Jenna Ortega Reflects on Controversy About Rewriting ‘Wednesday’ Lines
Jenna Ortega is revisiting the controversial remarks she made about the script for Netflix’s ‘Wednesday.’ In an interview with Vanity Fair, the 21-year-old actress discussed her intentions when she admitted to altering lines for her character in March 2023. Her comments sparked backlash from those who felt she was disrespecting screenwriters, but Ortega clarified that this was not her intention.
“To be fair, I think I probably could have used my words better in describing all of that,” she said. “I tend to ramble a lot, and I think if I had explained the situation better, it might have been received differently. ‘The “Miller’s Girl’ star was surprised by the negative response, calling the experience “dystopian.” “Everything I said felt so magnified,” she added. “I felt like a caricature of myself.”
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From the experience, she learned that “you’re never going to please everybody.” As a self-admitted “people pleaser,” Ortega acknowledged the importance of understanding others’ perspectives.
“I got sick of myself last year,” she joked. “My face was everywhere… so it’s fair enough. If I were opening my phone and saw the same girl with some stupid quote, I would be over it too.” Reflecting on the public reaction, Ortega felt that her comments were partly received the way they were because she is a woman. “Women have to be princesses,” she said. “They have to be elegant and classy and so kind, and when they’re outspoken, they’re seen as untamed and a mess.”
Filming for season 2 of ‘Wednesday’ began in May, and Ortega won’t have to worry about backlash for her creative input this time, as she is now a producer. She shared that having a say in the series’ prosthetics and Wednesday’s cellos are the things “I live for.” Last spring, Ortega appeared on Dax Shepard’s ‘Armchair Expert’ podcast, where she talked about shaping Wednesday Addams into her vision of the character.
“Everything that she does, everything that I had to play, did not make sense for her character at all,” she said on the podcast. “Her being in a love triangle made no sense. There was a line about a dress she had to wear for a school dance, and she said, ‘Oh, my God, I love it. Ugh, I can’t believe I said that. I literally hate myself.’ And I had to say, ‘No, there’s no way.’”
She explained that she would often have to discuss changes with the writers, saying, “They would be like, ‘Wait, what happened to the scene?’ And I would have to explain why I couldn’t do certain things.”
–Farheen Ali
