In a June 2022 interview with GoldDerby’s Luca Giliberti, Jenna revealed that improvisation with co-star Maddie Ziegler played a key role during filming of many scenes in The Fallout. Jenna’s account is below.
“Maddie is just so lovely. She’s easily one of my favorite people on this planet. So kind and so we didn’t have much time to—you know—the pandemic was happening so people were terrified, and we hung out once, just because we felt it was necessary. There has to be some sort of interaction between us before we start our scenes and I remember we sat and we talked for twelve hours. Our parents were both calling us, ‘Are you okay? Are you okay?’ And I think that just literally getting to know Maddie to that extent and then also being vulnerable with someone so instantly really helped our characters later on.”
“And in terms of improvisation, (director) Megan Park because she gave us such a great basis for a script, a storyline. We kind of already knew where we were going. She’s definitely an actor’s director. She let us play. She was like, ‘Ultimately, you guys are teenagers. You know these people better than I do. That’s why I cast you. I’m here to guide you. You know eventually we just have to get back to the main point.’ I think because Vada was so awkward I know for me improv-wise I just kind of wanted to say—improvising helps to make things a little bit looser, a little more natural. Because of the style of this film, because it’s a little more grounded, there’s a lot more silence than you would anticipate. I really wanted to make sure that when we did have more lively moments, it was actually awkward.”
“Improv can be that way sometimes. It also depended on the scene too. I know there were certain scenes where it kind of helped me to stay in it rather than leave it. So, there’s a scene where we’re drunk in a parking lot. I’m messing with Maddie in between takes, poking her around and whispering things in her ear and she’s whispering things in mine and they were saying, ‘Oh, film them again! Film them again!’ You know, there’s a scene where we’re rolling a joint and it’s seven minutes. Megan wanted to put the full thing in there, because it’s seven minutes of Maddie and I just saying whatever we want. That was always Megan’s favorite part. She would let me do these fun-run takes where I would just say and do whatever and those were the ones that she ended up using.”
The Fallout was released on January 27, 2022. It received almost universal critical acclaim, with Jenna’s role singled out for special attention. Peter Debruge of Variety called the film a “stellar debut” from Park and noted that “Ortega in particular seems to have found her voice.”
Below: Jenna and Maddie with their co-star Lumi Pollack.
Below: Three behind-the-scenes clips.
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