Academy Award-winning filmmaker Taika Waititi brings a tender, luminous story of love, loss, and healing to the big screen with “Klara and the Sun”, coming soon to cinemas in the Philippines.
Based on the bestselling novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro, the film stars Jenna Ortega as Klara, an Artificial Friend, or AF, who longs for one thing: to be chosen and welcomed into the right home.
Watch the trailer here:
A Story of Friendship, Wonder, and Healing
In “Klara and the Sun,” Klara waits patiently for a family to bring her home. Bright-eyed and full of innocent wonder, she observes the world around her with quiet hope. Then she meets Josie, played by Mia Tharia, and the two instantly recognize something familiar in each other.
Josie convinces her mother, portrayed by Amy Adams, to take Klara in. From there, an extraordinary bond begins to grow, one shaped by devotion, vulnerability, and the need to recover from painful loss.
As Klara enters Josie’s complicated world, her unwavering loyalty starts to bring warmth back into a family still carrying grief. Bit by bit, and with a heart full of hope, Klara becomes more than a companion. She becomes a light in the middle of uncertainty.
Taika Waititi Brings Kazuo Ishiguro’s Beloved Novel to Life
Known for his emotionally rich and imaginative storytelling, Taika Waititi writes and directs this adaptation of Ishiguro’s acclaimed novel. With its blend of futuristic ideas and deeply human emotions, “Klara and the Sun” explores what it means to love, to belong, and to see the beauty in someone else’s world.
The film features an impressive cast led by Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams, and Mia Tharia, alongside Aran Murphy, with Steve Buscemi and Natasha Lyonne.
About “Klara and the Sun”
Based on the bestselling novel from Nobel Prize-winner Kazuo Ishiguro and written and directed by Academy Award winner Taika Waititi of “Jojo Rabbit,” “Klara and the Sun” introduces audiences to Klara, an Artificial Friend who wants nothing more than to find the perfect home.
When Klara meets Josie, each immediately senses a kindred spirit in the other. Josie has a fraught relationship with her mother, and they have suffered great loss. Yet Klara’s innocent wonder and steadfast loyalty begin to heal the family and bring light to Josie’s complicated world.
Director Tim Burton is back with the highly anticipated sequel to his 1988 horror-comedy classic, “Beetlejuice.” The new film, aptly titled “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” introduces a fresh cast while reviving the beloved, bizarre world of the original. Burton is thrilled with the blend of old and new faces, highlighting the collaborative atmosphere on set. “It’s like we’re doing this thing that nobody really knows what we’re doing – and within that framework, everybody is trying to make it something,” he shares, expressing his joy in working with a cast that brought their unique energy and creativity to the project.
Jenna Ortega steps into the world of the supernatural as Astrid Deetz, Lydia’s (Winona Ryder) 16-year-old daughter. Struggling with the loss of her father and feeling out of place at her boarding school, Astrid is not thrilled about moving to a small town with her famous mom and eccentric grandmother. Ortega, who reunites with Burton after their successful collaboration on “Wednesday,” reflects on her role, saying, “I’ve done this a couple times now, where I’ve joined a franchise that I never pictured myself joining,” says Ortega. “So, definitely, go back, do your homework, study.” Ortega is “really, really grateful” to be a part of the world of “Beetlejuice.” “It was such a privilege, and I don’t know what I did to be in this position or be on this project,” she says. “But it felt like I was thanking my lucky stars for it every day, because it was like a dream come true. And I was working with all of these people that I respected and admired and looked up to for years, and they were all so wonderful. And I got to work with one of my favorite directors again, which is incredible.”
Justin Theroux brings humor and complexity to his role as Rory, Lydia’s manager and fiancé. Described as a sensitive yet scheming character, Rory is deeply invested in Lydia’s career and his vision of who she should be. Theroux enjoyed the playful nature of the set, sharing, “It was fun… It was mostly goofing around. And like all great films you enjoy doing, there was a lot of laughter between takes. This is such an incredible cast. I came onto the set one day and we were shooting a big scene, and they had this little tent set up for us where they had chairs: Michael Keaton, Catherine O’Hara, Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, Monica Bellucci, Willem Dafoe… And I just thought, ‘Well, this is a deep bench of great actors.’”
Monica Bellucci plays Delores, a mysterious figure from Beetlejuice’s past, who is on a mission to find him in the Afterlife. Bellucci describes her character as one who says a lot without speaking much, likening her performance to that of a mime. She found the experience of working with Burton and the talented cast to be deeply rewarding, noting, “My character says a lot without really speaking that much. I felt really like a mime,” says Bellucci of Delores. “I’m so honored to be part of this amazing cast, and to enter into Tim’s fantastic and magical world… the atmosphere on set is very calm and beautiful. And his energy, it’s really inspiring for everybody.”
