Jenna Ortega Says Michael Keaton Jump Scared Her as Beetlejuice

Jenna Ortega met Beetlejuice before she met Michael Keaton.

Ortega, 21, appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday, August 21, where she described meeting her Beetlejuice Beetlejuice co-star, fully in-costume.

“He came up behind me,” Ortega explained. “I was getting a hair and makeup test, and I got a tap on the shoulder and I turned around and it was a jump scare for sure. He was like, ‘Oh hey I’m Michael,’ and he had molds peeling off his face.”

Keaton, 70, reprised his role from the 1988 Tim Burton movie, Beetlejuice. In the sequel, which hits theaters on Friday, September 6, Ortega plays Astrid Deetz, daughter of Lydia Deetz, played by Winona Ryder, who also reprises her role for the follow-up film.

Ryder, or Catherine O’Hara — who returns as Delia Deetz — may be more used to Keaton’s antics as the supernatural trickster. Ortega, however, did her best to take it in stride.

“I played it cool. And then it was cool until I met him for a second time out of hair and makeup because I introduced myself again because I forgot that I had already met him,” she said.

Fallon then came to her defense, pointing out that she met Beetlejuice the first time, not Keaton.

Even with the jump scare, Ortega called Keaton “the coolest” and was grateful for the chance to appear in the movie.

“Never in my wildest dreams. I just never could have anticipated something like that happening,” she gushed. “Lydia is the coolest character on the planet. Just everything about it, I was terrified.”

“It’s a complete original on its own, strangely enough,” Ortega continued. “There’s so much in this film that’s new and refreshing and that’s what’s so wonderful about the worlds Tim creates. You just want to keep exploring them and I don’t know whatever you’re anticipating but…you’re wrong.”

Ortega also discussed season 2 of her hit Netflix show Wednesday, which is currently filming. In addition to playing the lead character, Ortega is also a producer for the season.

“It’s been the best. I’d never really done that on a TV show before,” she shared. “We had talked about it [during the] first season and it’s so nice being part of these conversations because I love what I do. I love my job, but I love being part of the background stuff. So I get to decide how blue someone’s going to be or where their brains go on the floor…I’m learning so much it’s so informative.”