Imagine Jenna Ortega in Hereditary. Creepy, right? Also…almost real.
The Wednesday The star just made a surprising confession while chatting with Kid Cudi on his podcast – she auditioned for Ari Aster’s now-iconic horror film when she was just 12.
“I think I auditioned for Hereditary, which obviously wouldn’t have made any sense, especially to, like, my mind as a kid, so I understood,” she said.
She didn’t even have the full script—just a few mysterious pages.
“I didn’t know what I was looking at… it was like two pages of just ominous words going over my head as a 12-year-old,” she explained. Still, something clicked: “I feel like this is an important movie.”
She wasn’t wrong.
The role eventually went to Milly Shapiro, while Toni Collette directed the film – and horror history was made.
When he later saw it in theaters, Ortega had a full-circle moment: “This is who I said would be in.”
But rejection? Never the story of her villainous origin. “I never really question it… what’s meant to be mine will come to me.”
In fact, she almost stopped playing altogether – until YOU happened. On set, an experience, and suddenly, “Yeah, there’s no way I could let this go.”
Fast forward, she’s now booked, busy… and finally learning how to cook.
Hollywood almost lost her. Imagine that horror story.
