"Wednesday" star Jenna Ortega has addressed controversial comments about how scripts for the show did not make sense to her character.
Earlier this year, the actor who plays the titular role in Netflix's hit comedy-horror series said she had to "put her foot down" during early readings of the scripts. But, in a new interview with Vanity Fair, Ortega admitted she could have framed her words differently.
"I probably could have used my words better in describing all of that," she admitted. "I think, oftentimes, I'm such a rambler. I think it was hard because I felt like had I represented the situation better, it probably would've been received better."
Ortega faced backlash in March during an appearance on Dax Sheperd's "Armchair Expert" podcast, when she took aim at the writers of the show.
"When I read the entire series, I realized, Oh, this is for younger audiences," she said at the time, according to the Independent.
"When I first signed on to the show, I didn't have all the scripts. I thought it was going to be a lot darker. It wasn't.
"I didn't know what the tone was, or what the score would sound like. I don't think I've ever had to put my foot down more on a set in a way that I had to on 'Wednesday.'"
Ortega added, "everything that 'Wednesday' does, everything I had to play, did not make sense for her character at all."
The criticism was swift from film and TV writers after her comments, which came just before their strike against the studios. Many writers labeled her as "toxic" and "entitled" on social media, with some even carrying signs on the picket lines saying, "Without writers, Jenna Ortega will have nothing to punch up!" Variety reported.
"Everything that I said felt so magnified … It felt almost dystopian to me," Ortega, 21, told Vanity Fair. "I felt like a caricature of myself."
The ordeal taught her a valuable lesson though, she said.
"You're never going to please everybody, and as someone who naturally was a people pleaser, that was really hard for me to understand. Some people just may not like you," she concluded, "and that's entirely fine."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.