Soon after its release, Wednesday went viral and went on to become the most-watched web series of all time. With excellent acting and an intriguing plot, the Jenna Ortega starrer received praise for its dramatic cinematography and trending dance moves.
Now, The lead actress Jenna is receiving heavy criticism from producer Steven DeKnight, who even described her as “difficult” to deal with, despite the fact that fans are really excited about the sequel.
On March 6, Jenna made her debut on the Armchair Expert Podcast. She described the development of her character and acknowledged that the scriptwriting needed improvement.
The actress continued by saying that she occasionally had the freedom to alter her lines and even say “no” to plot issues.
Steven DeKnight got offended by her remarks and called her out for disclosing her artistic differences in public. The Wednesday producer ultimately mentioned Jenna’s age for what he considers an “immature” action, branding her poisonous and unprofessional in the process.
Steven DeKnight reacted,
“She’s (Jenna Ortega) young, so may be 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 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 this business.”
I had not heard about this. It should of course be investigated to the fullest extent and condemned if true. Period. https://t.co/rOAGsx7rV4
— Steven DeKnight (@stevendeknight) March 15, 2023
On Twitter, critics have been attacking Steven in the meanwhile, and he is aggressively responding.
Revolting. https://t.co/IhM6GUIWzV
— Steven DeKnight (@stevendeknight) March 15, 2023
She's fantastic, which I keep saying over and over. It was an unfortunate gaffe to say that publicly. We've all had them. Learning experience for everyone. Me included. https://t.co/mEr0GobS85
— Steven DeKnight (@stevendeknight) March 15, 2023
Or about her performance, which was fantastic. I sincerely hope that clears it up.
— Steven DeKnight (@stevendeknight) March 15, 2023
Absolutely! Again, I can't stress this enough: She's an amazing talent. It was just an unfortunate situation to expose creative differences publicly, and also I'll admit that writers are on edge because of the impending strike, myself included. A perfect storm. https://t.co/hQw6qBseIn
— Steven DeKnight (@stevendeknight) March 15, 2023
In case you are not aware, Jenna said in a recent episode of the Armchair Expert podcast,
“When I first signed onto 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.”
She added,
“Everything that Wednesday does, everything I had to play, did not make sense for her character at all. Her being in a love triangle? It made no sense. There was a line about a dress she has to wear for a school dance and she says, ‘Oh my god I love it. Ugh, I can’t believe I said that. I literally hate myself.’ I had to go, ‘No.’ There were times on that set where I even became almost unprofessional in the sense where I just started changing lines. The script supervisor thought I was going with something and then I had to sit down with the writers, and they’d be like, ‘Wait, what happened to the scene?’ And I’d have to go and explain why I couldn’t go do certain things.”
You can watch Wednesday on Netflix.
