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Author: Gidi Kroon

I live in The Netherlands. I work in IT as application developer mainly doing Java, PLM, MES, etc. I play amateur level volleyball.

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This week Wednesday came out on Netflix, on a Wednesday of course. It is an amazing show and a formidable performance by Jenna Ortega as the lead character Wednesday Addams. I’m thinking Emmy, including for choreographing ‘that dance’. With that, everything I mentioned in the previous blog post “Jenna Ortega: what’s in the pipeline?” is now available. So what’s next? First some of the questions that were open in that post.

  • I mentioned Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous season four. In the meantime even season five, and an interactive version called Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous: Hidden Adventure are available on Netflix. In both Jenna voices one of the main characters called Brooklynn.
  • Jenna’s role in Studio 666 was indeed very small, but of course impressive. It came out in cinema’s.
  • The film she filmed in New Zealand was indeed called X. It has been released in cinema’s and is available on blu-ray.
  • The film she filmed in Spain was indeed called American Carnage. It had a US cinema and dvd release, but not near me yet.
  • The ‘UK project’ I suspected turned out to be preparations for filming Wednesday when they were testing things like Wednesday’s hair style.
  • Jenna was indeed not in season three of You. The show’s makers have said they wanted her in it and consider her character Ellie important in the story, but Jenna has just been too busy filming other things and they couldn’t schedule it. You season four is coming up and the same thing applies: Jenna has been so busy filming back-to-back, still, that it is unlikely she will be in season four. I still hope to see her there anyway, of course.

2022 had me watch just three films on the big screen: Scream, X and Studio 666. And I’m not even into horror… What will 2023 be like?

Scream

Again! Scream 6, or Scream 2 of the modern era, has been filmed and Jenna Ortega is in it as Tara Carpenter. It has been filmed, at least partially, in Canada and is set, at least partially, in New York. In all behind the scenes images I’ve seen Jenna, as Tara, is wearing the same clothes. So Tara either dies quickly in this slasher film, or has no time to change clothes while being hunted by Ghostface, or it is all part of the great subterfuge. In most images she is together with Melissa Barrera as Sam Carpenter, which means that the sisters either die together, survive together or kill together…

Scream 6 will be released 10 March 2023 in US cinemas.

Finestkind

This is a Massachusetts-based film that will come out on Paramount+. Since it was announced, this streaming platform also started in my country (as SkyShowtime) so I’m happy that I get to see it. Filming is finished already. It’s likely a crime thriller and in some ways (except the drugs) autobiographical for the writer/director. Jenna plays a young woman who “finds herself caught in the middle” of the dealings of two brothers with a crime syndicate.

The Deadline article: https://deadline.com/2022/04/paramount-picks-up-crime-thriller-finestkind-starring-tommy-lee-jones-ben-foster-toby-wallace-jenna-ortega-1234994682/. It mentions that it would come out at the end of 2022, but I think they are still doing post-production.

In an interview Jenna was asked whether she needed to do a Boston accent for this film and she said she didn’t, but would have been happy to learn. Why her character doesn’t need a Boston accent is still kept secret.

Miller’s Girl

Jenna has a major role in this film of which not much is known yet. This has finished filming. The imdb tagline mentions “a teacher and his talented student”, so I’m guessing Jenna is going to be that talented student. Notice how she often plays these highly-intelligent, high-performing characters?

The Deadline article: https://deadline.com/2022/09/jenna-ortega-millers-girl-martin-freeman-1235122345/.

An Indie Project

In a recent interview Jenna said she was filming something that was not announced yet (after finishing Miller’s Girl), and which she described as indie. I will update this if I know more (or admittedly, anything).

By Posted on Posted in Miranda Cosgrove No Comments Tagged with ,

Miranda Cosgrove just shared this Instagram post, announcing the third season of the rebooted iCarly! And posting a great photo!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CghmjLnpZiu/ (update: this post has been removed).

