Wednesday Star Recalls One Frustration From Netflix Show
Jenna Ortega revealed a major frustration and some complexities that arose when filming the upcoming Tim Burton horror series Wednesday. The upcoming supernatural mystery series has been described to be an 8-hour Tim Burton movie. It follows the titular character, Wednesday, navigating high school whilst refining her psychic powers and stopping supernatural monstrosities affecting the town where she is now going to school. It also depicts a classic coming-of-age story through Burton’s take on the Addams family, complemented by emotional struggles, and the gothic girl devoid of emotion, who will be forced to change and grow due to her circumstances.
Ortega has exerted a lot of passion and dedication into truly becoming Wednesday Addams. From practicing the cello and fencing to attempting to mirror and replicate her movement and subtle mannerisms, she was praised by Burton who described Ortega to be the perfect Wednesday Addams. Wednesday will also star Christina Ricci, Gwendoline Christie, Fred Armisen, and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Jenna Ortega sat down with Ricci, a previous actress for Wednesday, for Interview Magazine where Ortega opened up about the challenges of portraying the character Wednesday in a manner she saw fit. She described it to be a challenging process where she often felt lost and confused due to the expectations and direction of others, revealing she often felt a lack of trust with previous directors in her venture to bring her own perspective of the character to light. Fitting in with Burton’s aesthetic, he asked her to completely avoid all expression and emotion, which initially contributed to Ortega feeling rather lost and defeated at the beginning stages of production:
I felt like everybody wanted different things from her. I remember Tim did not want me to have any expression or emotion at all. He wanted a flat surface…There were a lot of battles like that [with other directors] because I felt like people didn’t always trust me when I was creating my path in terms of, “Okay, this is her arc. This is where she gets emotional.’ There have never been so many cooks in the kitchen. I was completely lost and confused. Typically I have no problem using my voice, but when you’re in it—I just remember feeling defeated after the first month.
Ortega’s Comments Are Worrying For Tim Burton’s Wednesday
Ortega’s comment that there were “too many cooks in the kitchen” indicates that there was an abundance of opinions and directions suggested to her and perhaps the rest of the cast. The question that arises following her comment is whether there will be unevenness and a lack of overall consistency in tone and character for the upcoming series. Despite the initial stress and frustration of trying to live up to what everyone else wanted from the character, Ortega praised Burton for his collaborative approach and attentive listening to rectify this issue and ensure her voice was heard.
Ortega is able to encapsulate fear with an expressive face and body language, as well as perform an excruciating scream when needed. Ortega has demonstrated her scream queen bonafides in horror films such as Scream (2022), X, and Insidious: Chapter 2 among others, so she’s a strong choice for this role. If she was successful in portraying Wednesday her way without the influence of overbearing opinions and guidance, audiences can expect another excellent performance in the horror genre for Ortega. Only time will tell whether the characters and tone remain consistent in the upcoming series, Wednesday.
