Jenna Ortega

[Lilja K]

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Can Jenna Ortega be Hollywood’s first true star born this century?

Hollywood’s age of icons is over. But insiders think the actress, born in 2002, has the nous to become the bankable name executives crave

 

 

Once upon a time, the film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer used to boast that it employed more stars than there are in heaven.

 

Today in Hollywood that Golden Age sparkle is a distant memory and the arrival of new leading actors has slowed to a trickle, blamed on everything from the downfall of DVDs to the box-office dominance of superhero franchises.

 

But the idea of a movie star is not quite dead yet — and this month could see the crowning of the first such star born since the turn of the millennium.

 

The vehicle is Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Tim Burton’s follow-up to his classic dark comedy. It will open the Venice Film Festival on August 28. Michael Keaton, who headlined the 1988 original, will return alongside his co-stars Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara. Yet it is the presence of Jenna Ortega that is attracting the most buzz.

 

Ortega, 21, is best known for playing the lead role in Netflix’s vastly successful Addams Family spinoff Wednesday, which Burton executive-produced (also directing half the episodes in the first season). A second run is due on screens imminently but it was Beetlejuice Beetlejuice that persuaded Vanity Fair to put Ortega on its September cover. Her performance in it “cements her as a mistress of the macabre, poised to become Gen Z’s answer to Ryder”, the magazine proclaimed.

 

 

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a unique property. It’s setting Ortega up for being a star,” said Michael Niederman, professor emeritus of cinema and TV arts at Columbia College Chicago. “But what closes the deal is the movie after that. That has always been the challenge.”

 

In Ortega’s case, that looks set to be a prestigious literary adaptation mining our fascination with artificial intelligence: the title role in Klara and the Sun, an adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s bestselling novel about a robot, directed by the acclaimed New Zealander Taika Waititi.

 

Whether she can emulate or surpass the success of other ascending actors such as Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet is uncertain. In the 1990s, moviegoers would buy tickets for the latest project from Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock, while Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt have been bankable for decades. Then the streaming revolution and the rise of comic book adaptations turned Hollywood’s business model upside down.

 

The mid-budget dramas that were once vital to building an actor’s reputation have largely disappeared. They used to make much of their money on DVD sales, which vanished with the rise of services such as Netflix.

 

Now, franchises rule and superhero titles are for the most part more valuable to a studio than the actor playing them. Speaking on a podcast last year, Quentin Tarantino said: “Part of the Marvel-isation of Hollywood is you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters. But they’re not movie stars, right? Captain America is the star. Thor is the star.”

 

More than a century of box office receipts show the film industry needs charismatic figureheads to thrive. “It was a star-driven business from the beginning,” said Joe Rosenberg, a professor at Chapman University’s film school in California and a veteran talent agent. “Stars played a large part in why people went to see movies.”

 

Rosenberg, who as an agent represented directors including Ridley Scott and his brother Tony, David Fincher, Terry Gilliam and Michael Bay, said Ortega’s canny stewardship of her career had put her on the cusp of genuine stardom. Her role as the sullen protagonist in Wednesday achieved viral fame, with the series attracting more than a billion viewing hours and making its lead actress a favourite among young fans.

 

“This is a young woman who is savvy at choosing material and the director she works with,” Rosenberg said. “She’s got a feel for the right project at the right time and hopefully she is being guided smartly so that she continues to make choices and builds on what she’s already done. The role of Wednesday [Addams] was perfect. You look at her and think, ‘Who else could play this part?’”

 

Stars are rarely born by accident. They are usually the result of years of hard work and careful guidance from knowledgeable managers and agents. “Most stars have a tremendous amount of talent,” Rosenberg said. “They’re also persistent, resilient and positive.”

 

Stars on the rise are not merely looking for jobs to pay the rent but roles that will build a reputation, he added. “They’re looking for parts where they can score. Whether it’s a small part, a supporting role or a lead role, there’s something in it or the writing or the way the director wants to see it that allows them to gain the kind of visibility they’re looking for. It’s almost like they’re looking at the chessboard we call Hollywood and they’re five steps ahead of most of the talent that’s just looking to go from job to job.”

 

Ortega’s career suggests she takes this sort of long-term view. Born into a Mexican-American family in the California desert, she began as a child actor in the acclaimed television comedy-drama Jane the Virgin before landing a lead role in the Disney Channel show Stuck in the Middle.

