Jenna Ortega reflects on not being cast in Tim Burton’s live-action remake of Dumbo. The 2019 film was made in the wake of Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, and other animated Disney films being remade in a live-action format. Despite featuring Burton’s direction and an impressive cast that included Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton, and Danny DeVito, Dumbo was generally not well-received, resulting in a rotten 46% critical score and 48% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
In a GQ video with her Beetlejuice Beetlejuice co-star, Keaton, Ortega looks back at how disappointed she was to not be able to work with Burton when she auditioned for Dumbo.
Ortega recalls that “l remember Dumbo being one that for weeks, I was just gutted, and I thought, ‘Oh, what if I never get the opportunity to work with him again?'” Despite this disappointment, she has now collaborated with Burton more than once, first as the titular lead of the Netflix hit series Wednesday, and later as Lydia Deetz’s daughter Astrid in the legacy sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Not Being Cast In Dumbo Was Best For Jenna Ortega’s Career
It Made Her First Collaboration With Burton Better For Both Of Them
If Ortega had been cast in Dumbo, her first collaboration with the director would have been in an ultimately disappointing project, with Burton even admitting that Dumbo felt like a creative low point in his career. Instead, the actor and director first worked together on Wednesday, a creatively rewarding project that became one of Netflix’s most-watched original series. With Beetlejuice Beetlejuice considered Burton’s best movie in years, Ortega’s work with him continues to be strong.
Dumbo‘s disappointment would not necessarily have prevented this partnership from happening, with Burton still reuniting with Keaton for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Neverthless, Burton would have started his collaborations with Ortega on a far different and less satisfying note. Between Keaton reprising a character from 1988, and Farrell receiving an Academy Award nomination for The Banshees of Inisherin and leading his own streaming series as The Batman‘s Penguin, the careers of Dumbo‘s cast have not suffered in the years since the film’s release.
Ortega’s career likely would not have suffered either had she been in the cast of the live-action remake, but not being in Dumbo still worked out for the best. She has now starred in two of Burton’s best projects in years and has become one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Ortega has been at the forefront of popular streaming series, blockbuster hits, and critically acclaimed films like The Fallout, proving her ability to excel in a wide range of stories.
Source: GQ
