The creepy horror-comedy “Wednesday” on Netflix has more than just monsters and ghosts hiding in the shadows. An unidentified entity was lurking close as Jenna Ortega walked over the grounds of Nevermore in her platform oxfords, solving puzzles, deciphering codes, and coming face to face with supernatural bad guys anxious to start her downfall. As Thing, a disembodied human hand and longstanding Addams family member, Victor Dorobantu, a skilled illusionist and actor, scurried beside Ortega while squatting on the floor and donning a head-to-toe VFX costume.
Dorobantu can be seen contorting himself into difficult postures to be a part of the sequences, which were directed by Tim Burton, Gandja Monteiro, and James Marshall, in behind-the-scenes photos posted by the streaming service on Nov. 27. He occasionally followed Ortega when she gave a macabre Wednesday while doing a crab walk. He also knelt in the dark forest’s undergrowth, lay flat on the ground, crawled under desks to fit his hand into holes cut just for Thing, and even submerged himself while recording.
The entire procedure was quite difficult. In a joint red carpet interview with Gayety and Pride, Dorobantu stated that Thing was constructed from the ground up and that the personality of Thing was formed using a combination of “gestures, body language, and morse code.” We simply improvised and made an effort to make it seem natural.
Dorobantu really wore a prosthesis with intricate stitching to make his hand appear undead. Ortega told Screen Rant, “It was extremely amusing since the Thing language was simply made up on the day. Tim Burton wanted it to be a real actor as in the movies from the 1990s, therefore Victor Dorobantu, a magician, was chosen. He would conceal himself behind walls and behind beds while donning a complete blue outfit. Then they constructed this prosthesis over his hand to resemble a wrist knob, and he could move around. Tim genuinely valued his mannerisms, and every day he would spend hours getting ready in the mirror.
Dorobantu’s first significant Hollywood endeavour was “Wednesday,” a programme he is thrilled to have worked on with such a legendary cast and crew. The performer expressed his thanks on Instagram after landing the part. He wrote, “I can’t even express how delighted I am,” in September 2021. Dreams do indeed come true.
