Jenna Ortega's Newest Co-Star Reveals Challenges On Set, "There's a Ton of Stuff"

Jenna Ortega recently starred in a new movie, and it has nothing to do with The Addams Family. In Finestkind, Ortega’s co-star Aaron Stanford is speaking out on all things Jenna, as well as their on set challenges.

Jenna Ortega’s journey in the entertainment industry has been built by a string of spooky yet iconic roles that have left an indelible mark on pop culture (who hasn’t seen the Wednesday dance on TikTok?!). Fueled by a passion for performance since the young age of three, she realized her dreams of performing by the age of nine. The turning point in her career came with the lead role in the Disney Channel sitcom Stuck in the Middle. However, her association with Disney took an unforeseen turn as she navigated the challenges of maturing in the industry.

Fearlessly exploring the horror genre, Jenna has become a prominent actor in the scare space. In the Scream series, she played the character of Tara Carpenter (however, she has recently left the franchise along with Melissa Barrera). Her horror filmography also boasts noteworthy projects like X, YOU, The Babysitter: Killer Queen, and Insidious: Chapter 2.

Currently, she is involved in the production of Death of a Unicorn, a horror comedy featuring Paul Rudd. Furthermore, she is set to hit the silver screen in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice 2, where she will portray Lydia Deetz’s daughter alongside the iconic Michael Keaton. Filming for Beetlejuice 2 has wrapped, and in 2024, Ortega will return to Nevermore as she films season 2 of Wednesday in Ireland.

Related: New Jenna Ortega Movie Releases in Weeks, Yet No One is Talking About It

Finestkind came out in September 2023 but has not received nearly as much praise and excitement as a lot of her other projects. The film is an original Paramount+ movie and stars Ben Foster, Toby Wallace, Jenna Ortega and Tommy Lee Jones. In 2018, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ansel Elgort and Zendaya were attached to star in the film, but that fell through.

As noted by IMDB, “Finestkind tells the story of two half-brothers (Ben Foster and Toby Wallace), raised in different worlds, who are reunited as adults over a fateful summer. Set against the backdrop of commercial fishing, the story takes on primal stakes when desperate circumstances force the brothers to strike a deal with a violent Boston crime gang. Along the way, a young woman (Jenna Ortega) finds herself caught perilously in the middle. Sacrifices must be made, and bonds between brothers, friends, lovers, and a father (Tommy Lee Jones) and his son are put to the ultimate test.”

The Direct spoke with Aaron Stanford, who plays Skeemo about his experience with the young Hollywood star. During the interview, Standford admitted that there was a deleted scene with Jenna Ortega, and spoke about the challenges on set while.

When asked about deleted scenes, the actor shared “there’s a ton of stuff” due to how collaborative the director was, which resulted in “a lot of improvised dialogue” and “moments:”

“There’s a ton of stuff. Because Brian, he’s very collaborative. There are some directors that really want to maintain very rigid, tight control over everything. And he’s not like that. He’s very clear in his vision. He knows what he wants, but he very much wants to work with you and allow you to bring whatever you want to bring to it. That’s why you’re there. So there were loads and loads of scenes with just a lot of improvised dialogue, improvised moments.”

Stanford revealed there was actually “an entire sequence” cut involving “a pickup basketball game with Toby Wallace and Jenna Ortega:”

“There was like an entire sequence where Toby [Wallace] was like playing like a pickup basketball game with Jenna [Ortega]. So Toby’s like six foot something, and Jenna’s like five-foot-nothing. So that was pretty amusing scene and it was me and Scotty Tovar on the sidelines providing all sorts of heckling and harassment. So there were a lot of pretty funny moments in that would make good outtakes, I think.”

The actor expressed how the tricky part of the film was figuring out “Who is this guy when he’s not entertaining and using everybody”.

While Ortega typically stars in successful projects, as noted by Screenrant, “Finestkind’s critic score on Rotten Tomatoes sits at a dismal 27%, while its audience score is relatively low at 60%. The last time one of Ortega’s films scored low in both categories was in early 2021 with the comedy Yes Day, which was declared rotten with a 52% critic score based on 65 reviews, and an audience score of 57%.” Wednesday, in comparison, has a 72% critic score and an 85% audience score.

Finestkind is currently available to stream on Paramount+.

Will you be watching this film to see Ortega perform?