Wednesday has solidified Jenna Ortega as a major Hollywood player. But that doesn’t mean she didn’t have jitters about shooting her very first scene in the Netflix hit.
“It was hilarious and silly and I couldn’t believe that Catherine Zeta-Jones was sitting across from me singing,” Ortega recalled. “I’ve always looked up to Catherine and her work and I remember finding out that she was a part of the job and freaking out.”
That scene found Ortega’s Wednesday in a car with Zeta-Jones, who plays family matriarch Morticia Addams, and Luis Guzmán, who plays Gomez, as the veteran performers sang Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams.”
Ortega now counts Zeta-Jones as a friend and mentor and cherishes their time together on set. “Every scene we do together — especially because Morticia’s character is kind of the most emotional, sensitive, and welcoming one on the show — for a character like Wednesday, these scenes are always the best, and most challenging, and exciting because it’s forcing me into an uncomfortable position for my character.”
Ortega joined Zeta-Jones and the Wednesday creative team Friday night at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery for a special Emmys FYC panel to kick off the show’s sophomore award campaign. The show’s first season garnered 12 Emmy nominations and four wins, and the crew is looking to repeat that success for Season 2.
For Ortega, Season 2 marks a major career milestone as she steps into the role of producer alongside her starring duties. “As a producer, the way that I break down a script and analyze a script is much different. It’s actually given me a great understanding because as an actor you are involved in the story, but you are still primarily focused on your story,” Ortega explained. “As a producer, it has given me a greater understanding of all of the things that are coming into play to make a scene. In a way, you become much more creative.”
A major revelation of the FYC event came from the music and creative team, who detailed how Lady Gaga came to be involved in Season 2 with a cameo and the song “Dead Dance.” According to music supervisor Jen Malone, securing the superstar was surprisingly easy — the real challenge was keeping the news on lockdown. They managed to keep it quiet until about four weeks before the episode premiered.
Creator and executive producer Miles Millar recalled that the singer came to Ireland, and they had a big Netflix meeting where they said they had to keep it secret. “We said, ‘No one can say anything’ and literally the next day it was in the Daily Mail completely leaked,” Millar recounted.
Meanwhile, Zeta-Jones shared her favorite moment of Season 2: a fencing match between Morticia and Wednesday. “It takes the mother-daughter, Morticia and teenage daughter Wednesday, and their contentious relationship and physicalized it into a sword fight,” Zeta-Jones said. “For me, selfishly, it harked back to my Zorro days and I thought I hadn’t done that in so long.”
The Oscar winner fondly recalled a late-night rehearsal for the duel, sharing that they had to find a creative space to practice after hours. “It was one o’clock in the morning, we found a tent to rehearse it … it was surreal,” she remembered. “We were overtired and we were laughing and giggling. It was a wonderful moment because it was like we were mother and daughter.”
Zeta-Jones also praised the show’s unsung hero: Thing. “Thing, he is such a big part of the show,” she observed. “He’s on Jenna’s shoulder and he’s around all the time. I have a scene in Season 2 where he is reprimanding me for treating [him] badly and not respecting him. I am talking to nothing. It surprises me the emotion that comes out. It’s a tender and beautifully crafted performance. You see it on screen and it’s magic. You love him. He’s such a part of the family.”
