Wednesday actor Jenna Ortega has recalled the “terrifying” time she had to act as if she was taking the drug ecstasy.
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Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Ortega recalled the months of preparation she did for a scene in The Fallout where her character has to take the drug.
“Before the project started, I remember thinking, How do you be high on ecstasy?” she said, explaining that her preparation for roles before that was less intense. In real life, “you never know what you’re going to say next or what your next facial expression is going to be, so I try not to do that for characters,” she told the publication.
Going back to her role in The Fallout, she continued: “I’d film myself doing crazy things in my room.”
On the day of shooting her scene, director Megan Park asked Ortega to do walk down a staircase, something she hadn’t rehearsed at home. “I realised I will never prepare [like that] again…because the stress when I saw those stairs and not having anything that was usable was terrifying.”
Recently, Ortega opened up about toxic trolls on “manipulative” social media in a new interview. As part of Variety’s Actors-on-Actors series, Ortega also became emotional when discussing the impact some of the social media trolls have on her.
“Social media, what it does to anyone our age, it’s such a comparing game,” Ortega began. “It influences bandwagon mentality. It’s very manipulative,” she told the publication.
Ortega went on to explain while she wants to channel her humour on social media, she’s careful with posts as she doesn’t want people to misinterpret them. She also said that the more famous she has become since the release of Wednesday, the more trolling she faces.
“They see your vulnerability and twist it in a way that you don’t always expect,” she said, before breaking down in tears.
“It’s so strange. Sorry, I didn’t mean to do this. It’s such a hard thing to balance. Because how do you be honest without jeopardising your own health and safety? It’s very easy to feel almost out of control.”
Since portraying Wednesday Addams in Netflix’s Wednesday, Ortega has starred in Scream VI and hosted Saturday Night Live. She was recently cast in a sequel to Beetlejuice opposite Michael Keaton, set to be released next year.
Ortega’s previous credits include roles in Jane The Virgin, Disney channel series Stuck In The Middle and the second season of You.