Earlier this year, Jenna Ortega made news for public criticisms that she made against the writers for the Netflix Addams Family adaptation Wednesday. One of the year’s most popular shows evidently didn’t leave much room for Ortega to express her own take on the character, so she decided to get involved with the writing process more intimately.
“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 that category, especially with this type of show,” Ortega said about her decision to go against the established script that was originally given to her.
“Everything that [Wednesday Addams] does, everything that I had to play, did not make sense for her character at all,” Ortega added. “Her being in a love triangle made no sense. There was a line about like, 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.’”
“There was times on that set where I even became almost unprofessional, in a sense, where I just started changing lines,” Ortega concluded. “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 to have to go through and explain why I couldn’t do certain things.”
However, not everyone in the industry is applauding her candour. Steven DeKnight, a screenwriter and producer best known for working on shows like Smallville and creating Sparticus with Sam Raimi, recently took to Twitter to share his thoughts on Ortega’s comments. When asked if Ortega’s comments were simply a “misunderstanding”, DeKnight opinioned that it was “doubtful since she clearly shit on the showrunners/writers publically.”
“She’s young, so maybe she doesn’t know any better (but she should). She should also ask herself how she would feel if the showrunners gave an interview and talked about how difficult she was and refused to perform the material,” DeKnight added. “This kind of statement is beyond entitled and toxic. I love her work, but life’s too short to deal with people like this in the business.”