[CLIP] Jenna Ortega (as Wednesday Addams): Hello, Thing. 

[TITLE CARD] THE THING ABOUT THING in ‘WEDNESDAY’

Tom Turnbull (VFX SUPERVISOR): Thing is a classic character in the Addams Family canon, and it was up to us to create a version. From the first phone call I had with Tim, he wanted Thing to be derived from an actor and that we would need to do CG Thing as well, but only when pretty much everything else failed. So we set out to find us an actor who could do the part. Somebody who had the right look to the hands, who had nimble fingers, was able to do all of these moves. They had to be young enough and supple enough to fit in very awkward positions to do the shots. 

Victor Dorobantu: My name is Victor Dorobantu and I’m playing Thing. It’s a crazy process. Usually I work from night to night. [chuckles] Like, you wake up very early, you get your blue suit on, which is made from different parts depending on the shooting you have in the day. After that you go to the prosthetics truck, you spend like almost three hours there. The VFX guys have to see, what angle do they use? How is things for positioning? Find ways to hide the thing, for example, under a bed. “Hey, I can’t fit under a bed.” Let’s make a hole in the floor. “Hey, I can’t fit under the floor.” Let’s raise the whole building in the air so put him under the floor. 

[CLIP] Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams: Surrender? 

Tom Turnbull (VFX SUPERVISOR): When we first started the show, our assumption was, “OK, we’re going to do as much as we could with him as an actor.” But we understood there was really big limitations with that. Normally, when you talk about paint out in visual effects, “Oh yeah, paint out is easy.” But we’re painting out 90% of the human being that’s dominating the shot and keeping the 10% that’s the hand. It’s actually very hard to do and it’s slow for the crew. They have to light in such a way that Victor is not casting shadows. 

[CLIP] Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams: Mother and Father sent you to spy on me, didn’t they? I’m not above breaking a few fingers. 

Tom Turnbull (VFX SUPERVISOR): With Jenna, she accepted it really quickly that she’s talking to a hand, even though there’s a large man in a blue suit sort of attached to it she managed to ignore. 

Jenna Ortega: Filming with a disembodied hand, honestly, it’s not too bad. We had the actual actor, Victor, on set at all times. So, if he wasn’t there, they would put a placement hand. They had a suitcase of just hands and we would choose, “Oh, we want the flimsy one today,” or “We want the stoic one today.” And they all were set in these different positions. I think the tedious part about it was they had to use a ball and chart for special effects. So, in between every single setup we did, someone would have to come in with a gray ball, silver ball, chip chart with all these colors, and they’d have to take photos of the room. But the actual filming process was just like working with another actor. You’re reacting and he’s speaking, he’s signing. 

[CLIP] Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams: You poor, naive appendage. 

Victor Dorobantu: It’s pretty hard to find ways to make him look in love or angry when you do it with a real actor and not CGI. So the producers team, the VFX guys, me, we all tried to make a teamwork for Thing, and what it ended up looking like is awesome. 

[CLIP] Fred Armisen as Uncle Fester: Hello, Thing.

[choking]

[CLIP] Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair: Thing, back me up here. 

[CLIP] Man: Where is she, Thing? 

[CLIP] Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams: Thing, a hand here? 

[CLIP] Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair: Ah! Stay in touch. 

[CLIP] Hunter Doohan as Tyler Galpin: OK? Is he … like, your pet?