Wednesday star Jenna Ortega has become a bit of a name in Hollywood by doing bold and unconventional roles.
She was in A24’s horror film X (2022), directed by Ti West, and starred Lorraine Day, a reserved young woman whose life career goes wrong into the adult film industry unexpectedly.
It was loved for its next twist on horror mixed with a bit of sexuality and suspense.
In addition to Mia Goth, 30, as aspiring adult film star Maxine and elderly lady Pearl, and 40-year-old Kid Cudi (Scott Mescudi) as Marine Corps veteran Jackson Hollis, the slasher features Allison Williams, 32, as not only an art dealer named Zoe, but also a knife-wielding person.
As it turns out, Ortega was playing a character who begins in the background but who grows more curious about the adult equivalent and eventually joins in an intimate scene with Cudi, then 37.
In an interview with IndieWire, the Scream star said she was excited to film explicit scenes in the 2022 horror movie when she was just 19.
Lorraine’s character arc defied the typical disposition of a character arc.
Ortega shared, “I had never read anything like it before, and that was super-enticing to me.”
“I love that my character comes off one way initially, and then flips the script mid-film.”
She continued, “I was really eager to do something that I had never done before and put myself in an environment that was so different from anything I’ve ever filmed.”
At first, Lorraine did not have an explicit scene, but as filming continued West expanded Lorraine’s storyline to an intimate scene with co star Kid Cudi.
Ortega recalled, “That wasn’t a conscious decision.”
“The scene actually wasn’t initially in the script.
She further added, “When I signed on, that wasn’t a part [of the film].”
“It was something that came later on. … [It was] flipping the stereotype over and just taking somebody who you wouldn’t really see in that position suddenly in that position.”
The shift, Ortega said, helped deepen her role as Lorraine.
She concluded, “I think it adds to the spontaneity of the decision and also just the spontaneity of the film.”
Jenna Ortega hasn’t only made headlines for X-rated scenes with a huge age gap, that’s not the first time.
Fans have slammed Ortega over her recent role in Miller’s Girl, in which she plays a student in an explosive affair with her teacher (played by Martin Freeman).