Jenna Ortega believes she went to the Zendaya tryout for Dune. The Beetlejuice actress claimed to have been 15 years old when she appeared for the piece. According to Ortega, “I think it was Chani, I think it was Zendaya’s,” in a BuzzFeed interview. “But they weren’t saying that, everything was very secret.” She recalled being “really excited” since Denis Villeneuve “is one of my favourite filmmakers,” Ortega remarked.
At the age of 21, Ortega would have been six years old during her possible Dune interview.The highly regarded debut episode of the science fiction series featured Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgard, and Dave Bautista. During this year, Dune: Part Two was released.
Ortega discussed her experiences working with renowned director Tim Burton when shooting Netflix’s Wednesday in other parts of the conversation. In addition, Burton helmed the next movie Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which is a follow-up to his 1988 hit Beetlejuice and has Ortega as Lydia’s daughter Astrid Deetz, played by Winona Ryder. Ortega described her relationship with Burton as ” just trying to get to know each other a bit,” on the sets of Wednesday. “On Beetlejuice … he seemed a lot more playful and I think it actually helped our relationship a lot … it was just a very joyous, happy shoot.”
For the film, Catherine O’Hara, Michael Keaton, and Ryder all return to their respective roles.”Winona was so welcoming,” Ortega said. “I feel really, really lucky to have been able to create such a bond with her on set.” Ortega also voiced compliments for Keaton and O’Hara. She said, “I have been such a fan of Michael Keaton for such a long time that I think actually seeing him in person I went inside myself because I weirdly got shy.” She also said that watching Keaton play Beetlejuice “was the first time I think I saw someone completely disappear, no bit of themselves involved, so that was pretty special.” Ortega continued “Catherine O’Hara is one of, if not the funniest person, I met in my life.”
In Netflix’s Wednesday, which debuted its first season in 2022, Ortega plays Wednesday Addams. The second season has entered production currently. “We’re shooting episodes 201 and 204 right now and there’s a lot happening in those episodes and they feel very prominent,” Ortega said. “It feels like every day we’re tackling a big scene.”