CELLO, GOODBYE
Stress test: ‘Wednesday’ star Jenna Ortega ‘cried hysterically’ and ‘pulled her hair’ while shooting popular Netflix series
‘Wednes day” star Jenna Ortega had a severe case of the “Sunday scaries.”
The 20-year-old actress has revealed that she cried “hysterically” and pulled out her hair over her hit Netflix series’ intense shooting schedule during a Q&A with director Tim Burton, Variety reported.
According to Ortega, the shoot — coupled with additional cello and fencing lessons — pushed the actress to her breaking point.
“It was show up to set two hours early, do that 12to 14-hour day, then go home and then get on a Zoom and have whatever lesson that I had,” Ortega recalled.
“Or show up to my apartment, [and] my cello teacher was already waiting for me. It was just constantly going, and if you could on a weekend, if we weren’t shooting the sixth day that week, it was, ‘All right, well then, we’ll get your lessons in on that day.’ “
The “You” actress said that she started the cello lessons months before filming started but still found the “Paint It, Black” cello sequence — the classic song was originally made famous by the Rolling Stones in 1966 — difficult to master as she had to hire a new teacher once filming began.
“I did not get any sleep. I pulled my hair out,” said Ortega. “There’s so many FaceTime calls that my dad answered of me hysterically crying.”
Ortega said that she was “very adamant about being as well prepared” because she wanted Burton to be able to use as much footage of her playing as possible. Ortega said that it is “more believable if you could see your face.”
Burton attempted to console his star by telling her the scene would be great no matter what.
“I didn’t know where my hands were even supposed to go,” Ortega said. “And then I had to make two cellos come out of one cello, which was ridiculous.”
Ortega also revealed that she choreographed the iconic dance scene in two days and later found out that she had tested positive for COVID-19 while filming.
“[Burton] came to my trailer about two days before we shot it and said, ‘Hey Jenna, so I know you said you wanted to choreograph this yourself,’ ” said Ortega. “He was like, ‘I know you got it, you’ve been working on it, I’m not even worried about it. I trust you.’ And I said, ‘Oh, yeah. You know, it’s all so good.’ ”
Ortega called the series “the most overwhelming job I’ve ever had,” according to Interview magazine.
“I would call my parents every night in a panic because I felt like it was different from any job I had ever done before where I typically have that time to sit into the character,” said Ortega. “We didn’t really have time for rehearsals. I remember it being very stressful and confusing. I did the best I could, but that’s probably the most overwhelming job I’ve ever had.”