Willem Dafoe takes on the role of Wolf Jackson, a former actor turned head of the Afterlife Crimes Unit. Jackson, who died while playing a tough cop on TV, now continues his character’s no-nonsense persona in the afterlife. Dafoe speaks highly of his experience on set, especially working with the returning cast. “With the returning cast and their relationships, I’m a supporting role and I’m on their turf. But that’s okay. I was happy to come and be a part of their world… To be in the room with them is to be in the room with people who are excited to be back together and playing around. So, it was a real pleasure.”
In “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” three generations of the Deetz family return to Winter River after an unexpected tragedy. Lydia’s life is once again upended when her rebellious daughter, Astrid, discovers a portal to the Afterlife. With Beetlejuice lurking in the shadows, chaos is sure to ensue when someone inevitably says his name three times. The film, penned by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, with a story by Seth Grahame-Smith, promises a blend of nostalgia and fresh thrills that will delight both old fans and new viewers.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures in the Philippines, will hit cinemas nationwide on September 4. Don’t miss the chance to experience the mayhem and magic of the Afterlife once more. #Beetlejuice #Beetlejuice
For her performance Ortega was individually nominated for a 2023 Golden Globe award in the category of Best Television Actress Musical/Comedy Series and received a nomination for a 2022 Screen Actors Guild for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series.
Now, Ortega returns as Tara Carpenter in Paramount Pictures’ new slasher thriller Scream VI, bringing together some familiar faces for a terrifying, sharp-witted, and bloody horror experience.
Scream VI finds Sam (Melissa Barrera), her half-sister Tara and their friends, twins Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad Meeks-Martin (Mason Gooding), having relocated from Woodsboro to New York City after the most recent Ghostface killings left them as the only survivors in their group of friends.
For Ortega, her character Tara doesn’t fit the genre’s so-called final girl mold. “It’s been really fun exploring her more in this film because I feel like I’m pulling out different traits,” she says. “I love that she’s more in touch with her feminine side and is a bit more sensitive. It’s very easy to make her cry and get under her skin. It’s also easy for her to grow unbelievably frustrated. Her older sister, Sam, is this stoic, strong, badass girl, which is also wonderful because we get to play off of each other.”
The story delves into how Sam and Tara are dealing with the horrors they lived through in entirely different and conflicting ways. “They’re like regular sisters that fight all the time and are sick of each other,” says Ortega. “Sam is the overprotective one, who is taking her job way too seriously. Tara’s this girl in college who wants independence and doesn’t want her sister hanging around watching her every move. There’s more friction, and the arc is more like a regular sibling relationship with ups and downs. Tara also has her journey of being in denial and not wanting to deal, choosing to move on with her life and not think about what happened ever again. Sam’s trying to get her to deal with it so that they can heal together.”
In Philippine cinemas starting March 8, Scream VI is distributed by Paramount Pictures through Columbia Pictures. Connect with #Scream6 and tag @paramountpicsph
Photo & Video Credit: “Paramount Pictures International”
Pale in black with a deadpan expression, morbid tastes, and cold comebacks, Wednesday Addams is back on the screen and this time, she’s out to solve a dark mystery revolving around her new school, the Nevermore Academy.
In Netflix’s upcoming series Wednesday, the young lady of the Addams Family is sent to her parents’ alma mater after she causes another trouble in her latest school (piranhas and swimming pools don’t really go together). In Nevermore Academy– a school for outcasts, freaks, and monsters– Morticia and Gomez Addams expect their daughter to fit right in. But as Wednesday tries to prove them wrong, her psychic abilities and her parents’ own past would get her embroiled in a school mystery involving a dangerous monster that attacks Nevermore students.
Watch the trailer for Wednesday below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q73UhUTs6y0
Before this new series from director Tim Burton drops on Netflix this November 23, we got the chance to virtually chat with its lead star in a roundtable interview. In this interview, Jenna Ortega talks about bringing the iconic character back, what she would do if she meets Wednesday, and more! Check out the highlights of the interview below:
Wednesday is such an iconic character, how did it feel playing her character?
Jenna Ortega: Terrifying, especially working with someone like Tim Burton for the first time, who is a legend. You never really know what to expect and you want to do a good job. I respect this character so much that I just wanted to do her right.
It’s definitely nerve-racking especially when you’re trying to figure out what the tone of the show is, and you just got into a foreign country, and you’re trying to pick up all of these skills. It was very easy to get overwhelmed, but sometimes you just have to put that stuff aside and realize it’s go-time, and I think I just tried to put my head down and put in as much work as possible and I hope that it’s received well.
