Jenna Ortega is in talks to join Glen Powell in J.J. Abrams’ forthcoming, untitled Warner Bros. movie.
Ortega will next be seen in Warner Bros.’ “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” and would star alongside Powell, whose summer blockbuster “Twisters” (a Warner Bros. co-production) is nearing the $200 million domestic mark.
Not much is known about Abrams’ new film except that it is not a time travel movie (as had been previously speculated) and that Abrams both wrote the script and will be directing. The project will be produced by Abrams and his production company Bad Robot.
Ortega, in addition to returning for the second season of “Wednesday,” recently finished filming Taika Waititi’s “Klara and the Sun,” A24’s “Death of a Unicorn” and an untitled film directed by Trey Edward Shults. “Wednesday,” it’s worth noting, is the most-watched Netflix series of all time. And “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is one of the most buzzed-about movies of the year, with a splashy premiere at the Venice International Film Festival on Aug. 28, followed by its wide release on Sept. 6.
Powell, of course, is having a banner year. In addition to “Twisters,” his passion project “Hit Man,” which he co-wrote (with director Richard Linklater) and stars in, had a huge response at various film festivals through the end of last year and beginning of this year, before debuting on Netflix. He also produced the “Blue Angels” documentary (with Abrams) for Amazon MGM Studios and is in production on “Huntington,” a loose remake of “Kind Hearts and Coronets,” for A24. Further out he will be starring in a new adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Running Man” for director Edgar Wright and Paramount. He also has a “Heaven Can Wait” reimagining for Paramount.
This untitled project will mark Abrams’ first feature as a director since 2019’s “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” and his first original feature since 2011’s Spielberg-indebted (and Spielberg-produced) “Super 8.”
Deadline first reported the news.
