional capacity — for us to interact with their characters.
NBC, who greenlit the pilot, has high hopes for a series. I can say honestly say, I’m intrigued by the premise and if handled properly Mockingbird Lane could have staying power.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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