Image via Getty
Jenna Ortega put her foot on the gas and hasn’t slowed down. We’re only three months into 2022, and the actress has already starred in Scream—one of the biggest movies of the year so far—is set to star as Wednesday Addams in Tim Burton’s upcoming show Wednesday, and is now gearing up for the upcoming release of A24’s Xon March 18. The slasher flick follows a group of young filmmakers in the late 1970s who travel to rural Texas to make an adult film. They stay at an old guesthouse in the middle of nowhere and when their elderly hosts catch them in the act, their stay quickly turns dark. At face value, X might appear to be just another horror film, but it’s so much more than that.
As it goes for most A24 films, X is so aesthetically pleasing and the two storylines simultaneously happening within the film keep you locked in. There’s a message about the power and influence sex workers have that weaves into the gorier, bloodier storyline about the group’s creepy hosts. Even the most gruesome scenes are uniquely done. While other slasher films make you wince and look away, X’s cinematography is so stunning that it forces you to keep your eyes glued to the screen so you don’t miss a second of it. The film is directed by Ti West, who is best known for his work in horror films, including The Innkeepers, The Roost, and The House of the Devil, and working with the director was a significant motivator for Ortega to take on the role, as well as X being “the most outrageous script” she has ever read.
“It’s one of my favorite filming experiences I would say. We were shooting in New Zealand, which I’ve never been to before. It’s got to be one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever been to and I would live there if I could. But then, I was really excited at the opportunity to work with Ti West, just because I had been a fan of his previous horror films,” Ortega tells Complex about the project. “When I had conversations with him about possibly doing this job, he just had a lot of interesting ideas. I don’t think I’ve ever worked with somebody who’s so well prepared or so certain in their vision. That’s really exciting for an actor just because sometimes you go on set not really knowing what to expect.”
The actress said West sometimes got a bit ambitious with his setups or the camera tricks he would use, but aside from that, he always stuck to the schedule and the actors had a clear understanding of exactly what they were doing during each scene. That sort of direction reflects on the actors’ performances in the film, and Ortega, along with her castmates, delivered. “You already knew what your intention was going into the scene, how Ti wanted it and you also knew that you wouldn’t move on from a shot until Ti was certain that he got what he needed,” she says. “That also helps you rest a little bit better at night. I know I’ll never do a project like it again.”
In X, Ortega plays Lorraine Day, a young woman who joins the trip to assist her boyfriend RJ (Owen Campbell) with filming. She finds herself experiencing the behind-the-scenes of the pornography industry—a world that was, until then, foreign to her. Compared to the other women in the group, the two adult film stars Maxine (Mia Goth) and Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow), Lorraine is much more reserved and introverted. The crew nicknames her “church mouse,” but without giving too much away, she eventually shakes that label when she finds her voice and breaks out of her cocoon.
While Maxine and Bobby-Lynne feel Lorraine is disapproving of their line of work at first, Ortega says her character was simply trying to gain a better understanding of this new world. “With my character, Lorraine, there’s a fine line of, yes, she grew up a very conservative, Christian girl, wasn’t comfortable with the environment she was in or the people that she was surrounded by with very different backgrounds,” the actress says. “This isn’t her thinking that she’s better than anybody else or looking down upon anybody else, but it’s just more genuine curiosity or misunderstanding as to what that lifestyle can be like and why certain people participate in such a thing.”
Lorraine is easily one of the most compelling characters in the film. She is out of her element, and while she seems nervous at first, it quickly turns into curiosity and admiration for what the women are doing. “I don’t think that she’s a judgmental person. She’s initially seen as the stereotype that she’s actually not at all. There were more layers to this character than initially anticipated when I first auditioned,” Ortega says. “She was kind of viewed as somebody who didn’t really speak, like this weakling, somebody who didn’t really belong and wasn’t really about what they were making and she was looked down upon. It was really exciting to see her put her foot down and make what she wanted to be heard, but then also understanding that there’s nothing more beautiful, exciting, than women coming together and uplifting one another.”
Just like Lorraine, Ortega has an admiration for the artistic and empowering element that adult film stars and sex workers possess when creating. “It’s so upsetting how stigmatized and how mistreated that community of work is because it really is such a powerful thing,” she says. “I don’t think that these women are appreciated enough or acknowledged for how much can come from that field. It was really exciting not only to see three women coming together but then also show the sweeter side.”
