The Only Wednesday Scene Jenna Ortega Refused to Film
Talking to Dax Shepard on the Armchair Expert podcast, Jenna Ortega explained how she found she had to challenge the writers and directors while filming Wednesday as she felt too much of the dialogue and action was inauthentic.
So much so, in fact, that she described her own behaviour on set as "almost unprofessional" at times as she felt the need to "put my foot down" due to becoming "very, very protective" of Wednesday.
There was even one scene that she refused to do. It seems strange now to imagine her dance at the prom being any different from the now iconic scene that it has become. But it was never intended to be like that.
"Initially, it was supposed to be a flash mob," Ortega said, "and she (Wednesday) was supposed to start dancing, and everyone was supposed to pick up on it and start dancing with her.
And that, I vetoed because why would she be OK with that? I said, 'Either cut it or have Wednesday knock someone out, and then it's done.'"
Ultimately, the actor was concerned that the character Wednesday needed to be to make the show a success was not the character the writers and production team had created.
Ortega said it was important that Wednesday was portrayed as a morbid teenager and that there needed to be an emotional character arc for the lead character that simply didn't come across in the way the script was written.
And at just 20, who better on set to understand how a teenage girl should act and speak than Jenna Ortega?
When it came to the dance, she choreographed the whole thing herself as she had "stopped trusting outside opinion" about how Wednesday should be portrayed, saying she had become "overwhelmed" at all the input she was receiving. Nothing, she said, "[made] sense for her character at all".
And if you thought the dance was exactly what the show needed and was in keeping with Ortega's version of Wednesday Addams as a sullen, cold and emotionless teenager, it's worth taking note that she actually recorded the whole thing while she had Covid.
While the dance scene going viral would seem to indicate that she made the right call, the actor was unsatisfied with pretty much everything about the show.
In fact, she went as far as to say "there was not a scene in the show" that she thought would be ok.