Jenna Ortega is the best thing about Wednesday. She put her own stamp on the Addams Family character – which wasn’t easy given the competition from her predecessor Christina Ricci, who had portrayed the role in two films in the ’90s. What unites both representations: an extremely reduced, but not expressionless play of expressions. Jenna Ortega took stillness to a new level with a horror trick.
Jenna Ortega never blinked in 8 episodes Wednesday
If you follow Jenna Ortega in Wednesday season one, you might not realize what’s “wrong” about her face. It’s a tiny but effective detail: she doesn’t blink. So really not at all. How did that happen? Teen Vogue told Ortega last year that she shot a scene on a whim, without blinking. Director Tim Burton was obviously thrilled. He demanded: “I want you to stop blinking.” (On Amazon: This Wednesday costume looks so real *)
Jenna Ortega wasn’t exactly sure what she was doing. “It just happened. Because every time we shot, I reset my face to zero. I relaxed all my facial muscles. Tim [Burton] liked the kubrick look where I look through my eyebrows. It’s a little intimidating.”
Actors like Jack Nicholson use it Kubrick look
especially in Stanley Kubrick films like The Shining. This is what is meant:
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Also the “Don’t Blink Technique” has a long history in Hollywood. Faces thus lack a decisive emotion that we associate with normal human expressions. If it falls away, we feel restless. Jenna Ortega was not the first to take advantage of this effect.
Anthony Hopkins did the no-blink trick
The most famous example of a film character who does not use eyeball lubrication is Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. In this way, the cannibal and serial killer embodied by Anthony Hopkins seemed to be able to look into the soul of their interlocutors (and the audience). Hopkins received an Oscar for his disturbing performance in the 1992 horror thriller.
A Gaze duel between Lecter and Wednesday or Anthony Hopkins and Jenna Ortega would be worth their weight in gold. Read our look ahead to Wednesday Season 2 here: what we know about the launch and plot.
Drama Around Wednesday: What Season 2 Needs To Do Better
Wednesday is one of the most successful and popular series of recent years. A second season has already been confirmed by Netflix. Nevertheless, there is criticism – especially from the leading actress Jenna Ortega herself. The series was apparently shot under great time pressure. Hendrik Busch and Matthias Hopf discuss what needs to improve in season 2.
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There are also shortcomings in terms of content: was the love triangle around Wednesday really appropriate? And does Wednesday even look like a series from master director Tim Burton Series? It is not yet known when Wednesday Season 2 will appear on Netflix.
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