Jenna Ortega is drawing attention after revealing that filming Hurry Up Tomorrow with The Weeknd came at a pivotal time in her life. In a new interview at the film’s premiere, she said she felt lost during production. The project, she added, helped her regain clarity.
Here’s what Ortega revealed about working with Tesfaye, navigating personal challenges on set, and how the experience shaped her.
Jenna Ortega shares how she felt before filming with The Weeknd
Jenna Ortega revealed she felt “very lost” when she started filming Hurry Up Tomorrow, describing it as “quite a strange time in my life.”
Speaking at the film’s New York premiere on May 13, 2025, Ortega told People, “It felt very in tune with the production that we were having.” The Lionsgate film stars Ortega alongside Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd) and Barry Keoghan.
Ortega, who also served as executive producer, credited the project and working with Tesfaye for helping her feel grounded. “To be able to collaborate on a story that is so meaningful and personal to such an inspiring artist was comforting and reassuring,” she said. “I felt seen, which was incredible and very beneficial.”
Hurry Up Tomorrow marks Tesfaye’s first leading film role and acts as a companion to his sixth studio album of the same name. According to the official synopsis, Tesfaye plays a musician with insomnia who is “pulled into an odyssey with a stranger who begins to unravel the very core of his existence.”
Director Trey Edward Shults, also at the premiere, spoke about the cast’s chemistry: “We’re all real people that don’t come from this world and come from different backgrounds, and we just connected.” Speaking about Ortega, he said, “Her talent and everything literally blew me away, man. I personally don’t feel she’s done a movie or given a performance like this yet, and I’m so, so, so proud of her in it.”
In April 2025, Ortega spoke to Tesfaye for V Magazine, reflecting on the pressures following her role on Wednesday. “I mean, that was just a few years ago,” she said. “It wasn’t until that show… that just catapulted everything.”
Originally reported by Vritti Johar on ComingSoon.net.
