To deliver a performance of Merlina that was worthy of Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations (Best Actress nominations which she actually got), Jenna Ortega had to push the boundaries of the professional. This was stated by the histrion herself in a recent chat with the podcast Armchair Expert. However, she also acknowledges that it was for a good reason: to have a stronger lead character for the popular Netflix series.
According to Ortega, originally she believed that merlin It would be a show intended for a mature audience. However, after taking over the titular character and learning about his story arc, he realized that he was actually targeting young viewers.
“When I first signed on for the series, I didn’t have all the scripts. I thought it was going to be much darker and it wasn’t. I didn’t know what the tone was or how the soundtrack would sound,” explained the actor (via Variety).
On the other hand, she eventually adopted a very uncompromising stance in order to prevent Merlina from falling into too much nonsense because of some juvenile clichés.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had to be as assertive on a set as with merlin”, he confessed. “Everything that Merlina does (in the series), everything that I had to interpret, did not make any sense for her character. Being in a love triangle? It did not make sense. There was a line about a dress she had to wear to a school dance and she was like, ‘My God, I love it… I can’t believe she said that. I literally hate myself.’”
You might also be interested in: Jenna Ortega “cried hysterically” because of the brutal shooting of Merlina
In the end, there were times when Jenna Ortega completely refused to let Merlina go down certain paths that were inappropriate for the character, and that’s where she sensed an “unprofessional” attitude on her part.
“There were moments on set where I became unprofessional and started changing lines (in the script),” added the interpreter. “The script supervisor thought I was going to do something and then I had to sit down with the writers and they’d say, ‘Wait, what happened to the scene?’ And I had to go explain to them why I couldn’t do certain things.”
On the other hand, his protective instinct towards Merlina was accompanied by an interest in making her fully three-dimensional, with the possibility of her growing personally and emotionally, far from any cartoonish representation.
“I became very protective of her,” she said in conclusion. “You can’t star in a story and not have an emotional arc because then it’s boring and nobody likes you. When you’re little and you say very macabre and offensive things, it’s funny and endearing. But then you become a teenager and it’s disgusting and you know it. There are fewer excuses.”
The first season of merlin, with Tim Burton as director and executive producer, can be seen in its entirety in the Netflix catalog. A second batch of episodes is already on the way, with Jenna Ortega back in the shoes of the girl with the braids.
Antonio G. Spindola I have very bad memory. Out of solidarity with my memories, I choose to lose myself too. Preferably in a movie theater.
