Jenna Ortega Doesn’t Land Dream Role as Baz Luhrmann Finds His Joan of Arc

After recently expressing her desire to play Joan of Arc, it looks like Wednesday star Jenna Ortega won’t be getting her dream role anytime soon. Director Baz Luhrmann has found a different young actress to lead his upcoming Jehanne d’Arc movie.

During the press tour of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Ortega had shared that one of her favorite movies of all time was Carl Theodor Dreyer’s French silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc, revealing that Renée Jeanne Falconetti’s incredible performance made her realized that Joan of Arc was her dream character.

Who is leading the Joan of Arc movie?

According to Deadline, The Queen’s Gambit star Isla Johnston has entered early talks for the leading role in Luhrmann’s Joan of Arc movie for Warner Bros. Should Johnston officially sign on, this would mark her first major movie role after previously playing the younger version of Anya Taylor-Joy’s character in the acclaimed Netflix miniseries.

Jehanne d’Arc will be directed by Luhrmann from a screenplay he co-wrote with Ava Pickett. The project is currently in the pre-production phase. This marks Luhrmann’s feature directorial comeback after massive critical success of 2022’s Elvis, which launched Austin Butler into a sought-after leading man.

Hailed as a patron saint of France, Joan of Arc is a legendary historical figure who became famous as a defender of the nation during the Hundred Years’ War in the 1400s. Infamously, Joan claimed to be acting under divine guidance from the archangel Michael in her decision-making. In 1431, after being captured by the English, she was accused of heresy and burned at the stake at the age of 19.

(Source: Deadline, Letterboxd)

Source: Comingsoon.net