Jenna Ortega obviously spared no effort for her role as Wednesday Addams in the horror comedy series Wednesday. The 20-year-old actress learned to play the cello especially for this. In the scenes in which Wednesday plays the cello (including the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black"), Ortega is actually at work.
She told Wired magazine that she started taking classes twice a week two months before filming began. "I probably couldn't play that well now," she admitted, but continued, "It's something I want to pursue. I have a lot of respect for anyone who plays the cello. I think it's such a lovely instrument ." The young actress published pictures on Twitter in February that showed her practicing.
But the string instrument wasn't the only skill Ortega picked up for the role. She also took fencing lessons for the series directed by Tim Burton. She also learned a few words of German for a scene in which she meets German tourists. However, she couldn't remember the German word for the number 258 during the shoot, so she simply pronounced the number in English. "I had only started German lessons a week ago. I had no idea, I felt so stupid," said Ortega.
Perhaps an even greater sacrifice, however, was that Ortega had to give up her vegan diet during filming, most of which took place in Romania. It was simply difficult to find enough vegan alternatives locally, the actress suffered from deficiency symptoms. Since filming she has been eating dairy products and fish again. "So I'm currently a pescetarian," she explained, also in the Wired interview.
But all the effort was clearly worth it: "Wednesday" was streamed 341 million hours within a week of its release - more than any other English-language series on Netflix to date. After less than five weeks, "Wednesday" is already in the top 5 most successful English-language series on Netflix of all time. The reference value for this is the streaming time in the first 28 days after publication.
Sources: "Wired"
