Daredevil producer calls Jenna Ortega entitled and toxic
Veteran Hollywood producer and filmmaker Steven DeKnight has condemned “Wednesday” star Jenna Ortega for her conduct on set of the show. On Twitter, DeKnight expressed his disapproval of Ortega’s actions, which had been discussed on Dax Shepard’s podcast “Armchair Expert.”
DeKnight described Ortega’s “entitled” and “beyond toxic” behaviour on set, which included rewriting lines in the screenplay and acting unprofessionally.
Despite his fondness for “talking with actors about their lines/stories,” DeKnight, whose credits include “Daredevil” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” has found that performers”don’t have the full pictures (in TV) of where the story is going and why some lines are needed for the whole to make sense.” He stated that Ortega “should” be aware of how things operate, but that her age was to fault for her behaviour.
Ortega, who is only 20, said on the podcast that she was “extremely possessive” of her Addams Family role and that she sometimes put her “foot down” on set, bordering on being “unprofessional.”
She said that having her character involved in a “love triangle” made “no sense,” and that she had told the authors “No” on several occasions, even going so far as to “change lines” in the screenplay on occasion. She even said that she was generally unhappy with how she was doing.
Wednesday was a huge hit for Netflix despite Ortega’s antics. In the three weeks after its release on November 16, more than 150 million homes watched it, and it swiftly soared to become the streaming giant’s second-largest English-language programme of all time with 1.02 billion hours viewed.
Despite the show’s success, the creators didn’t think twice about reuniting with Ortega. Ortega will reprise her role as Wednesday’s host for a second season, and she will also produce the show.
Ultimately, Ortega’s unethical on-set behaviour didn’t dampen the popularity of “Wednesday.” As an executive producer, she may have some fascinating input on Season 2’s production.