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Jenna Ortega Got Real About Fame and Fake Unicorns on Colbert
Jenna Ortega swung by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and as expected, she brought her signature blend of humor, honesty, and just a hint of chaos. She rocked a stunning red glass dress (yes, glass) setting the mood for a fun interview right off the bat. “It’s made of glass,” she told Colbert, and casually added, “and I’m not going to lie, sometimes there are pieces of it poking my butt.” That was just the start.
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The Jenna Ortega Phenomenon
It’s no secret that Jenna Ortega has been one of the biggest stars of the last few years. From Wednesday to Scream 6, to now Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, she’s been everywhere. Colbert congratulated her on her whirlwind rise, mentioning how people dress up as her for Halloween and do the viral Wednesday dance all over the internet. Ortega, who has been acting since she was nine, admitted that the level of attention still feels surreal sometimes.
She remembered how when ‘Wednesday’ first premiered, she was chilling at home in sweats, enjoying Thanksgiving with her family. But when she stepped outside with her nephew, she quickly realized things had changed. “This woman and her daughter recognized me in the neighborhood, came to a screeching halt, spun around, and made a U-turn,” she said. “They were yelling for my nephew to get over here, and he was kind of freaking out.” That was the moment she realized, Oh, things will never be the same.
A few years later, has she finally gotten used to it? “No,” she said bluntly. “But you get accustomed to it. You just gotta stop caring.”
Lady Gaga is Coming to Wednesday Season 2
Of course, Colbert couldn’t let her go without talking about Wednesday Season 2, which just wrapped filming in December. Fans have been anxiously waiting for updates, and Ortega dropped a huge one: Lady Gaga is joining the cast.
The way she described it, the entire set transformed when Gaga arrived. “We had a normal functioning set,” Ortega said, “and then suddenly there were truck after truck after truck. They replaced my dirty tent with brand-new tents. I had a barber’s chair. They gave me fancy water.” She laughed, adding, “I wanted her to be on set even more because the water was really nice.”
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Gaga, according to Ortega, was exactly as cool and down-to-earth as you’d hope. “She’s so sweet, so humble, just a normal person. It’s intimidating when someone is so talented but also just… so cool.”
Filming in Ireland and Embracing Guinness
Filming Wednesday took Ortega far from home. The first season was shot in Romania, but for Season 2, production moved to Dublin, Ireland, where she spent nearly eight months. “I love it there,” she said. “If the weather wasn’t so crappy, they would probably get a ton of people.”
The Irish accent? She’s a fan. “I actually love the Irish accent. I don’t understand when people say they can’t understand it,” she said. “It sounds like singing to me when they just talk.”
Even though she can’t stand beer, she totally dove into the Irish way of life. “When I first got there, I didn’t even like Guinness,” she confessed. “And by the end, I was belting out tunes in a pub at 2 a.m. with a bunch of people I’d never met before.”
Clara and the Sun: Playing a Robot
One of Ortega’s major upcoming projects is Clara and the Sun, directed by Taika Waititi and based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. She plays the role of Clara, an AI companion, and she found the role quite challenging. “It was terrifying,” she said. “I’ve never played a cheerful person before.”
To get into character, she drew inspiration from her newborn niece. “She has this awful blank stare that all babies have,” Ortega joked. “They just look so clueless about everything. So if you watch that movie, my performance is based off of my toddler nephews and my newborn niece.”
Death of a Unicorn: Hitting Mythical Creatures with Paul Rudd
In addition to Clara and the Sun, Ortega is also starring alongside Paul Rudd in Death of a Unicorn, which she described as a “satirical dark comedy thing” that ended up having “a lot of heart.” The premise? “Within the first 10 minutes, me and my dad, Paul Rudd, hit a unicorn with our car,” she explained.
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Colbert interrupted, “Like a mythical creature? A unicorn?” “Yes,” she confirmed. “And we don’t know what to do with it, so we shove it in the back of our car. Then my dad’s pharmaceutical company finds out and wants to take advantage of it.”
She added, totally deadpan, “We shot with real unicorns.” “Wow,” Colbert said. “Those are pretty rare these days.” “I know,” she replied.
At just 22 years old, Ortega is balancing one of the busiest schedules in Hollywood. From her breakout role in Wednesday to major films with Taika Waititi and Paul Rudd, she’s solidified her status as one of the most in-demand young actors in the industry. Even with all the fame, the craziness of viral stardom, and the glass dress poking her all night, she remains as unfiltered as ever. And that’s exactly why we love her.
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