Jenna Ortega Is the Leading Lady Gen Z Needs
If it feels like Jenna Ortega is everywhere you look these days, it’s because she is.
The former Disney star has launched her adult career and she’s in high demand at the moment. She can be seen in the newest “Scream” film in theaters; on HBO’s “The Fallout,” where she stars as a high school student dealing with the aftermaths of a school shooting, and will be seen in Ti West’s upcoming slasher film “X,” set to premiere at the SXSW festival starting next week.
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Yet she’s a bit removed from the craze of the moment, tucked away in Bucharest, Romania, where she is at work on her biggest project yet: playing Wednesday Addams in Netflix’s “Wednesday,” an upcoming series directed by Tim Burton costarring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzman and Gwendoline Christie.
“It’s funny. Maybe it’s because I’m out of the country, it just feels very detached,” Ortega says, over Zoom. “It’s exciting though, because I mean, I had an incredible time shooting ‘Scream.’ ‘The Fallout,’ I hold very close to my heart and it’s a sensitive one and it’s kind of nerve-wracking to put something like that out there. But both of those projects, I mean, I shot them within two weeks of each other, so it’s nice that we finally get to share it with the world.”
Ortega, who grew up in the Coachella Valley, was the star of Disney shows such as “Stuck in the Middle” and “Elena of Avalor,” before appearing in Netflix series “You,” which brought her out of the Disney realm.
“I remember once that came out, rather than being stalked on the street by children or families, it was middle-aged women,” Ortega says. “[I thought] ‘Oh wow, I’m reaching a different audience.’ You go straight from Disney to cussing and shouting. I don’t think that I had ever been in a world like that before.”
Hellbent on acting ever since she was six years old and seeing “Man on Fire” with Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning (and marched into her parents’ room and declared, ‘I want to be the Puerto Rican Dakota Fanning’), Ortega has had her sights on a long, lasting career.
“Ultimately, I don’t want to be pigeonholed and I want to do all that I can. I am somebody who is constantly searching for some sort of balance,” the 19 year-old says. “But ultimately yeah, because of the Disney name — they’re incredible, but it’s really hard to get away from that stereotype, especially because real acting isn’t really associated with Disney.”
Even once she had booked the “You” role and was shooting the first season, she was worried she’d be dubbed a fraud.
“I was in constant fear that I was going to be fired because I had forgotten how to act, because I was so used to the sitcom dialogue,” she says. “And it was really important to me, because I really want to do more indie films or dramatic films, that I’d be seeing in a new light as soon as possible. That’s always a hard transition. Sometimes people don’t even want to see you or won’t even accept your tape because of where you come from. So that was a struggle that I wanted to…I knew that it was a possibility and I wanted to act on it as quickly as I could.”
She was a big fan of the “Scream” movie franchise prior to booking the role in the newest film, having seen the first when she was 14 and consumed the rest immediately following. She gave it her all on her audition tape but didn’t expect to land the role because of her age.
“They typically cast 30-year-olds to play teenagers. I was 17, and I figured I wasn’t going to fit in with the crowd,” she says. “And when I got that call, it’s not often that you watch something and then get to become a part of that world later on. So very surreal.”
“The Fallout” has received positive critical and fan reception since it debuted at SXSW last year and arrived on HBO in late January, and Ortega speaks with pride of her work in the film.
“It was immensely important to me that it wasn’t insensitive. Telling a story that yes, I relate to because I grew up going to public school and I understand this fear, but also it’s not my story. And it’s something that we put this film out there to make people feel less alone, and I hope that it’s doing that,” she says. “I don’t think that I’ve ever done a project so Gen Z-oriented or that tells that story. And I can’t really think of any other film that speaks to my generation that way. I hope people enjoy or understand the message we’re trying to get across, and if not that’s all right.”
Though Ortega is largely missing out on the receiving end of her breakout moment, she’s actually happiest where she is: hard at work on another project.
“I’m addicted, it’s the problem,” she says of acting. “I love to work, I love to be busy. And when I’m not busy, I’m losing my mind.”
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