Jenna Ortega was perfectly cast as Wednesday Addams in Netflix’s Wednesday, and the decision may have been helped by her gory death in another horror movie. Though Wednesday was her big breakout role in 2022, Ortega had already been familiar with the horror genre for nearly a decade beforehand, as her second feature film was 2013’s Insidious: Chapter 2. The same year that Wednesday debuted, Ortega appeared in four horror movies: Scream (2022), Studio 666, X, and American Carnage, combining to cement her status as a certified Scream Queen.
Though Ortega emerged as a Final Girl in Scream (2022), not all of her horror movie characters were able to survive their films’ brutal massacres. Given Wednesday and the rest of the Addams family’s track record of facing killers and prevailing, it may have seemed that Ortega’s Final Girl roles would have been what inspired her casting in Netflix’s TV show. However, a story from Jenna Ortega’s audition for Wednesday suggests that her most brutal horror movie death may have actually been what sealed her casting in the lead role.
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Jenna Ortega’s Gory X Death Likely Helped With Her Wednesday Casting
According to the actress herself, Jenna Ortega auditioned for Wednesday while still wearing her gory facial prosthetic and makeup from her death scene in X. The actress was still filming Ti West’s 2022 movie X when she had her Zoom meeting with Wednesday director/executive producer Tim Burton, with the call happening just after her character Lorraine’s death scene. While every X death is brutal, Lorraine’s is quite shocking as her face is shot while trying to flee Pearl’s house. Ortega’s face was therefore covered with fake blood and a huge gash, arguably looking scarier than Wednesday’s CGI Hyde monster.
Ortega recalled that she and Burton both laughed at the makeup and circumstances during the audition, which seems to have instantly provided a sense of ease and comfort for their first meeting. Not only did it remove some tension from the meeting, but the makeup certainly helped prove that Ortega was dedicated to the craft of making a horror project, including using old-school prosthetics familiar to Tim Burton’s own classic horror movies. Wednesday Addams is also well known for her trademark macabre humor, so this audition moment may have been when Burton decided that Ortega was perfect for the role.
Why X Needed To Kill Off Lorraine (Despite Jenna Ortega’s Star Power)
Though Jenna Ortega survived Scream (2022) and would soon prove her star power further with her leading role in Wednesday, her role in X was relatively small compared to her subsequent horror projects. Furthermore, killing off Lorraine erased any chance of Ortega returning for X’s upcoming sequel, MaXXXine, alongside Mia Goth’s titular Final Girl. However, though Ortega’s presence likely would have increased the anticipation for MaXXXine, Lorraine’s death was necessary in order to end X with Maxine as the sole survivor, having finally put an end to Pearl’s terror streak.
Wednesday
- Release Date
- November 16, 2022
- Cast
- Jenna Ortega , Catherine Zeta-Jones , Luis Guzman , Gwendoline Christie , Riki Lindhome , Jamie McShane , Christina Ricci , Hunter Doohan , Emma Myers , Joy Sunday
- Streaming Service(s)
- Netflix
- Directors
- Tim Burton , James Marshall , Gandja Monteiro
