- Jenna Ortega said she and Christina Ricci haven't compared their portrayals of Wednesday Addams.
- Ortega said in a video for MTV News that her Wednesday is "very different" from Ricci's.
Jenna Ortega said she and Christina Ricci never compared their portrayals of the Wednesday Addams, even on the set of their new show based on the character.
Ortega sat down with another "Wednesday" costar, Emma Myers, in a video for MTV News released Friday to discuss the Netflix series. The show is a continuation of the Addams Family universe, which began as a 1964 television series. Ricci portrayed Wednesday in the 1991 movie "The Addams Family" and its 1993 sequel "Addams Family Values."
When Myers asked Ortega if she asked Ricci for advice on playing Wednesday, Ortega revealed they never talked about the beloved character.
"I think when she was on set, neither one of us said 'Wednesday' once to each other. I think because she knew not to say anything to me because, what is she gonna say or do? And I don't think she wanted to get in the way of my performance and feel like she was overbearing," she said.
Ortega also said she didn't want to dwell on Ricci's past and "pull up something that she did 30 years ago" because she wanted her to take on the character to be original. She added that the setting and characters in "Wednesday" provide a distinction.
"And I think, I mean, our show has superpowers and you know, outcasts and evil ghost pilgrims. So, they're two very different people, our Wednesdays, I think," Ortega continued.
Ricci seemed to be impressed with Ortega's performance, telling Variety in June that the actress is "incredible" in the show. She plays a Nevermore Academy teacher named Marilyn Thornhill in the series and appears in all eight episodes of the show's first season, per IMDB.
"Wednesday" also features Gwendoline Christie, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Luis Guzmán.
In an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on November 16, Ortega returned the praise, calling Ricci a "sweetheart" who is "generous and professional and impressive as an individual." Still, she acknowledged that her sinister sense of humor may have startled the "Yellowjackets" star.
"You know, I'm dressed up the way she was 30 years ago, and she's getting to watch me, but I know her as Wednesday in my head, and I think, socially, I can be kind of hard to communicate with at times," Ortega said. "And sometimes I would say something as a joke, and I think I have a very dark sense of humor, and she would go, 'Uh, that's dark…'"