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Jenna Ortega has been working on an original screenplay for “almost 10 years,” she revealed in an April 28 V magazine interview
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The actress, 22, is now “starting to take the steps to get it made,” and wants to not only direct but star in it, she revealed
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Elsewhere in the interview, Ortega said she does not “want to be in the things that I create in the future,” and acting has been a “stepping stone” to behind-the-scenes work
While her peers were worried about homework, 12-year-old Jenna Ortega was writing a movie — which she now wants to direct.
For the past few years, the Disney Channel alum, 22, has been booked and busy, establishing herself as a household name through her work in Wednesday, the Scream franchise and more. Now, she wants to get behind the camera — and with the screenplay she’s been workshopping for a decade, no less.
While chatting with her Hurry Up Tomorrow costar and collaborator Abel Tesfaye (a.k.a. The Weeknd) for V magazine, Ortega revealed that she has been working on an original script for “almost 10 years,” and she has big plans for it.
Related: Jenna Ortega Shares Mom’s 2010 Facebook Video That Launched Her Career: ‘The Rest Is History’ (Exclusive)
“I have a script that I’ve known that I was going to make for almost 10 years,” she said in the interview, published Monday, April 28. “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.”
Andrew Cooper/Lionsgate
Jenna Ortega in ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’
But the actress would not have done it any other way, she told Tesfaye, 35. The screenplay’s decade-long incubation period, Ortega explained, was informed by her own experience in the industry in a valuable way.
“There’s so much that goes on behind the scenes that I wasn’t aware of. I’m just putting the puzzle pieces together in my head,” the Death of a Unicorn star explained in the V chat. “So I think I needed a few years of that under my belt to understand the order of doing things.”
Related: Jenna Ortega Admits She ‘Could Have Used My Words Better’ After Facing Controversy for Rewriting Her Wednesday Lines
“Everything that I’ve done in my career, I feel like there’s a reason why I didn’t make this story at an earlier time, but I’m really excited about it,” the X star continued. “I think learning how to produce and being a part of projects in that way has informed me so much.”
Now, the original screenplay — the content of which she did not share, or even hint at — is in the early stages of development, Ortega revealed. But she has a few other projects coming down the pike first.
Andrew Cooper/Lionsgate
Jenna Ortega and The Weeknd in ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’
“Then there are a couple of other things I’m trying to develop right now, but it’s strictly off of being inspired by another actor or a writer, characters that I’ve never really gotten the opportunity to play before,” the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice star told Tesfaye. “They’re very different preparation processes.”
“So for me,” the actress continued, “it’s always fun to try something new. But I think oftentimes to get the stories that you want to get made nowadays, you kind of have to start them yourself.”
Related: Jenna Ortega Responds to Miller’s Girl Sex Scene Controversy: ‘It’s Not Supposed to Be a Comfortable Movie’
And, after Tesfaye asked Ortega if she wants to star in the film, she revealed that more than anything, she wants to direct it.
“This one in particular, I see myself in it, but I really want to direct,” she said. “That’s probably the main thing that I want to do. I see that for myself. I just feel that’s the way my brain wants to work and think, and that’s how I even view my acting sometimes.”
Elsewhere in the chat, Ortega said she views acting as a “stepping stone” to what she really wants to do — direct, produce and all-around be behind the scenes.
Taylor Hill/FilmMagic
Jenna Ortega
“It’s hard to develop something that you’re starring in or you’re leading. I’m sure you experienced that firsthand now, where it’s just this weird kind of mind f—,” she told Tesfaye, who not only stars in Hurry Up Tomorrow alongside Ortega, but also co-wrote and produced the film. (Ortega is also credited as an executive producer on the movie.)
“I don’t want to be in the things that I create in the future,” she continued in the V chat, “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.”
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Hurry Up Tomorrow is in theaters May 16.
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