Trivia: Director Barry Sonnenfeld plays the passenger in one of Gomez's trains.
Trivia: The part of Morticia was originally offered to Cher, who passed because she felt that "The Addams Family" wouldn't do enough to boost her slumping (at least at the time) film career.
Trivia: Charles Addams' cartoon characters had no first names until 1963, when he gave them names for the TV series. Pugsley was Pubert until ABC nixed that as "too suggestive." Addams named Gomez for an old family friend, and Wednesday after a line in a nursery rhyme, "Wednesday's child is full of woe."
Trivia: Christina Ricci has said that even almost thirty years later, Wednesday Addams is still her favorite character she's ever played.
Trivia: This film marked the directorial debut of Barry Sonnenfeld.
Trivia: The film originally wasn't going to end with the revelation that Gordon really was Fester all along. Instead, it would have been left ambiguous... the family would simply "accept" Gordon as Fester, even though none of them knew for sure. The cast hated the ambiguous nature of the ending, and Christina Ricci was nominated to approach director Barry Sonnenfeld and request that the script be altered to make it 100% certain that Gordon really was Fester. Sonnenfeld was quickly won over by a speech Ricci gave him, and a few extra lines were added to the ending of the film clarifying that Gordon and Fester were one and the same.
Trivia: Raul Julia's health began to fail in the early 90's, culminating in his tragic passing in 1994. According to family members, one of Julia's greatest joys in his final years was all of the children who recognized him from the two "Addams Family" movies, and would frequently approach him because they wanted to "talk to Gomez." Julia was a humanitarian who sponsored many charities that dealt with children's needs and troubled youths, and took great joy in making children happy.
Trivia: The film's production was reportedly nightmarish. There was turmoil at the original studio, who were forced to sell the film off during production. Two separate cinematographers left during filming, forcing director Barry Sonnenfeld to complete the final weeks of principal photography acting as both the film's director and the cinematographer. Sonnenfeld also developed sciatica during filming and his wife had to have unexpected emergency surgery. Raul Julia ("Gomez") burst a blood vessel in his eye on camera, which interrupted filming. And finally, both Anjelica Huston ("Morticia") and Judith Malina ("Grandmama") found their costumes and makeups insufferable and difficult to work in. (And according to Huston, Malina reportedly dealt with her uncomfortable makeup by constantly smoking marijuana, and thus performed most of the film while high as a kite.) However, despite the chaos, most of the cast and crew loved the film and still speak highly of it.
Trivia: Tim Burton was initially approached to direct. He brought on writers Larry Wilson (who co-wrote "Beetlejuice") and Caroline Thompson (who worked as a writer on "Edward Scissorhands" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas"), but Burton later dropped out of the project.
Trivia: Originally, Christopher Lloyd was going to wear heavy prosthetics for the role of Fester. His original "look" for the role can even be seen in an early teaser-trailer. (With his face being much rounder, to the point Lloyd is near unrecognizable.) However, it was decided early on during filming that the look just didn't work.
Answer: He's seen pictures and paintings of young Fester and notices a resemblance. Like you said, no-one had seen him in 25 years, so all that was required was a passing similarity.
Brian Katcher