Whenever a star-studded Hollywood cast embarks on a press tour, a splashy friendship—genuine or exaggerated—is often used to build excitement around their project. When Timothée Chalamet, Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, and Zendaya joked around in their interviews for Dune: Part 2, for example, it only made us want to see the movie even more. Of course, there’s no telling if the chemistry is authentic or if these are just really good actors, but A-list friendships pretty much guarantee ticket sales. (Some bonds, however, are obviously forced; the stars at a recent Maxxxine ensemble interview all appeared to be meeting for the very first time.)
On rare occasions, however, an authentic kinship does form, and you can feel it. Just take Jenna Ortega and Winona Ryder’s budding friendship, formed while they were shooting Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and now on glorious display during their globe-spanning promo tour. In many ways, Ryder and Ortega’s bond is unlikely, even setting aside the generation gap. Ryder—a ’90s icon who tends to be reclusive, shying away from the spotlight—seems like the opposite of Ortega, who is one of Young Hollywood’s most in-demand actors, not to mention a splashy red carpet star who seems to be everywhere at the moment.
And yet, for all their dissimilarities, the pair also make a funny kind of sense: they’re both fairly shy, they both became famous quite young, and both have a deep-seated passion for cinema. Ryder referenced the latter in a recent L.A. Times interview, saying she “almost wept” when Ortega referenced specific shots from Mikhail Kalatozov’s I Am Cuba while they filmed Beetlejuice Beetlejuice together. (True thespians.) In another interview, with Access Hollywood, Ryder also spoke of her instant connection with Ortega on set. “It was very beautiful,” she said. “I’ve never bonded with someone [like that.] We have this same reverence for film.” Even their co-stars noticed their camaraderie: Michael Keaton said he felt that Ortega was born to play Ryder’s daughter.
And the fondness goes both ways. On the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival this week, as photographers shouted at Ryder to remover her sunglasses, there was Ortega, comforting her and saying, “No, you don’t have to.” (You can tell that both stars would rather be at home than in front of the pesky paparazzi.) It’s no wonder that, when asked about the thing she missed most since wrapping Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Ryder replied, “You,” looking adoringly at Ortega. “I miss you every day.” We’re emotional—and are gonna need a Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice stat.
