Jenna Ortega wants to move towards directing, and has revealed that she’s been working on a script for some time already.
Jenna Ortega is one of those increasing rarities in Hollywood: a bona fide movie star under the age of 30. Having successfully ‘opened’ projects on both the big and small screen, the actor has amassed a considerable amount of influence in Hollywood. She seems to be planning to use that influence wisely by increasing the control over her assorted projects.
Ortega is now an executive producer on her hit Netflix show Wednesday, and has engineered the same opportunities on her recent film output, including the recently-released A24 horror comedy Death Of A Unicorn, in which she also starred. That, and the upcoming loose remake of Misery, Hurry Up Tomorrow, directed by Trey Edward Shults.
According to Variety, however Ortega is already planning to take on a role with even more creative influence for one of her upcoming projects – where she plans to both star and direct.
“I have a script that I’ve known that I was going to make for almost ten years,” she tells the outlet.
“It’s weird because it’s something that I thought of when I was younger and 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, which is really interesting … I’m just putting the puzzle pieces together in my head. So I think I needed a few years of that under my belt to understand the order of doing things.”
Given that she’s just 22 years old, you’d think she might want a few more years before attempting such a dramatic career shift. Still, we can’t help but applaud her audacity and the way she’s using her star power to reposition her career in the way that will give her even more control over her work.
Ortega also tells the outlet that directing is where she sees herself headed ultimately, and that “I don’t want to be in the things that I create in the future, 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.”
When we hear more about what this mystery project that Ortega intends to direct and star in is, we’ll let you know. The actor’s next film, Hurry Up Tomorrow, releases later this month and she will also star in Taika Waititi’s Klara And The Sun, set to release later this year.
