TV producer Steven DeKnight has some choice words for Wednesday leading star Jenna Ortega — and fans are sharpening their pitchforks in response. While appearing on a recent episode of the Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard podcast, Ortega said there was a lot of pushback between she and the script supervisor over the arc of her character.
During the early stages, Ortega got to a point where she felt the current script “did not make sense for her character at all.”
“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,” she confessed on the podcast.
Out of protectiveness for Wednesday Addams, Ortega secretly began tweaking her lines. She said it eventually snowballed into her and the script writers having a huddle to discuss the future of Wednesday in the show.
“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,” she recalled.
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Though Ortega admits her actions were borderline “unprofessional,” she explains she was only trying to protect the legacy of the Addams family and make the show the best it could be.
Many fans would argue this is Ortega’s best work yet. Others, meanwhile, are up in arms about Ortega’s behavior on set.
DeKnight, who’s most notably known for producing Buffy The Vampire Slayer, wasn’t shy in voicing his disapproval of Ortega and how “she clearly sh*t on the showrunners/writers publicly.”
“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,” he tweeted.
In response to his own tweet, he 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.”
Wednesday fans came at DeKnight’s throat, shaming him for criticizing Ortega’s literal judgment of character.
Others noted that while she may be considered a young actress, she actually has a litany of reputable acting credits under her belt. Thus proving, she’s earned the right to challenge a script.
DeKnight has since taken to Twitter to clarify he wasn’t mad with Ortega “expressing her opinion” to the writers, but rather the way she was publicly “badmouthing” them.
Clearly, the people in charge like what they see because Ortega has been tapped to executive produce season two.
