Jenna Ortega responds to backlash over her 'Wednesday' comments, says she's 'very opinionated'
NOTTING HILL, LONDON: Jenna Ortega breaks silence after she was slammed following her 'Wednesday' comments. In a recent interview, the 20-year-old actress said, "I’m someone who is very opinionated. I know what it’s like to be a people-pleaser in this industry and I know how unhappy or how frustrating it’s been in the past. When I went into 'Wednesday,' I really put my foot down and made it clear that everything that I had to say mattered and was heard."
However, she also shared that she has always wanted to do the show's lead character. when I was younger, I did this show where I referred to myself as the 'Wednesday' of the family because there were seven children and I was in the middle. I remember telling my mom at the time, 'Oh my God, I’d love to play Wednesday Addams. But when would that opportunity ever come?' And then it came," she told the Hollywood Reporter.
'Everything I had to play, did not make sense for her character'
In March, Ortega was slammed for her controversial remarks about her attitude on the set of the Golden Globe-nominated show 'Wednesday' produced by Tim Burton. During her appearance on Dax Shepard's weekly podcast 'Armchair Expert', she said that she first signed onto the Netflix hit where her high school-aged character is set on a darker gloomy tone.
"I don’t think I’ve ever had to put my foot down more on a set in a way that I had to on 'Wednesday'. Everything that 'Wednesday' does, everything I had to play, did not make sense for her character at all," Ortega shared that she realized the character was more of a whimsical type.
"There were times on that set where I even became almost unprofessional in a sense where I just started changing lines. The script supervisor thought I was going with something and then I had to sit down with the writers, and they’d be like, ‘Wait, what happened to the scene?’ And I’d have to go and explain why I couldn’t go do certain things," Ortega said on the podcast.
Ortega's comments labeled 'beyond entitled and toxic'
Following her controversial comments on the podcast, Ortega was criticized by Hollywood insiders as renowned filmmaker and producer Steven DeKnight described her comments as "beyond entitled and toxic," and added, "In this business, it’s extremely bad form to throw your collaborators under a creative bus."
"She’s young, so maybe she doesn’t know any better (but she should). She should also ask herself how she would feel if the showrunners gave an interview and talked about how difficult she was and refused to perform the material," he blasted her comments in a Twitter thread.
She’s young, so maybe she doesn’t know any better (but she should). She should also ask herself how she would feel if the showrunners gave an interview and talked about how difficult she was and refused to perform the material.
— Steven DeKnight (@stevendeknight) March 7, 2023