The iCarly Twitter account posted this clip to announce it, taking various previous scenes out of context:

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(A follow-up post is here: New projects by Jenna Ortega (update))

While Jenna Ortega is creating magic in Romania, filming the series Wednesday where she is the lead Wednesday Addams, I’d like to make a list of projects of hers I’m looking forward to as a fan.

Jenna’s IMDb.

The Fallout

The Fallout is the major thing I am excited for to get to see soon. It is a film where Jenna plays the lead. It was shown at this year’s SXSW festival where it won the main price which also means that it is eligible for an Oscar.

It looks like this is a project where Jenna gets to display her acting talent in full, being a deep emotional portrayal focusing on her character.

The film will be released soon on HBO Max wherever HBO Max exists. In one source they mentioned early 2022. Unfortunately, HBO Max does not yet exist in my country and the contract my cable provider (Ziggo) has with HBO expires end of 2021. There is mention of HBO Max starting in my country somewhere in 2022, but no dates are mentioned. It looks like I’ll have to wait longer than most people to see this one.

In countries where HBO Max is not available, this film will be released in cinemas. But whether it is at the same time, and whether cinema’s will even be open, is not known.

IMDb has a release date for this film, but note that it is user-edited like Wikipedia, so as long as there is no official date we can ignore that.

IMDb, official site, trailer.

Jenna as Vada in a still from the film, lying on her bed reading her phone. The image has festival laurels printed on it, for the Grand Jury Award winner and the Brightcove Illumination Award for director Megan Park

Scream

Recently the trailer for the fifth instalment of Scream was released, mainly showcasing the scene where Jenna’s character was hunted by ‘ghostface’, mirroring a similar scene in the first film of the franchise. It was brilliantly acted, to the level that it was difficult to watch a girl being hunted when it looks so realistic.

It leaves me with double feelings. It is great to see Jenna in such a major franchise, where so many people will be able to enjoy seeing her acting talent. But at the same time the trailer suggests that this is Jenna’s only scene in the film and that instead of going to the cinema we could just play the trailer on repeat. I hope this is not the case and that a surprise will be in store.

The film has an official release date of 14 January 2022 when it will be shown in cinemas. Let’s hope that’s worldwide and that cinemas are safe to go to at that time.

IMDb, trailer.

Jenna Ortega in Scream, playing with a kitchen knife.
(source)

Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (season 4)

I much enjoyed watching the animated series Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous on Netflix. Three seasons are already there and season four comes 3 December 2021.

Jenna voices the character Brooklynn (the pink-haired one), who is more complex than her description of ‘social media obsessed content creator’ suggests. Brave, kind and smart are better descriptions.

IMDb.

Studio 666

Jenna will play a role, I don’t know how big, in a horror comedy with the Foo Fighters. Not much is known, except it has a release date already: 25 February 2022.

IMDb.

Wednesday

This is going to be a Netflix series around Wednesday Addams. Jenna is the lead. The character is of course iconic (I love Christina Ricci’s performance) and it looks like they found in Jenna the right person to give it the layered performance that is both true to the originals and complex enough to lead the multiple stories of a series.

For the series Jenna studied playing the cello with the Angeles Academy of Music, who were quite taken by her talent and posted on their social media about it (here and here).

Since I think Jenna should be the lead in everything, this is going to be the next big thing to be excited about after The Fallout.

IMDb.

(source)

The New Zealand project: X

During the corona pandemic Jenna filmed a film in New Zealand, which required her to stay in quarantine for a while. Other than some beautiful photos of New Zealand’s epic nature that Jenna posted on her Instagram, not much is known about it. It may be called X and it is a horror film.

IMDb.

The UK project

Jenna spent some time in quarantine in London as well, which she reported on her social media. We can only assume this was to film something, but it has not been mentioned which film. Rumours were circulated that it was for another major franchise, but I like to go by official sources.

The Spanish project

Even before the pandemic, Jenna has filmed in Spain, around Madrid. She posted some things from the set and later visited other European places like Paris with her parents. Nothing much has been heard of this project since. One of her co-stars referred to the film as “American Carnage“, but it is unclear whether this was the title or his description of what a bunch of Americans were doing in Spain.

IMDb.

