Jenna Ortega Says She Had a 'Recurring Nightmare' About Michael Keaton’s Beetlejuice as a Child

Jenna Ortega met Michael Keaton long before they joined forces Beetlejuice Beetlejuice — in her dreams!

While appearing on The New York Times’ Interview podcast, the Wednesday The 21-year-old star recalled how her childhood was haunted by Keaton’s iconic ghostly character from the 1988 film long before she was cast in its upcoming sequel.

Ortega, who said she first saw the film when she was 8 or 9 years old, revealed to host Lulu Garcia-Navarro that she was terrified of the film – a common occurrence at the time. “I was terrified of everything when I was younger,” she said in an interview published on Saturday, August 24.

“I actually had a recurring nightmare about Beetlejuice,” Ortega continued, before revealing that the scary dreams actually came more from the person dressed as Keaton, 72, than the actual character.

Jenna Ortega Says Michael Keaton Jump Scared Her Dressed As Beetlejuice: ‘Molds Peeled Off His Face’

Michael Keaton as ‘Beetlejuice’ in ‘Beetlejuice’.

Photo by Moviestore/Shutterstock

“I saw a really horrible Halloween costume before I really knew what it was, and I think the mold and the smeared, bleeding green and black makeup of Party City scared me,” she said. “I just remember that picture, and then I watched the movie later and I thought, ‘Oh man, this is how the guy was dressed. This is just as terrible.’ ”

Recalling the content of a recurring dream, Scream star said: “I shared a room my whole life growing up. I was on the bottom bunk of the bunk bed and I dreamed that Beetlejuice would come down and swing around the railing to my bed wearing a Superman cape, offer me grape juice and say, “Do you have any grapes?” ”

Michael Keaton is considering working with the ‘special’ Jenna Ortega for bug juice Sequel: ‘She Just Got It’

When asked if she ever revealed this tidbit to Keaton while they were filming Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceOrtega admitted that this never happened.

“No, no. Maybe I should have, but maybe there was something in me that was still potentially scared, you know?” Garcia-Navarro said. “Meeting him, the giant from your childhood, it’s terrifying, and I think I may have reverted to my old adolescent habits in front of him.”

‘Jenna Ortega’ in ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’.

Pictures by Warner Bros

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Elsewhere during Interview episode, Ortega discussed another Beetlejuice Beetlejuice costar — and another original bug juice cast member — Winona Ryder.

After revealing that she “was really, really lucky to work with amazing actresses who definitely had a tough upbringing,” Ortega named Ryder as one such “mentor.”

“Winona Ryder, of course. She was so warm and welcoming and kind and inviting from the jump, and I couldn’t be more grateful,” she said. “It was at a time when my career was taking a different path and I didn’t realize I needed that from someone who could relate, but I did.”

As for their relationship, she said: “The way Winona and I got along was pretty weird. It was like we were reading each other’s minds a little bit.”

Catherine O’Hara, Jenna Ortega, Winona Ryder and Justin Theroux in ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’.

Parisa Taghizadeh/Warner Bros. Pictures

Ortega didn’t name any specific advice Ryder, 52, gave her — “It’s hard to pinpoint because I think I’d like to keep some of it between us” — but said the veteran actress “made me feel really, really beautiful and special .”

“And that, again, meant the world to me during that time,” she added.

Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceJenna Ortega Says The Original Movie Scared Her As A Child: ‘I Was Afraid Of Everything’

When asked what “that time” was, she said, “It was a very transformative time in my life. We were shooting bug juice not so long after Wednesday out, so one day I just woke up in someone else’s shoes. I felt like I had entered someone else’s life and I didn’t know how to get back into my own.”

“Obviously with the success and attention she got in the ’90s, Winona probably experienced it to an even greater extent, so she was the first person I reached out to about that,” Ortega continued. “Or she made me feel seen where other people were necessarily in my life, as much as they wanted to, that they couldn’t relate to or couldn’t understand.”

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice it’s in theaters on September 6.

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Source: HIS Education