Jenna Ortega once worried that she and director Tim Burton were not working well together on Wednesday. The actress stated that he was so quiet that she didn’t know what to make of their relationship during the first season of the show. She was also young, far from home, and working with a major filmmaker. Later, the series became a huge hit, leaving Ortega shocked by its success.
Jenna Ortega reveals why she feared her collaboration with Tim Burton on ‘Wednesday’ wasn’t working
During an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Ortega explained why she struggled to connect with Burton at first. The actress said, “I didn’t think that it was working at all.” She admitted that she may have been “in my own head,” but she had never worked with someone like Burton before. She soon learned that the director was “very, very shy” and often stayed quiet.
Ortega said Burton’s silence made her think they were not connecting. “He does not speak,” she explained, adding that she sometimes felt he was not talking to her. Burton also kept some distance to give her room to develop her character. But Ortega said it made her more stressed when she was working abroad at 17 and 18 years old.
The actress also struggled to watch the show before its 2022 release. She received a couple of episodes early but could not get through the first five or 10 minutes. “I don’t really like to watch myself,” she explained, saying she felt “mortified.” When the series became popular and fans began recognizing her, she said the sudden attention felt like “some sick mind game.”
Ortega now feels much more at ease with the Wednesday cast and crew. She called the team “lovely and kind” and said everyone works well together. She also said that she first encountered the character around six years ago, so it feels more natural to her to return to the role now. With the team more comfortable in their roles, Ortega can enjoy the experience in a way she could not during the first season.
