Portia De Rossi Cast As Lily Munster In 'Mockingbird Lane'

by uInterviewJune 13, 2012, 12:00 amNews >

Actress Portia de Rossi will play Lily Munster in Mockingbird Lane, NBC's reboot of the campy '60s sitcom The Munsters, according to The Hollywood Reporter. De Rossi, known for her roles in Ally McBeal and Arrested Development, joins the previously cast Jerry O’Connell and Eddie Izzard, who will play Lily's Frankenstein-inspired husband Herman and vampire Grandpa, respectively.

Producer Bryan Fuller, who also brought us Heroes and Pushing Daisies, is said to be going after an edgier and slightly darker take, exploring origins of Herman and Lily and how they arrived at the famed 1313 Mockingbird Lane address.

“The script is such a dramatic departure from the tone and style of the original show," Fuller told Entertainment Weekly. "If we continued to call the show The Munsters, people are just going to to think we’re doing The Munsters. We’re doing a reinvention and re-imagination of this property. I love the Universal monsters. I love The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, The Wolfman, Phantom of the Opera, The Mummy. There’s so many great characters we can run through this metaphor of family storytelling that it just felt it was ripe to do as a one-hour dramedy. Having all those elements to play with, the toy box is really, really full.”