Jenna Ortega Talked Facing Her Fears Making Scary Movies, But I’m More Inspired By Her Epic Chain Mail Outfit

Jenna Ortega looking terrified in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Let’s face it, along with starring in one of the biggest of 2024 movies, Jenna Ortega absolutely slayed the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice press tour on the fashion front. The actress, who is beloved for previously working with Tim Burton on Netflix’s Wednesday, went full goth for a lot of her public wardrobe lately, and I especially cannot get over how she rocked the chainmail look while discussing how she faced her fears while making horror movies.

When Jenna Ortega stopped by The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon recently, she spoke about the first time she was exposed to the horror genre. Her sentiments were quite cerebral, but it's her incredible wardrobe that I can't get over. Check out the video below:

While on the late night show, Jenna Ortega put her own spin on the chainmail trend, which her pal Sabrina Carpenter recently rocked as well along. Chappell Roan sported it a couple of weeks ago as well while accepting her first VMA. Per Women’s Wear Daily, the corset dress is a custom Dion Lee that was styled by Enrique Melendez. What’s particularly gorgeous about it is how the chainmail acts as flattering detailing as it cascades down her chest, almost like a skeleton, and stripes of the material drape along the skirt portion.

The dress was paired with black gloves, pumps and Jenna Ortega’s long flowing black hair. While wearing the outfit, though she had a great story about seeing Child’s Play way too young by accident and getting super creeped out by Chucky. It’s an ironic story for the actress, especially because as she shared, she worked with a lot of practical effects, and even dolls on the set of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. As she quipped, “You’ve got to face your own fears!”

If you’ve been following Jenna Ortega’s career in the past few years you know, she’s faced her fears quite a few times on the set of horror movies. She has starred in two of the latest Scream movies along with Ti West’s X prior to her work with Tim Burton. As Ortega has also spoken to recently, she actually wanted to work with the director years prior when she auditioned for Burton's live-action Dumbo remake and was “gutted” when she did not get the part.

While it’s certainly amazing that the Miller's Girl actress has been able to lead so many scary movies despite her first experience with them, I’m never getting over that chainmail dress. It's also not the only impeccable fit she's sported in her time Just take a look at CinemaBlend’s own retrospective of her fashion over the years:

As of late, Jenna Ortega has been super into method dressing for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Whether that be by channelling one of Lydia’s original outfits from the first movie or wearing a three-piece yellow suit like Bob. Plus, she even carried around the Beetlejuice house as a purse! Now, I absolutely cannot wait for her to turn up in one of the upcoming horror movies and have another fierce fashion moment!

Check out Beetlejuice Beetlejuice in theaters now, and be sure to keep your eye on upcoming horror movies, in case Jenna Ortega ends up landing a new flick.

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.