Jenna Ortega Confesses She Had Just 2 Days To Choreograph Her Own ‘Wednesday’ Dance That’s Gone Viral

Netflix

The actress said ‘Wednesday’s director Tim Burton mistakenly believed she had already figured out her character’s dance just 2 days before they filmed it.

Jenna Ortega had to do some fast thinking on her feet — for her feet — as she revealed that she created the now-viral dance for her show Wednesday in a mere 2 days! The horror It girl stopped by the The Late Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Friday, Dec. 16 and confessed she hadn’t worked on the choreography until the director, Tim Burton, brought it up, thinking she already had it figured out. In a panic, Jenna said she binged throwback videos of goth kids and bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees. “I’m not a dancer,” Jenna explained. “I didn’t sleep for two days.”

She added that she hadn’t had a chance to create… or even practice… the dance because she had been so busy learning other talents of her character Wednesday Addams, the fictional daughter from the 60s show The Addams Family. “I was doing cello that week, fencing that week,” Jenna explained. “I was kicking myself, I felt like such a fool.”

Of course, the feeling was fleeting, as the dance, filmed to the 1981 song “Goo Goo Muck” by The Cramps, would end up going viral after it debuted on the series 4th episode in December 2022. On TikTok, users are recreating the dance, often using a sped-up version of Lady Gaga’s song “Bloody Mary.” Lady Gaga got in on the fun and made a video doing the dance as well!

The show itself is just as successful as the viral clip, as Wednesday beat out Stranger Things as the English-language series with the most viewing time on Netflix, with over 400 million hours, according to The Independent. The South Korean drama Squid Game remains Netflix’s most-popular series ever.

Meanwhile, Christina Ricci revealed EXCLUSIVELY to HollywoodLife how she feels about Jenna’s performance as the character she once played in the 1990s Addams Family movies. “It’s really exciting, and it’s really fun. From the moment I saw this sort of new interpretation of her look, I was like, oh my God, that’s so smart and so cool,” Christina told us. “And then to see her performance… it’s really great. It’s a really great, modern take on it. It feels more timely and appropriate,” she added. Christina also said she has “so much respect for Jenna” and that fans are “going to love” Jenna’s performance as Wednesday.