Christina Ricci was not the first person to play or voice Wednesday Addams, but her deadpan goth performance in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values is the most famous interpretation of the character. So it’s no wonder that Jenna Ortega was “terrified” to portray Gomez and Morticia’s daughter in Netflix’s Wednesday. It didn’t calm her nerves when Ricci joined the cast in an undisclosed role, either.
“I felt like I was genuinely having a panic attack when I was told,” the X breakout told Empire. “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.” How do you think young Misty on Yellowjackets feels?
Ortega continued:
“It’s really important to me that I wasn’t ripping anyone off. 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.”
As long as there isn’t a scene set on Thanksgiving, no one will accuse of Ortega of copying Ricci (and if they do, well, Ricci copied Lisa Loring first).
Wednesday premieres on Netflix on November 23.
(Via Empire)