Jenna Ortega reveals she auditioned for Dune and thinks it may have been for Zendaya’s role

The star of the upcoming Beetlejuice Beetlejuice reveals she went in for a role when she was 15, but the role was kept secret.

Last Updated on August 29, 2024

Pretty soon, audiences are going to be able to see Jenna Ortega encounter sandworms in a vast desert. If the trailer for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is anything to go by, her character may find herself on Saturn, in which she may have to run from such creatures. However, the actress may have encountered some previously since it has been revealed by The Hollywood Reporter that Ortega had gone in to try out for Denis Villeneuve’s Dune.

THR reports that the star of Tim Burton’s upcoming sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice recently told BuzzFeed in a new interview that she had auditioned for the movie back when she was 15, but she isn’t exactly sure which role it was for and hypothesizes it might’ve been for Zendaya’s role, Chani. Ortega explained,

I think it was Chani, I think it was Zendaya’s. But they weren’t saying that. Everything was very secret.” 

The audition may not have worked out, but Ortega would hit big with audiences on the Netflix show Wednesday, the popular new incarnation of The Addams Family lore. While the previously seen theatrical incarnations of the property sported a very macabre humor reminiscent of Tim Burton‘s, the eccentric director would not be involved with the IP until Wednesday. Ortega and Burton hit it off on the show and would continue to work together on Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Ortega says the environment differed from both productions. “On Wednesday, we were just trying to get to know each other a bit,” Ortega explained of her collaboration with Burton. “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.” She expressed her excitement to play the daughter of Winona Rider’s character, “Winona was so welcoming. I feel really, really lucky to have been able to create such a bond with her on set.”

She was also starstruck when it came to meeting Michael Keaton. “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 says as she then added that when she first saw Keaton portray Beetlejuice, that it “was the first time I think I saw someone completely disappear, no bit of themselves involved, so that was pretty special.”

About the Author

E.J. is a News Editor at JoBlo, as well as a Video Editor, Writer, and Narrator for some of the movie retrospectives on our JoBlo Originals YouTube channel, including Reel Action, Revisited and some of the Top 10 lists. He is a graduate of the film program at Missouri Western State University with concentrations in performance, writing, editing and directing.