Tim Burton doesn’t just have a reputation for making weird movies but for being a bit of a weird guy himself. Mostly the director’s quirks have harmlessly added to his reputation as cinema’s own master of the macabre, although there was that time he freaked out and kicked the wall in while making The Nightmare Before Christmas. Thankfully, things apparently never got that heated on set of Wednesday, although star Jenna Ortega has now revealed some other weird things the Batman maker was guilty of.
While speaking on the latest episode of Hot Ones, ahead of the release of her new horror sequel Scream VI next week, Jenna Ortega was quizzed on how Burton’s particular way of directing came out during the shoot of the hit Netflix reimagining of the Addams Family. Ortega, who memorably starred in the title role as the gothic clairvoyant, admitted that Burton likes to wear many hats on the production, ranging from hair and make-up artist to… lumberjack?
Ortega opened by saying:
“First of all, he draws a lot of his shots. So there were some days where I would come into work and he would have his own little picture that he drew of me playing the cello or of me fencing and he’d say ‘this is what you’re shooting.'”
Aside from his well-known artistry skills, Burton would also dabble in doing Ortega’s hair himself, after his perfectionism held up one day’s shoot by several hours:
“Even on the first day when they were trying to establish what my hair was gonna look like, we ran two hours behind because ‘um no, her braids are uneven. This one’s lower, this one’s higher.’ He didn’t like the way that my fringe looked at the time, so he was just, ‘hey, can I…?’ He asked the hairdresser very politely and just kind of did my hair himself.”
Last but not least, the Sleepy Hollow maestro could occasionally be spotted lifting tree trunks around in order to get exactly the right vibe from his forest-set scenes:
“It would be like four in the morning, in some random Romanian forest, and ‘Oh, where’s Tim?’ and he’s carrying two trees, throwing them at the back of the shots so that they land exactly where he wanted them to. He was very specific and, like, happy to do it himself, but also a really great communicator and collaborator.”
Clearly, Ortega had a blast working with Burton on this project. The actress, who once admitted to having some rather ghoulish childhood hobbies that made her perfect for her part, is known to be spooky, kooky, and altogether-ooky herself, so the star and director were clearly a match made in heaven. It really is a scre-am when people come to see ’em.
Wednesday season two is in the works at Netflix. Jenna Ortega can be seen in Scream VI, out March 10.