Cello, Fencing, And A Strict Wednesday Production Schedule Brought Jenna Ortega To Tears
Netflix's "Wednesday" took Netflix, TikTok, and the world by storm when it debuted last fall. The show earned fans for its goth teen aesthetic, an infectious dance scene, and an all-star performance by "Scream" and "X" actor Jenna Ortega. As Wednesday, Ortega was by far the best part of the series, and she made embodying the scowling, mystery-solving teen look effortless. But according to the actress herself, portraying the classic character was actually anything but simple.
At a Netflix Q&A event covered by Variety this week, Ortega opened up about the stressful preparation and shooting conditions for "Wednesday," which make the show sound like a lot more work than one might expect from a typical full-time job. Wednesday Addams is a prodigy-like jack-of-all-trades, and Ortega attempted to bring as much realism to the role as she could by practicing an array of activities that include playing the cello, fencing, canoeing, and even learning to speak German.
The actress learned cello, fencing, and German between long shoots
According to Variety, Jenna Ortega was particularly anxious to nail a sequence in which Wednesday plays "Paint it Black" on cello, capturing a piece meant for two cellists as a solo. An eight-month shoot in Romania didn't help matters, nor did switching teachers when she moved there. "I did not get any sleep," the actor shared. "I pulled my hair out. There's so many FaceTime calls my dad answered of me hysterically crying." The actor's stress was warranted, as she said the show often shot as many as six days a week with set days lasting as long as 14 hours.
"It was show up to set two hours early, do that 12-14 hour day, then go home and then get on a Zoom and have whatever lesson that I had," Ortega recalled. "Or show up to my apartment, my cello teacher was already waiting for me." The actress nails Wednesday's signature deadpan dark humor, but it sounds like her best performance may have been doing it all without making it obvious that she was exhausted. "It was just constantly going," she said, "and if you could on a weekend, if we weren't shooting the sixth day that week, it was 'All right, well then, we'll get your lessons in on that day.'"
Ortega didn't want to use doubles
I admire how frank Jenna Ortega is about the stresses the production put on her, especially since the show was renewed for season 2 and the powers-that-be in charge of Ortega's overloaded schedule still have time to make it more manageable in the future. She did tell Q&A attendees that Tim Burton, who directed episodes of the series and served as executive producer, was reassuring and told her she'd do a great job during her big cello scene.
Ortega also admitted that although she trained hard at the cello, she wasn't able to master everything she wanted to do on screen in time for the shooting schedule. "We started running out of time because Wednesday's in pretty much every scene," she shared. "They had to start using stunt doubles or occasionally cello doubles if they didn't have time to get hands." Ortega said she was "very adamant about being as well prepared as possible" because she wanted to bring a level of realism that comes with being able to see an actor's face while they perform a stunt or play an instrument.
In the end, the first season of "Wednesday" had some problems, but Ortega's performance definitely wasn't one of them, and her musical and stunt scenes all come across as realistic and impressive. Even more impressive is her willingness to speak out and be honest about the parts of her job that weren't enjoyable: Hollywood has a long history of asking its young stars — especially young women — to deal with way more than they should have to and smile through it all. But Wednesday Addams would never fake a smile, and the star who plays her shouldn't have to either.