A few weeks ago, we saw an Instagram post that seemed to indicate that Pat Priest, who played Marilyn Munster on the classic sitcom The Munsters (she replaced the late Beverley Owen after thirteen episodes), was involved with writer/director Rob Zombie’s upcoming The Munsters feature film in some way. Now Zombie has taken to his own Instagram account to confirm that Priest is in his movie… and the way he worded it, it even sounds like she might be reprising the role of Marilyn!
Up to this point, I had been thinking Zombie’s The Munsters might be a prequel to the sitcom, set before the family took in Marilyn and before the birth of Eddie Munster. But if Priest is indeed playing Marilyn again, it looks like this could be a modern day follow-up to the sitcom, with Marilyn having aged like a normal human while her monstrous relatives remain the same. If that’s the case, what does this mean for Eddie? We’ll have to wait and see what Zombie has to say about that character.
Rob Zombie’s The Munsters is based on the sitcom that ran for two seasons, from September 1964 to May 1966, and consisted of 70 episodes. (You can buy the complete series at THIS LINK.) The show
starred Fred Gwynne as Frankenstein’s monster and head-of-the-household Herman Munster; Yvonne De Carlo as his wife Lily Munster; Al Lewis as Lily’s father, Grandpa, the somewhat over-the-hill vampire Count Dracula who longs for the “good old days” in Transylvania; Beverley Owen (later replaced by Pat Priest) as their teenage niece Marilyn Munster, who was attractive by conventional standards but the “ugly duckling” of the family; and Butch Patrick as their werewolfish son Eddie Munster.
The cast of Zombie’s film includes Jeff Daniel Phillips as Herman Munster, Sheri Moon Zombie as Herman’s wife Lily, Daniel Roebuck as Lily’s father The Count, Tomas Boykin as Lily’s werewolf brother Lester, Richard Brake as mad scientist Dr. Henry Augustus Wolfgang, Catherine Schell as a gypsy woman named Zoya Krupp, Jorge Garcia as Herman’s friend Floop, Cassandra “Elvira” Peterson as realtor Barbara Carr, Dee Wallace as the voice of Good Morning Transylvania, Jeremy Wheeler as Herman’s boss Mr. Gateman, and Sylvester McCoy as Igor, the loyal servant to the Munsters.
Zombie has been sharing pictures throughout the making of The Munsters. He has shown off his director’s chair, the blueprint for an exact replica of the Munsters’ house, given us a look at costume designs for Herman and Lily Munster’s sleepwear, confirmed that horror host character Zombo will be in the movie, showed off a piece of furniture, some set interiors, posted a picture of the wig Roebuck will be wearing and of Roebuck being measured for Grandpa’s coffin, given an early look at the crafting of Herman’s head, shown off some of the wardrobe, shared pictures of some creature effects, showed the houses being built on Mockingbird Lane, updated on the construction of the Munsters Mansion, showed the completed house, teased that Herman will be wearing the leather jacket he wears when racing in the Dragula roadster, revealed Sylvester McCoy‘s Igor look, given us a glimpse of Richard Brake as Dr. Wolfgang, Catherine Schell as Zoya Krupp, Jorge Garcia as Herman’s buddy Floop, Cassandra Peterson as Barbara Carr, a Munsters Christmas card, the three leads getting their makeup fixed, Lily on a monitor, a color image of Herman, Lily, and The Count, a shot of Lester, another image of Igor, and more.
A release date for this take on The Munsters has not yet been announced, but the movie has already received a PG rating for “macabre and suggestive material, scary images and language”.
Are you glad to hear Pat Priest is in the movie? What do you think of the idea of her playing Marilyn again? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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