Other things

So what happened to Songbird? Jenna filmed for this, which is a film about the pandemic and the first to film during the pandemic. However it has since been released on DVD, without any of Jenna’s scenes. Also the deleted scenes on the DVD (there are many, enough to make a full other film) do not contain her.

At some point an Instagram post showed Jenna being fitted for a head cast. So you’d assume some horror film somewhere will contain a severed head; I haven’t seen such a scene yet. Either that, or she just wanted a cast of her head iCarly‘s Gibby-style.

If you haven’t seen Yes Day (a comedy) or The Babysitter: Killer Queen (a horror comedy) yet, please do so. They are both on Netflix. As always, Jenna makes her character more complex, more memorable and more touching than you would expect from reading the film description alone. I’m hoping for DVD releases of these as well.

Will Jenna be in any new season of You? She was in season 2 and made quite the impact with her character of Ellie. Ellie was not in season 3, but mentioned many times. The writers have already mentioned that they think Ellie is a really important character in the story and for that reason mentioned her repeatedly in season 3. That Jenna was not in season 3 was just because she’s so busy (I think she was filming Scream at the same time You S3 was filming and the pandemic would require people to stay in one bubble). So there is much hope for season 4, which is currently being written. BTW You S2 is released on DVD, though with US region coding only.

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Happy Birthday to Jenna Ortega who turns 19 today!

Jenna is a great actress you may know from You, The Babysitter: Killer Queen, Yes Day, Stuck in the Middle, Jane the Virgin, Saving Flora and of course Know It All Nina. You will soon know her from The Fallout, Scream, X and as lead Wednesday Addams in the Netflix series Wednesday.

I hope she gets to celebrate her birthday at home this year; I gather the last couple of years she had to celebrate her birthday on a film set or when away for other commitments.

Let’s celebrate here with these great photos recently taken by Jess Wasson for the American Eagle fashion campaign.

Jenna leaning forward, wind blowing through her hair, wearing a blue-white striped top and worn jeans.
Jenna Ortega by Jess Wasson (source)
Jenna sitting in front of a tree, wearing a black jeans jacket and white shirt
Jenna Ortega by Jess Wasson (source)
Jenna sitting in front of a tree, wearing a black jeans jacket over a white shirt and matching dark jeans
Jenna Ortega by Jess Wasson (source)
Jenna sitting in front of a tree, wearing a black jeans jacket over a white shirt and matching dark jeans, a strand of hair falls down over her face
Jenna Ortega by Jess Wasson (source)

The photographs are copyright the photographer. Please visit the source links to see the originals.

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Jenna Ortega’s film The Fallout has its world premiere today 17 March at SXSW festival (held online) and competes in the Narrative Feature Competition. The film has me really excited because I know the combination of Jenna’s talent and the film’s story is going to cause a lot of impact. I really liked the vibe that came across from the various behind the scenes posts that have been made from the film’s set. Very much a people making art and feeling good about it vibe.

Jenna plays the character Vada.

Jenna Ortega as Vada in The Fallout, wearing a white shirt and red trainers

In the teaser trailer there are many impressive moments that suggest this is a must-see film. The scene where Vada slides down the stairs looks iconic. What stands out to me is maybe something less obvious; at some point Vada seems to be looking at a computer screen (this moment is also the thumbnail for the YouTube video) while we look at her eyes where their small tense movements betray supressed emotional turmoil and despair. Jenna is such a great actress and that moment we’re looking straight into that greatness. Also the moment where Vada is lying on her bed looking at her phone shows someone who’s emotionally not well at all.

On SXSW the film can only be watched by US residents (link to watch The Fallout here), so that leaves me out. I’m very jealous. But the international distribution rights have already been secured by a major studio, so I’m sure I’ll get to see it one day.

Below you’ll find the teaser trailer for the film, credits are in the description on YouTube. The image at the top of the page is from the film’s Instagram account, as is the character photo of Vada.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5BNGVlNHSs&t=3s

Wikipedia has information on The Fallout. The film’s Instagram account is the_fallout_movie and on YouTube they’re at THE FALLOUT.