Jenna Ortega is ready to step behind the camera, and it’s not a sudden move. The Wednesday and Scream star has quietly spent the last decade developing a deeply personal script, and now she’s finally preparing to bring it to life.
In a recent interview with V Magazine, the 21-year-old actress opened up about her long-term creative vision and her desire to direct the story she started writing when she was still a child actor.
“I have a script that I’ve known I was going to make for almost 10 years,” Ortega shared. “It’s weird because it’s something I thought of when I was younger, when I first started out in this field, and it’s only now that I’m actually starting to take the steps to get it made.”
“Directing Is the Main Thing I Want to Do”
She’s not rushing the process. Ortega describes herself as mentally “putting the puzzle pieces together” and says the years she’s spent on set have given her the perspective and experience to finally take on the project from behind the lens.
“I think I needed a few years under my belt to understand the order of doing things,” she said.
Although she still sees herself in the story, her biggest motivation is to direct it.
“That’s probably the main thing I want to do,” she added. “That’s how my brain wants to work and think. That’s how I even view my acting sometimes.”
Building Experience Behind the Scenes
While Ortega hasn’t officially directed yet, she’s been expanding her creative role. She’s credited as an executive producer on Death of a Unicorn and the upcoming season of Wednesday.
She’s also set to star and executive produce Hurry Up Tomorrow, a thriller directed by Edward Shults and co-starring The Weeknd and Barry Keoghan.
Acting as a Stepping Stone
Though she’s willing to appear in the projects she creates for now, Ortega sees a future where she focuses purely on directing.
“I don’t want to be in the things that I create in the future,” she explained. “But starting out, because I’ve created more leverage for myself with a name as an actor, I may as well use that as a stepping stone.”
