'I don't think I've ever had to put my foot down on a set in the way that I had to on 'Wednesday,'' the actress said on a new podcast.
Jenna Ortega is getting candid about playing Wednesday Addams on the Netflix series.
The 20-year-old actress was a guest on the latest episode of Dax Shepard's podcast, Armchair Expert, which dropped Monday, where she spoke candidly about pushing back about specific scenes and lines of dialogue she felt were out of character for Wednesday.
"A job like Wednesday, I was trying something completely different. I'm naturally a very expressive person. I haven't really done a teen show like that before. It's not typically the kind of TV that I would watch, so it felt very out of place for me. I can't watch my work, but I can go home from set and say, 'The scene that we shot today felt good.' On Wednesday, there was not a scene in that show that I went home and [said], 'OK, that should be fine,'" Ortega revealed to Shepard and his podcast co-host and actress, Monica Padman.
"Now, a lot of people know me from that. It's not my proudest moment internally, which, I think, also adds an extra level of insecurity and stress because it's like, no, I'm finally getting these offers to these places that I want, but I don't want to be known specifically for that," she said.
The actress went on to share that she often does not watch her own work, which includes Wednesday. But because she had to complete about "200 lines of ADR," she had "seen a lot of it against my will, so I think I'm really good there," when asked if she'd watch the show from beginning to end.
Ortega also revealed her initial response after earning high-profile nominations at the Golden Globe Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards for her breakthrough performance. "My brain completely disregards that," she admitted. "It's like, 'The general public must be so easy to please.' That's where my brain goes."
The Scream 6 star then explained why the experience of making Wednesday was particularly challenging, sharing a few reasons why she felt the need to keep the character true to who she was.
"I don't think I've ever had to put my foot down on a set in the way that I had to on Wednesday because it's so easy to fall into that category, especially with this type of show," Ortega said. "Everything that she does, everything that I had to play did not make sense for her character at all. Her being in a love triangle made no sense. There was a line about this dress that she has to wear for a school dance and she says, 'Oh my god, I love it! I can't believe I said that. I literally hate myself.' And I had to go, 'No, there's no way.'"
"There were times on that set where I even became unprofessional in a sense where I just started changing lines, " she elaborated. "The script supervisor thought I was going with something and then I would have to sit down with the writers and they'd be like, 'Wait, what happened to the scene?' And I would have to go through and explain why I couldn't do certain things. I grew very, very protective of her."
"But you can't lead a story and have no emotional arc because then it's boring and nobody likes you. And Wednesday is a teenager. When you're little and you say morbid, offensive stuff, it's endearing and 'Aww, you don't know any better,' but then you become a teenager, it's 'Now you're being nasty and you know it.' There's less excuse," Ortega explained.
She also went into detail about what the original dance sequence, which became a viral sensation, was supposed to be -- and why she shut that idea down.
"Initially, it was supposed to be a flash mob and she was supposed to start dancing and everyone was supposed to pick up on it and start dancing with her. And that, I vetoed because why would she be OK with that?" Ortega said. "I said, 'Either cut it or have Wednesday knock someone out and then it's done.' Sleeper hold, muffled scream from the side and then that's the end of that."
During the hour-long chat, Ortega praised her Wednesday co-stars, Percy Hynes White, George Farmer and Emma Myers, calling them her closest friends.
Speaking specifically to White and Farmer, who lived in the same apartment building as Ortega, she gave insight into their close-knit bond. "We mothered each other, so whenever someone was busier, like going through something, we were there," she said.
As for Myers, who plays Enid, Ortega didn't think she has "ever been so protective of somebody."
"I think about her all the time. I only ever want to make sure she's OK and good," she said, revealing that she would sing Myers a new song over voice memo every day in Romania during production on season 1. "I've never had that desire or urge for anybody else. She's a sweetheart. She's a real person. All three of them are. Friends that I made there are kind of my only friends at the moment."
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