 

Ortega starred in the 2022 slasher movie Scream and later that year the defining role of her career to date hit screens. Burton directed four of the first eight episodes of Wednesday and the supernatural mystery series became one of Netflix’s biggest hits. A dance performed and choreographed by Ortega on the show became a viral sensation and tween girls around the world fell in love with the character.

 

It has not been all smooth sailing. Last year Ortega made comments on a podcast about changing her lines in Wednesday without consulting the show’s writers because she felt they did not fit the character. The remarks, which came ahead of a contentious Hollywood strike, provoked a backlash from screenwriters who accused Ortega of being entitled.

 

The storm passed, however, and season two of Wednesday began production in Ireland in May. By the time it arrives on Netflix, the actress playing the moody teenager with a love of all things black may be a Hollywood star — the first born in the 21st century.

 

But in some ways the hard work is only just beginning. “Becoming a star is always hard but not impossible,” Niederman said. “Staying a star is where the real challenge is.”

 

source

 

Whatever that b*tch Laney says, Jenna has a lot of potential @Jade Bahr

[Sunshiine]

Jenna Ortega & Scream 6 Cast Tell Behind-the-Scenes Stories | E! News

 

[Sunshiine]

The New York Times, August 2024

 

pool21 at picturepub

[Jade Bahr]

18 hours ago, Lilja K said:

Cinematic references in Taste @Jade Bahr @ILUVAdrianaLima

Great video but Carpenters music isn't really mine (Espresso was weirdly annyoing and I don't get the fuss sry 🤣).

 

18 hours ago, Lilja K said:

 

Whatever that b*tch Laney says, Jenna has a lot of potential @Jade Bahr

What did she say?

[Lilja K]

2 hours ago, Jade Bahr said:

Great video but Carpenters music isn't really mine (Espresso was weirdly annyoing and I don't get the fuss sry 🤣).

 

I'm not a fan either, but I found the song enjoyable. Nothing special, but enjoyable. Of course I wouldn't give a shit if Jenna wasn't in the video😁

 

2 hours ago, Jade Bahr said:

What did she say?

 

That she doubts her or smth like that 

[Jade Bahr]

1 hour ago, Lilja K said:

That she doubts her or smth like that 

Ruimy did the same.

 

Meanwhile, Ortega became a household name with Netflix’s “Wednesday” series and the recent “Scream” revival. She’s also starring in Tim Burton’s upcoming ‘Beetlejuice’ sequel. Is she actually a box-office draw? I have my doubts about that. She tends to smartly attach herself to the right IP projects. Source

 

I think she's too less selective and too focused on quantity instead of quality right now. On the other hand I barely watched anything with her so maybe I'm not in the position to judge her decisions.

[Lilja K]

1 hour ago, Jade Bahr said:

I think she's too less selective and too focused on quantity instead of quality right now. On the other hand I barely watched anything with her so maybe I'm not in the position to judge her decisions.

 

I partially agree with you. It seems to me that now she is trying her best to make a range and at the same time not to miss the scheme that works well for her (horror and working with Tim Burton). I mean, she's been a Disney star for 10 years. Now she's a new Horror Queen and a new Tim Burton's Muse, which is definitely better and gives more creative freedom, but still kinda typecast her. Miller's Girl, Finestkind, WSSF - yes, these are not the best quality projects, but they're radically different from the roles she is known for. And they are different from each other (the stories, the genres). Moreover, I'd even say that they had potential that was wasted for some reason. Same is with upcoming Klara and the Sun, Death of the Unicorne and possibly with JJ Abrams movie.

[Sunshiine]

Jenna Ortega: The Puppy Interview BuzzFeed

 

[Lilja K]

Letterboxd Interview

 

 

[Lilja K]

 

cr Fernanda Schneider

[Jade Bahr]

@Lilja K 🤣

 

[Lilja K]

43 minutes ago, Jade Bahr said:

@Lilja K 🤣

 

 

Still don't get where this rumor came from

[Lilja K]

💣

 

[Sunshiine]

Scream 6 cast loved filming in Montreal — Jenna Ortega, Melissa, Jasmin & Mason | Etalk Interview

 

[Lilja K]

ELLE (2024)

 

 

[Lilja K]

 

 

 

[Sunshiine]

Wednesday: Jenna Ortega and Cast Discuss Reimagining a Classic for a Modern Audience | Netflix