Producer Slams Jenna Ortega’s ‘Selfish and Entitled’ Behavior in Explosive Interview
TV producer Steven DeKnight recently criticized actress Jenna Ortega for her comments directed towards the Netflix writers of “The Addams Family” spin-off.
Steven DeKnight, the writer behind the popular TV series “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” criticized Ortega for her recent comments on a podcast.
Ortega, who stars in the Netflix show Wednesday, revealed that she had altered some of her lines during filming.
It is because she felt that her character lacked coherence. DeKnight, however, called her actions “selfish.”
Hollywood producer Steven DeKnight blasts "Wednesday" star Jenna Ortega as "entitled and toxic" in a series of tweets. pic.twitter.com/jMODHXhNKL
— Def Noodles (@defnoodles) March 15, 2023
During an appearance on Dax Shepard’s podcast on March 6th, she stated: “There was a line about a dress she has to wear for a school dance, and she says, ‘Oh, my God, I love it. Ugh — I can’t believe I said that. I literally hate myself.’ ‘I had to go, ‘No’”
“There were times on that set where I even became almost unprofessional in a sense where I just started changing lines,” she added.
Steven said in a tweet: “I love talking with actors about their lines/stories. But by the nature of the beast, they don’t have the full picture (in TV) of where the story is going and why some lines are needed for the whole to make sense.”
He continued talking about Jenna Ortega.”She’s young, so maybe she doesn’t know any better (but she should). She should also ask herself how she would feel if the showrunners gave an interview and talked about how difficult she was and refused to perform the material.”
This kind of statement is beyond entitled and toxic. I love her work, but life’s too short to deal with people like this in the business.
— Steven DeKnight (@stevendeknight) March 7, 2023
Online users’ reactions
Twitter users questioned if DeKnight would have made the same remarks about a male performer.
One individual wrote, “Goodness, the entertainment industry is full of male performers who use ‘method’ acting and intentionally make life tough for everyone. And yet Edward Norton still has a career. However, if a woman says anything even remotely similar, she is taken down.”
Another individual added, “So basically, she should just go back to the 1950s and do what she is told. Say what they want her to say, and have no creative input.”
Class act all the way. I worked for them on Smallville back in the day, and they were absolutely lovely. This is what professionalism looks like. https://t.co/0qo9pgDGeL
— Steven DeKnight (@stevendeknight) March 7, 2023
After receiving backlash from fans on Twitter, DeKnight expressed his admiration for Ortega’s acting abilities.
He emphasized that despite his anger over her public statements, he believed she was an incredibly talented individual.
He went on to say that Jenna Ortega deserved all the recognition and accolades she had received for her talent.
Okay, so from this point forward I'm just going to block the willfully obtuse comments about the Ortega kerfuffle. To be clear, the issue isn't her expressing her opinion to the showrunner/writers. It's badmouthing them in public for how they wrote the character.
— Steven DeKnight (@stevendeknight) March 14, 2023
Wednesday ranks as the second most successful English-language production on Netflix, right behind Stranger Things.
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