While Lorraine has a hint of childlike innocence to her, this role is still a big leap for Ortega. The 19-year-old is a Disney Channel alum who starred as Harley Diaz in Stuck in the Middle at the start of her career. She has since appeared in a variety of projects including Yes Day, Season 2 of Netflix’s You, and 2021’s The Fallout, which is a powerful film about a teenager dealing with the aftermath of a school shooting. Watching her career evolve and unfold the way it has since her Disney Channel days makes it evident that the actress is on the right track. But even a lead role on a show wasn’t enough to open doors for her initially: “I think it’s kind of weird because it’s happened all organically in a sense. I do remember leaving Disney Channel being really nervous because it was really hard to get into audition rooms. My main goal has always been film, and I wasn’t well-known enough. I didn’t have any connection to the industry.”
“A lot of times being a child actor, especially a Latina, they’re hiring to play the daughter of someone or the younger version of someone and those are typically white actresses,” Ortega, who played the child version of Gina Rodriguez’s character in Jane the Virgin, continues. “I remember just being really discouraged at a point in time. But after doing projects like You on Netflix and things like that where I think people saw me in an older light or in a different light, I started to get more opportunities.” Transitioning out of being a child star is challenging, and very few actors have done it successfully. Ortega’s journey so far has slowly and naturally evolved from shows for kids to a horror movie about pornography, but she says that all happened intentionally. “A big fear for me is I’ve never wanted to be pigeonholed. I never want to be seen as one thing. So if I can get my hands in as many bowls as I possibly can or have all of my projects not really resemble one another, that would be really, really, cool,” she says. “I tend to do a lot of horror, but even my horror films I think are pretty different in themselves, which is enough for me and also keeps me on my toes and I think forces me to work in a different way or exercise a muscle in a different way. And I love a challenge. That’s what it comes down to when I’m choosing new projects.”
Ortega was born in California to Mexican and Puerto Rican parents. This year she will play the lead role in Netflix’s Wednesday as the iconic Wednesday Addams from The Addams Family. Catherine Zeta-Jones will star as Morticia Addams, while Luis Guzmán will play Wednesday’s father, Gomez Addams. Like in The Addams Family, the ethnicity and heritage of the characters she has played in the past aren’t always specified. While they might not state that the character she’s playing is a Latina, seeing someone like Ortega land more and more projects is impactful for the people in her community. For Latinx fans seeking representation in the shows and movies they consume, seeing her name in the credits is sometimes enough. Someone’s background doesn’t always have to be announced for it to have an impact. “I feel like now, especially it’s definitely better if it’s unnoticed,” the actress says. “I feel like when they first started representing diversity in cinema or film and television, it was like the actors had to carry the flags on their back and had to say the traditional thing or eat the traditional thing or whatever it may have been, which is almost like, not more discriminatory, but it’s not diversity being done the way that it should be done.”
Latinas, specifically, have been boxed in for a long time in terms of what roles they were given. In the few instances when they are seen on TV and film, it is usually an oversexualized woman, a maid, or a child’s caretaker. Ortega is joining the small number of Latinas in Hollywood who are taking roles that show how multidimensional this group of women is, and that they are more than where they come from. Ortega also shouldn’t be expected to just audition to play Latinx characters, because she can do it all. She can star in a horror, drama, or comedy film, and in any role she plays, she is representing her community and doing it well. “What we see on our screen should reflect what the real world looks like. It’s much more authentic and I think much more welcoming for audiences, especially for people who are trying to get used to more color on screens,” she says. “Even just having that recognition and making that connection in your mind I think is really important, not only for everyone to see but also for the people of color that are being represented.”
She added: “Especially for Latinas because we haven’t always been shown in the best light. You could play strong, powerful women who don’t need to use their background as an excuse for anything or people can’t just be who they are, that’s definitely better.”
Catch Jenna Ortega in X, which also stars Kid Cudi, Mia Goth, Brittany Snow, Martin Henderson, Owen Campbell, and Stephen Ure, hitting theaters on March 18.