The scariest thing about Gina Ortega playing Wednesday Addams is not sticking with the beloved character.
Ortega opened up about changes she made during production on the viral Netflix series “Wednesday” to keep the teen’s role grounded.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had to set foot on a site the way I had to on Wednesday, because it’s very easy for me to fall into that category, especially with these kind of shows,” Ortega said during Dax Shepard’sArmchair expertPodcast. (via Insider.)
The “Scream VI” star admitted, “There were times on that set where I became even unprofessional in the sense that I just started changing lines. The script supervisor thought I’d go with something, and then I’d have to sit down with the writers and they’d be like, ‘Wait, what happened.'” for the scene?” And I’ll have to go and explain why I can’t do certain things.”
Ortega continued, “Everything she did, everything I had to play, made no sense for her character at all. Her being in a love triangle made no sense. There was a line about that dress she should wear to the school dance and she says, ‘Oh my God, I like that! I can’t believe I said that. I literally hate myself. And I had to go, “No, there’s no way.”
Ortega called former A.J Netflix Q&A that she was “blown away” by the disconnect between dialogue and character. “I felt like we managed to avoid a lot of dialogue in an effort to make her sound human,” Ortega said in 2022.
In the new “Armchair Expert” episode, Ortega admits to being “very protective” during Wednesday as a whole.
“You grew up very, very protective of her, but you can’t drive a story and not have an emotional arc because then it’s boring and no one likes you. And Wed is a teenager.” When you’re young and you say insulting, offensive things, it’s funny and likeable, “Oh, you don’t know anything.” Better.” But then you’re a teenager like, “Now you’re obnoxious and you know it.” There is one less excuse.”
Ortega did not leave confident that the series would find an audience.
“I can’t watch my work, but I can come home from a set and say, ‘The scene we shot today was so good,’” Ortega said. “On Wednesday, there wasn’t a scene on this show that I came home and said, ‘Okay, That should be fine.”
However, Ortega “saw a lot” of the show “against my will” because she had to perform “approximately 200 lines of ADR” in post-production. Filming “Wednesday” in Romania also conflicted with Ortega reprising her role in “You” on Netflix, leaving the actress “devastated.”
Despite Ortega’s critically acclaimed role when she took home the Screen Actors Guild, Screen Landings, and Golden Globe Awards on Wednesday, the “X” star raises the bar for the series’ success to audiences by being “easy to please.”
“People ship content really quickly, and the fact that we actually sat down and spent a lot of time on it, I think naturally increases exposure or maybe makes it more attractive to the audience,” Ortega said.
The actress also revealed that she asked executive producer/director Burton not to hire a choreographer for the viral dance sequence because she “stopped trusting outside opinion” about the character and was “too exhausted”.
“In the beginning, she was supposed to be a fast mob and she was supposed to start dancing and everyone was supposed to pick her up and start dancing with her. And she refused, so why would she be OK with that?” said the former Disney Channel star. “I said, ‘You either cut it or you make Wed fire someone, and then it’s done. ‘”
Ortega felt the dance sequence at the end was “very Wednesday” due to her creative control over it. Ortega also serves as an executive producer on the second season of the series.
Future teen idol. Typical social media ninja. Alcohol buff. Explorer. Creator. Beer advocate.”