Jenna Ortega grateful to late friend Cameron Boyce
Jenna Ortega felt "uncomfortable" when she was asked to kiss the late Cameron Boyce during an audition.
The 21-year-old actress has reflected on the last time she saw the 'Descendants' actor - who died in his sleep in 2019 after suffering a seizure at the age of 20 - and she'll always be grateful that he spoke up when they were put in the "weird" position for trying out to be love interests after being friends for years.
Speaking to French TV outlet Canal+, she said: "The last time I saw my friend Cameron Boyce — I'd known him since I was like 11 or 12, and we were supposed to kiss [in an audition] and he knew me, since I was 11 or 12. This is a few years later, 15, 16, came in, we were supposed to be love interests.
"But because he obviously felt weird and he was a bit older, he was like — we both just kinda looked at each other and we were like, 'No, we can't do this.'
"And it was so sweet because I was uncomfortable and I was having a hard time. .. And then, we wished each other well."
Jenna was "really thankful and grateful" to Cameron for speaking up, and agreed with her 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' co-star Catherine O'Hara when she said he had been a "gentleman".
Meanwhile, Jenna recently admitted she was "terrified" about joining 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' as Astrid Deetz - the daughter of Winona Ryder's character Lydia Deetz - alongside acting greats such as the 'Stranger Things' star, Michael Keaton, and Catherine O'Hara.
She said on 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon': "Never in my wildest dreams. I just never could have anticipated something like that happening.
"Lydia [Deetz, Winona's character] is the coolest character on the planet. Just everything about it, I was terrified."
Michael, 72, has reprised the role of Beetlejuice for the new film.
And Jenna recalled being surprised by her co-star while she was in the make-up room.
She shared: "He came up behind me. I was getting a hair and make-up test, and I got a tap on the shoulder and I turned around and it was a jump scare for sure. He was like, ‘Oh hey I’m Michael,’ and he had moulds peeling off his face.
"I played it cool and then it was cool until I met him for a second time out of hair and make-up because I introduced myself again because I forgot that I had already met him."