Jenna Ortega is pretty sure she auditioned to play Chani in the Dune movies

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As a fan who has followed Jenna Ortega’s career closely, it’s fascinating to see how far she’s come since her days auditioning for roles like Chani in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune. It’s a testament to her talent and determination that she was able to land such a coveted role at just 15 years old, even without knowing the exact character she was auditioning for!

Today, Jenna Ortega is a major star, and next weekend you can catch her as Winona Ryder’s daughter Astrid in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” However, not long ago, she was just an aspiring actor fighting for auditions. In an interview with Buzzfeed, Ortega recalls trying out for a role in Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” films, although due to the production’s secrecy, she isn’t certain which part it was that she auditioned for.

“Ortega, who’s now 21 years old, recalls auditioning for ‘Dune’ when he was around 15. He was a huge fan of the movie and its series, and was thrilled about the opportunity to interview with Denis Villeneuve, one of his favorite directors.”

It’s consistently intriguing to me how actors audition for roles without knowing the role details in advance. I understand studios want to keep things under wraps, but wouldn’t providing some character information benefit the actor? However, there was only one role that Ortega could have been auditioning for, and she believes it might have been Chani, the Fremen warrior who develops a romantic relationship with the main character Paul Atreides. “I believe it was Zendaya’s part,” Ortega stated, hinting at the mystery. “But they weren’t confirming that. Everything was shrouded in secrecy.”

In late 2021, Chani made her debut in “Dune: Part One.” A year on, Jenna Ortega gained immense popularity as the lead actress in Netflix’s series “Wednesday,” with a second season currently being developed. Given that Zendaya from “Euphoria” is five years older than Ortega and Timothée Chalamet, who plays Paul Atreides in “Dune,” it could be speculated that the producers of “Dune” might have preferred actors closer in age to each other when casting.

Things turned out splendidly, without a doubt. Jenna Ortega has emerged as one of the brightest new stars in Hollywood, and Zendaya excelled as Chani; she’s set to reprise her role in Dune: Part Three, which is slated for release in December 2026. It’s expected that season 2 of Wednesday will premiere before then, possibly around late 2025.

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2024-08-27 18:41