Jenna Ortega knows what she’s doing regarding her looks during the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice press tour. If there was any doubt of that, one need not but look at the red dress Ortega wore to the premiere of the movie during the Venice Film Festival, a clear homage to Winona Ryder’s character of Lydia Deetz.
The dress, similar in style to the red wedding dress Ryder’s Lydia wears in the original Beetlejuice, is a custom Dior tulle look from their 2021 collection. In the original movie, the demon in question is terrorizing the Deetz family. Things take a turn when he dons a suit and transforms her dark outfit into a red tulle wedding dress. From then everyone tries to say “Beetlejuice” to defeat him as Lydia tries to fight back against the forced wedding.
It’s far from the first time Ortega has paid homage to Winona Ryder’s character of Lydia Deetz during the press tour for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. She previously wore a custom Thom Browne that was meant to reference Ryder’s character too during the closing scene of the original movie. During that scene, Lydia apparently got an A on her math test and was gifted with a floating dance scene to “Jump in the Line” by Harry Belafonte.
According to the official film’s synopsis: “After an unexpected family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia’s life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid, discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic, and the portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened. With trouble brewing in both realms, it’s only a matter of time until someone says Beetlejuice’s name three times, and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem.”
See Jenna Ortega in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice when it hits theaters nationwide on September 6, 2024.