Imagine sharing a production set with a fellow actor who years prior portrayed the same beloved character you were currently playing. (Talk about pressure.) That’s what Jenna Ortega experienced when she found herself face-to-face with Christina Ricci on the set of Tim Burton’s Netflix series Wednesday.
Thirty-one years after Ricci debuted her role as Wednesday Addams in the original film The Addams Family, Ortega is taking the helm as the iconic daughter of the creepy household.
“I felt like I was genuinely having a panic attack when I was told [Ricci would be joining the cast],” Ortega told Empire magazine during a recent interview. “I was terrified. She’s a really cool lady. I was fine meeting her, but the first time we did a scene together and she had to see me done up the way she was done up 30 years ago, it was nerve-racking.”
Only two months away from the debut of Wednesday on Netflix, Ricci’s role is still unknown to the public. Whatever her part turns out to be, it doesn’t seem like it was something Ortega was thinking too much about. She was too focused on what Ricci did with her Wednesday Addams character three decades ago.
“It’s really important to me that I wasn’t ripping anyone off,” Ortega said. “Christina Ricci’s performance is flawlessly done. It’s pitch perfect, and I wouldn’t change anything about it, which is another reason it was hard for me to do this job.”
Earlier this year, Christina Ricci gave Jenna Ortega props when asked about her experience shooting Wednesday in Romania. “I just finished it two weeks ago, and it was great,” Ricci said. “It was great working with Tim, and Jenna is amazing. I think people are going to absolutely love her as Wednesday.”
Wednesday is scheduled to premiere on Netflix on November 23, 2022.