The One Thing That Sent Jenna Ortega Over the Edge Filming Wednesday
For the 20-year-old actress, playing a gifted young psychic was anything but a piece of cake.
The supernatural coming-of-age horror show Wednesday has become the Netflix sensation of 2022. The eight-episode series captivated viewers as they followed Wednesday Addams' journey at Nevermore Academy. Millions of viewers were glued to their screens as the child full of woe learned to use her superpowers while investigating a mysterious and highly dangerous serial killer. But while it was a fun ride for viewers, filming the hit show turned out to be a living hell for the star.
Jenna Ortega recently opened up about her on-set experiences during a Q&A panel (via Variety). As it turns out, the filming schedule was insanely intense and the actress had to learn a lot of new skills in addition to working directly on the set.
"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.
Wednesday introduced its title character as an extremely talented teenager who seems to have mastered everything. She writes books, she fences professionally, she speaks German, she canoes, she plays the cello like a virtuoso, and God knows what else. But while Wednesday had her whole life to master these skills, Jenna had to learn everything in a very short period of time.
And she didn't just have to portray an average cellist. She had to learn to play the most difficult song, originally composed for two instruments, to perfection. The actress revealed that she enrolled in fencing and cello lessons just a few months prior to the eight-month shoot in Romania, and continued to learn during the filming, which proved to be extremely challenging. After a full day of filming, Ortega would come home to find her cello teacher waiting for her. And when the crew had a weekend off, she was supposed to practice.
"I did not get any sleep. I pulled my hair out," Ortega said. "There's so many FaceTime calls that my dad answered of me hysterically crying."
Add to that the fact that Ortega suffered from COVID while filming her viral dance, and it's hard not to feel sorry for the young actress. Hopefully, the environment on the set of Season 2, recently announced by Netflix, will be much more benign.