Anyone who has been following Jenna Ortega's career in recent years probably won't be surprised to learn that she has aspirations to do more than just act in movies. As demonstrated by controversial actions behind the scenes of the Netflix series Wednesday, she doesn't just want to read words off script pages; she wants to pursue more creative control. One specific goal of hers is to direct a feature, and she already knows what film she wants to make.
Audiences will soon get to see Jenna Ortega back up on the big screen in Hurry Up Tomorrow, and V Magazine has published an interview conducted by co-star Abel Tesfaye (a.k.a. The Weeknd) in which she discusses her creative ambitions. She specifically mentions a project she has been developing for the last decade, and it's something she wants to both star in and direct. Said Ortega,
This one in particular, I see myself in it, but I really want to direct. That’s probably the main thing that I want to do. I see that for myself. I just feel that’s the way my brain wants to work and think, and that’s how I even view my acting sometimes.
Death Of A Unicorn, which just hit theaters a few weeks ago thanks to A24, is the first movie in Jenna Ortega's career that has her credited as an executive producer, but she also has that same credit on Hurry Up Tomorrow and the upcoming Wednesday Season 2. That experience has been a toe dip for the actress-cum-filmmaker, and she says in the interview that being a producer has "informed" her effort to get her dream project made.
Ortega says that efforts to actually make the mystery movie have only started recently, but her experience is being put to good use:
There’s so much that goes on behind the scenes that I wasn’t aware of. I’m just putting the puzzle pieces together in my head. So I think I needed a few years of that under my belt to understand the order of doing things. Everything that I’ve done in my career, I feel like there’s a reason why I didn’t make this story at an earlier time, but I’m really excited about it.
Jenna Ortega is currently one of the most popular talents working in Hollywood, and she is using that power as a means to achieve artistic goals. She is coming off the blockbuster success of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and we'll soon see her back playing Wednesday Addams, but she tells The Weeknd that she is principally interested in exploring new areas:
Then there are a couple of other things I’m trying to develop right now, but it’s strictly off of being inspired by another actor or a writer, characters that I’ve never really gotten the opportunity to play before. They’re very different preparation processes. So for me, it’s always fun to try something new. But I think oftentimes to get the stories that you want to get made nowadays, you kind of have to start them yourself.
Fans will be able to see Jenna Ortega on the big screen in just a few weeks as Hurry Up Tomorrow will be playing in theaters on May 16, and Wednesday Season 2 is scheduled to arrive for those with a Netflix subscription on August 6. As for Ortega's debut as a director, we'll continue to keep our ears to the ground for news about further development.
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