See The Best Character Come To Life In Wednesday Behind The Scenes Video
Since landing on Netflix just a few weeks ago, Wednesday has managed to catapult itself to a beloved series with fans already clamoring for the streamer to renew it for a second season. The production has done a wonderful job of weaving beloved characters into a new storyline, with one of the best Wednesday performances coming from the severed hand, Thing. In a behind-the-scenes video, which you can see above, the creative team pairs up with Thing actor, Victor Dorobantu, and leading lady Jenna Ortega, to talk about bringing the appendage to life.
The clip immediately opens on Wednesday herself, Jenna Ortega, who reveals that Thing actor Dorobantu was on set for all things Thing. Unlike many productions which may turn to CGI to fulfill their needs on the seemingly floating hand, VFX Supervisor Tom Turnbull chimes in to say that he and the show’s director, Tim Burton, wanted to stay true to Addams Family canon, not only bringing the floating hand in but keeping it as real as possible. To achieve their vision, the duo invested in the help of Victor Dorobantu – a professional magician who had never acted before but had the hand movement that it took to give the character its own personality.
What makes Dorobantu’s performance on Wednesday as Thing even more special is that the actor was able to, as he puts it, “find movements that can express feelings” through simple hand gestures all done via finger movement. And while one may think that working opposite a hand attached to a man wearing a blue suit would be overly distracting, Turnbull revealed that Ortega never even batted an eye, immediately delving into her character’s relationship with the family “pet.” The actress says that working with the hand “wasn’t difficult at all,” but revealed that she did have challenges when Dorobantu wouldn’t be in a scene, with just a prop used for the VFX team to later cover with Thing.
A special effects lover’s dream, the behind-the-scenes peek delves deep into the world of Wednesday giving viewers a look at how not only they brought Thing to life, but also how they edited Dorobantu out of certain shots. At one of the more impressive points, Turnbull shares that while typical project “paint outs” (a process used to wipe something away and replace it via effects), are “easy,” on Wednesday, the team needed to wipe away “90% of the human being” as Dorobantu was visible in nearly every shot. With the magician’s dedication to the character shining through in his performance, could this be the beginning of an acting career for Dorobantu?
As we expected, Tim Burton struck gold with Wednesday, keeping things classic, but with an even spookier twist, while still holding tightly onto beloved characters, Thing included. Everyone from normies like us to pop superstar Lady Gaga is talking about the new series and how incredible it is. If you haven’t checked it out, you can see Wednesday now streaming on Netflix and check out the behind-the-scenes clip above – you’ll never look at your hands the same way again.
