Jenna Ortega Reveals She Nearly Appeared in ‘Hereditary’: “Incredible Movie”

Hereditary put filmmaker Ari Aster on the map. One of the more horrific films of the last decade, it managed to scare up over $90 million worldwide and led to fans still clamoring for star Toni Collette to take home an Academy Award. Turns out, genre favorite Jenna Ortega (Scream) nearly appeared in the terrifying haunter.

During an interview on the Big Bro with Kid Cudi podcast, Ortega revealed that she auditioned for Hereditary. “I think I auditioned for Hereditary, which obviously wouldn’t have made any sense, especially for, like, my disposition as a kid, so I understood.”

Ortega claims she only received a portion of the script, but recognized its potential. “I didn’t know what I was looking at and they they gave us barely any sides. It was like two pages of just ominous words that as a 12-year-old went over the head. But I remember seeing it, looking at it, and thinking, I feel like this is an important movie, and then it was.”

“Then it came out, and we went to the theater,” Ortega recalls. “I sat up in my chair and I looked at my mom and I said, ‘This is the one that I said was going to be in.’ You know, we didn’t even realize that [is what we were seeing]. But incredible movie. It’s funny to think that I went in for that because again, I just didn’t make any sense for it.”

Ultimately, the role Ortega was eyeing went to Milly Shapiro, a character who meets a very unfortunate (and iconic) fate involving a street post.

In Hereditary, “a grieving family is haunted by tragic and disturbing occurrences”.

Head to Cudi’s X account to see various clips from the chat.

Kid Cudi: "I auditioned for Get Out. I was, [in] one of those situations where I read the script and I knew it was about to go."

Jenna Ortega: "I auditioned for Hereditary … I remember seeing it, looking at it, and thinking, 'I feel like this is an important movie.'"Kid Cudi…

— Big Bro with Kid Cudi (@bigbrocudi)