Celebrity · Posted 3 minutes ago “I Felt Like A Caricature Of Myself”: Jenna Ortega Recalled The “Hard” Backlash Over Her Comments About Rewriting “Wednesday” Lines “You’re never going to please everybody, and as someone who naturally was a people pleaser, that was really hard for me to understand.” by Ellen Durney BuzzFeed Staff Link Facebook Pinterest Twitter Mail Jenna Ortega has reflected on all the controversy over her comments about rewriting lines on Wednesday . Gilbert Flores / Variety via Getty Images As I’m sure you know, 21-year-old Jenna starred as the titular character in Netflix’s Addams Family spin-off series, Wednesday .
©Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection The show’s first season — which centers on Wednesday Addams as she navigates life at Nevermore Academy — hit Netflix in November 2022 and quickly became one of the streamer’s most successful shows ever. Notably, it broke Netflix’s record for the most hours viewed in a week for any English-language TV show, with 341.23 million hours watched in its first week alone.
Despite Wednesday ’s major success, Jenna revealed last year that she had concerns about the show’s writing while they were making it in 2021 — admitting that she even felt compelled to step in and change lines. ©Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection “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 [the teen] category, especially with this type of show,” she told Dax Shepard on the Armchair Expert podcast in March 2023. “There was a line about this dress that she has 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 go, ‘No, there’s no way,’” Jenna recalled. “There were times on that set where I even became almost unprofessional in a sense where I just started changing lines.
” She continued: “The script supervisor thought that I was going with something, and then I would have to sit down with the writers, and they would be like, ‘Wait, what happened to the scene?’ And I would have to go through and explain why I couldn’t do certain things.” Jenna further explained that she did this because she was “very, very protective” of her character. While some felt that Jenna’s changes may have “ saved the show ” from entering cringe territory, others accused her of being unprofessional and “ immature .
” Now, ahead of Wednesday’s upcoming second season , the star has reflected on everything that went down. Michael Tullberg / Getty Images In a new interview with Vanity Fair , Jenna looked back on her controversial comments and said she “probably could have used [her] words better in describing all of that.” “I think, oftentimes, I’m such a rambler,” she said while discussing the backlash.
“I think it was hard because I felt like had I represented the situation better, it probably would’ve been received better.” The intense reaction to previous comments may also have been heightened by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, which began in May 2023 and lasted through September. Looking back, Jenna said that the uproar felt “dystopian.
” Randy Shropshire / Getty Images for Paramount+ “Everything that I said felt so magnified...
I felt like a caricature of myself,” she said. “You’re never going to please everybody, and as someone who naturally was a people pleaser, that was really hard for me to understand.” “Some people just may not like you.
..and that’s entirely fine,” she continued.
“I got sick of myself last year...
My face was everywhere...
so it’s like, fair enough , if I were opening my phone and I saw the same girl with some stupid quote or something, I would be over it too.” Jenna was 18 when she started shooting Wednesday in 2021 and initially wanted to serve as a producer, too. However, she was ultimately told it wasn’t typical for actors to have such critical responsibilities in their first seasons on a show.
©Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection But in June last year, Jenna revealed that she’d been promoted to a producing role on Wednesday and would be officially helping out in the writers’ room for Season 2 after being so heavily involved during Season 1. Arnold Jerocki / Getty Images “I think it’s natural to be fearful of signing your life away and wanting some sort of agency or wanting confirmation that your voice would be heard,” she told Vanity Fair of her early desire to be a producer on the show. “I’m aware of my position as an actor.
I know that I’m not in charge...
.But I think with someone like Wednesday, who is in every scene, it only makes sense for that person to be that involved in what’s going on behind the scenes because she’s onscreen every second of the project,” she added. Season 2 of Wednesday has no official release date yet, although production is currently underway in Ireland.
You can read the full Vanity Fair interview here. More on this Jenna Ortega Says She'll Be In The Writers' Room For "Wednesday" Earlier Next Season Following Those Controversial Comments About Her Script Changes Alex Gurley · June 6, 2023 Jenna Ortega Said She Had To Put Her Foot Down Almost To An "Unprofessional" Extent On The "Wednesday" Set Ryan Schocket · March 7, 2023 People Are Saying That “Wednesday” Star Jenna Ortega “Saved The Show” After She Revealed The “Pick Me” Lines In The Script That She Refused To Say Stephanie Soteriou · Dec. 22, 2022 Share This Article Link Facebook Pinterest Twitter Mail Comments.
