Jenna Ortega and Christina Ricci Reveal The Challenges of ‘Wednesday’: “I felt completely lost and confused”
It’s the year of Jenna Ortega. From Scream to X, Ortega has rightly earned her place as one of horror’s shining stars. Now, she’s filling in some pretty big, and stylish, shoes in her new role as Wednesday Addams in Tim Burton’s Netflix series Wednesday. Following in the footsteps of the iconic Christina Ricci, Ortega imbues the beloved character with sassy, morbid humor, and charisma. And recently, thanks to Interview Magazine, the two got to sit down and chat about their experiences as actors in general, but also in playing Wednesday and the unique challenges such a role presents.
In Wednesday, the titular Addams family member is sent to Nevermore Academy. While there, she attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a killing spree and solve the mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago.
Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzman star in the series as Morticia and Gomez Addams. Ricci also has a role, playing teacher Marilyn Thornhill.
During their in-depth discussion, Ricci and Ortega discussed the challenges of creating the character of Wednesday. Ortega in particular discussed her struggles with working on the series, especially with several different directors. While Burton oversaw the series and directed several episodes, there were two other directors with slightly different visions for Ortega’s performance. Ricci asked her, “Did you find a way to protect yourself from the things that could knock you off center?” Ortega replied:
To be completely honest, no, at least not in the beginning. 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. So I think something really wonderful that has come out of the show is that I can use my voice in a much stronger way than I ever have. I’ve been so much better about being honest about my opinions and thoughts, which I’m really grateful for.
Ortega also explained how much she wanted to make the character her own. She knew that viewers would compare her Wednesday to Ricci, and she wanted to find a way to make her character feel different. She said:
…I’m just saying you [Ricci] are who people see as Wednesday, and that’s just the truth. I feel like the script was very reminiscent of ’90s Wednesday. It was really important to me that I wasn’t doing a knockoff of your performance, and it was different. Another thing is every time we’ve seen Wednesday, she’s been 5 years old, 10 years old. So when someone is saying really dark, twisted things out of a place of pure honesty and innocence, that naive aspect of a child, it’s a bit different when you get older and become a teenager because then you just sound like a bitch. You don’t want her to be nasty.
Read the full interview at Interview Magazine.
Wednesday is streaming now on Netflix!
Have you watched the new series yet? What do you think? Let us know over on Twitter @DreadCentral.
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