Spartacus producer Steven DeKnight has called Wednesday actress Jenna Ortega “entitled and toxic” for publicly questioning writers’ and producers’ choices in the hit Netflix show.
The comments from Ortega came about during an interview on the podcast The Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard.
“I feel almost unprofessional,” she said, adding that she was “struggling with material from the show”.
The 20-year-old said that nothing about the series ‘made sense to her’, and she had to take it upon herself to correct the “arc” of the story.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had to put my foot down more on a set in a way that I had to on ‘Wednesday’,” she added.
DeKnight has slammed Ortega over her public comments, saying that “she clearly shit on the showrunners/writers publicly.”
The esteemed producer, who also worked on the TV series Buffy, launched a tirade against Orteg on Twitter.
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This kind of statement is beyond entitled and toxic. I love her work, but life’s too short to deal with people like this in the business.
— Steven DeKnight (@stevendeknight) March 7, 2023
“It’s throwing your colleagues under the bus publicly that’s a no-go for me. I’ve had actors pull some outrageously egregious stuff that would curl your toes, but I would never ever name names or discuss it in public,” he wrote in one tweet.
DeKnight continued in subsequent tweets: “I love talking with actors about their lines/stories.”
“But by the nature of the beast, they don’t have the full picture (in TV) of where the story is going and why some lines are needed for the whole to make sense.
“She’s young, so maybe she doesn’t know any better (but she should).
“She should also ask herself how she would feel if the showrunners gave an interview and talked about how difficult she was and refused to perform the material.’
He added: “This kind of statement is beyond entitled and toxic. I love her work, but life’s too short to deal with people like this in the business.”
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