Photo courtesy of Netflix
What did you work on the hardest in playing the modern-day Wednesday Addams?
Jenna Ortega: I feel like personality-wise, I focused a lot on trying to protect her emotional arc, and making sure that anytime she was vulnerable it was well-deserved. And I think for any hobby or additional thing that I learned, I feel like I was pretty hard on myself about the cello. I really wanted to get that right.
Did you get guidance from Christina Ricci who played Wednesday before and also stars in this series as Ms. Thornhill?
Jenna Ortega: None at all. We didn’t talk about Wednesday once. And it’s funny, I think [that’s the] assumption, but there’s a part of me that really didn’t want to and we met each other and I think it was very clear that she didn’t want to either.
You know our Wednesdays are very different, and if anything I was more interested in where she was from, what her deal was, and what her experiences were. I think we relate a lot, and I think we got along really well. When you don’t talk about the fact that she’s been in the same exact getup as you before, it makes it a lot easier to do your scenes and treat each other like regular people and not somebody you looked up to your entire life.
Wednesday has a lot of witty lines and clapbacks in the show. Do you have a favorite line from her?
Jenna Ortega: One of my favorites is when she has to go to a school dance, and she has to go get this dress and Enid says, “Oh, do you know what you need?” and [Wednesday] says, “A bullet to the head.” That’s one of my favorite lines because it’s so true and it also sounds like something I’ve said before so I felt that one pretty intensely.
Photo courtesy of Netflix
How did filming go for all of Wednesday’s scenes with the dismembered hand, Thing?
Jenna Ortega: It actually wasn’t too difficult. I feel like a lot of times, I act all the time even though maybe I shouldn’t be. I take any opportunity that I can, like if I’m home alone doing the dishes. So I think talking to nothing was actually pretty easy.
But fortunately, a lot of the time, I did have an actor. It was hard because he couldn’t necessarily fit in all of the shots. His name is Victor, he was a magician, he wore a full blue suit and I was followed around by a blue man. So he would walk behind me and we had these things called wild desks or wild beds, and there were cutouts in the mattress, so he could lay in there and crawl on the bed, or there were holes missing on the side of drawers so that he could stick his hand through. I’ve never done something like that before, but he was really really great and it felt like acting with another actor especially when he’s communicating with you like that so I feel very lucky to have had that experience as well.
Having starred in slashers Scream and X, and now in the supernatural comedy Wednesday, do you think you have certain expectations when working on horror titles?
Jenna Ortega: I think it’s a little bit different every time because, with different characters, you kind of want to approach [them] differently. I think I’m fortunate enough to play teen girls that don’t always necessarily resemble one another and I like to approach all of my characters with the same level of respect and care. I’m really lucky though because horror is so much fun, it’s really easy to kind of take risks, and explore, and do new things. Fortunately, in any of the horror sets that I’ve been on, I’ve been encouraged to do that which has been really really nice.
How challenging was it to keep Wednesday’s deadpan expressions while still evoking emotions in certain scenes?
Jenna Ortega: Yeah, I feel like the challenging part was more of the emotions. I think it’s pretty easy for me to be deadpan, especially because I think that naturally, I kind of have that face. I feel like a lot of people think that I don’t like them instantly because of my expression. The emotion more than anything was difficult just because you wanted to know when was the right time to do it, and why she was doing it, and how much was too much and how little was too little. You could never really tell with that one.
Photo courtesy of Netflix
What’s your main takeaway and what do you want the viewers to pick up from the show?
Jenna Ortega: I hope that the audiences learn that maybe the best way to confront anything in life is just by being yourself and not changing anything about you for the satisfaction or comfort of others. Because it’s unnecessary, it gets you nowhere, and it’s a lot cooler when you don’t do that. So I think that’s something to learn, and also maybe make a couple of friends if you’re going to fight a serial killer monster.
Also, I think my biggest takeaway from this role is I spent so much time with this character I learned how to use my voice and fight for characters in a way that I hadn’t before, and as an actress that’s kind of everything and I’m excited to be able to have that tool now and use it in other sets in the future.
Photo courtesy of Netflix
If you were to meet Wednesday Addams in real life, how do you think would you react towards her, and do you think you would befriend her?
Jenna Ortega: Yes, but I think I would know that it would be very difficult to become friends with her. So I think I would just stalk her from a distance and then maybe start sending her things and getting involved. I think that would be a more interesting approach, I feel like then she would like me. I’d be very intimidated though, I think, but I kinda like that, I like it when people are a little scary.
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Wednesday also stars Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzman, Gwendoline Christie, and Emma Myers. The series drops on Netflix this November 23.
