The 2024 Venice Film Festival has gotten off to a green-haired, gothic bang with Tim Burton's long-awaited sequel "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," which opened the festival with a 3-minute standing ovation. The clapping would have most likely gone on much longer but the Venice programmers quickly dimmed the lights as Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’ Hara and Jenna Ortega took a bow and lapped up the applause. But this cast didn’t break a sweat. Keaton and Burton drew loud hoots of...
Jenna
Ortega
The 21-year-old actor snatched her first Emmy nomination this year, for her work as the titular character in Tim Burton’s “Wednesday,” the breakout series starring the reclusive daughter of the original “Addams Family” characters. That made her the youngest Latina acting nominee and the second-youngest for lead actress in a comedy series. But Ortega’s feat in the horror genre was far from over, as she starred in Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s “Scream VI,” a domestic best for the horror franchise at the box office. However, she dropped out of a planned seventh film, citing other commitments, shortly after her co-lead Melissa Barrera was fired from the sequel by Spyglass Media Group for sharing posts and articles that criticized Israel’s operations in Gaza as a result of the ongoing Israel-Hamas War, which Spyglass deemed hate speech. Ortega will work with Burton again in the highly anticipated “Beetlejuice 2,” alongside returning stars Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara. The year also saw Ortega named a brand ambassador for Adidas’ first new label in 50 years and as the face of Dior’s Gris Dior fragrance.