'Didn't want to rip her off': 'Wednesday' star Jenna Ortega reveals why she didn't take Christina Ricci's help
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: 'The Addams Family' has always been a top-rated movie franchise, and their character being epic Halloween costumes makes it even more relevant to pop culture. Taking up a role that audiences are familiar with is a difficult thing to do while trying not to swerve too far from the source material or stay too close or the same to someone else’s interpretation. The previous iteration of the franchise stars Anjelica Huston, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance as Morticia Addams, Raul Julia as Gomez Addams, Christopher Lloyd as Fester Addams, and lastly Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams in the 1991's 'The Addams Family' movie.
However, this is what struck our newest Wednesday Addams, Jenna Ortega to not take any suggestion or advice from her cast mate and predecessor Christina Ricci in regards to playing the eldest daughter of 'The Addams Family', Wednesday Addams. Nevertheless, 'Wednesday' was released on Netflix on November 23, 2022, to generally positive reviews by critics, who praised Ortega's performance, but unfortunately criticized it for its similarities to CW dramas. Regardless, Ortega seems to be relieved for anyone not drawing any similarities to her enacting the character. Read more to find out what Ortega said.
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Regardless, during a recent interview with Ortega, she shared that she felt “immense pressure” when playing such a “beloved character” in an MTV News interview with her costar Emma Meyers. The actress, who is the reigning scream queen due to her acclaimed performances in A24’s 'X' as well as the latest 'Scream film', explained that it was a challenge to balance her own version of 'Wednesday' with nods to previous iterations of the character without completely replicating someone else’s work. Ortega also revealed that she never spoke with Ricci, who is well-known for playing Wednesday as a child in the 1991 film 'The Addams Family' and its 1993 sequel 'Addams Family Values', about their connection while filming the new Netflix series together.
Ortega said, "I think when Ricci was on set, neither one of us said 'Wednesday' once to each other. I don't think she wanted to get in the way of my performance and feel like she was overbearing… I felt like I didn't want to pull up something that she did 30 years ago. For the sake of my own benefit, but two, I didn't want to rip her off and I didn't want to be too much like her."
You can watch 'Wednesday' on Netflix in case you haven't watched it yet.