Jenna Ortega, Conan Gray and Avani Gregg make their Met debuts at the 2022 Met Gala on Monday evening (May 2) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

The trio were among quite a few first time attendees at the event, which also included Elite actor Manu Rios!

Jenna is dressed in Valentino, with Chopard jewelry.

Conan is wearing Valentino silver sequin embroidered pants, a white tulle embroidered shirt and a chiffon cape, with Valentino Garavani platform boots especially designed for him by Creative Director Pierpaolo Piccioli.

Avani can be seen wearing a Bach Mai dress.

“I’m so excited. I don’t even know how to feel. This is a dream come true for me, and I’m so excited to be supporting Bach Mai for his first collection and first Met Gala, as well,” Avani said about the night, via Instagram.

Manu is wearing a custom black sheer double-breasted lurex-brocade tuxedo with crystal embellishments from Moschino by Jeremy Scott.

Click inside for more photos of the first timers at the Met Gala…

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Porn — the possibility of it, the promise of what it might do — is at the center of Ti West’s ’70s-set horror outing “X,” which follows a scrappy group of Texans who alight for a quiet farmhouse to film their very own X-rated film, as inspired by the massive success of “Debbie Does Dallas.” Of course, given that this is a horror film from Ti West, nothing goes to plan — quiet farmhouses owned by creepy, leering elderly people are hardly safe, especially for free-wheeling aspiring filmmakers with a taste for flesh — and the film’s blood-soaked opening moments make that very clear indeed.

But West soon throws the film back in time, allowing his audience to catch up on a very busy 24 hours for said scrappy film crew, including star-in-the-making Maxine (Mia Goth), free-spirited Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow), and the reserved Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), the trio of leading ladies of both “X” and the fake pornographic film at its center. Along with ringleader Wayne (Martin Henderson), big talent Jackson (Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi), and wannabe director RJ (Owen Campbell), the ill-fated cast and crew do manage to film a variety of decidedly X-rated scenes before the blood starts being shed.

And, in a film bursting with blood and guts and broken bones and plenty more where that came from, it was those sex-charged scenes that were really scary. But as the film’s trio of leading ladies told IndieWire during a recent interview, West and the rest of his cast and crew endeavored to make the scenes as easy, fun, and safe as possible, no matter how “outrageous” they were on the page.

“Probably filming the porn film was the scariest moment for me, but more than anything, I think it was just the anticipation of it all,” Goth said. “I knew that everyone that was in the kitchen making this happen, they were going to execute this film to a really high level. And then I read the script and that confirmed what I already thought.”

She added that, in frequent conversations with West, the filmmaker “always said that it was going to be done in a tasteful way.” (Goth’s admiration for West and his vision has already been fruitful: the pair shot a secret prequel to “X” that stars Goth in a, how to say, unique role — more on that to come later this week on IndieWire.)

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Christopher Moss

Snow’s experience was similar — excitement mixed with anticipation and some healthy fear — but West’s dedication to not being salacious with any of the sex scenes helped.

“I initially read the script and I was a little scared, because it was outrageous in the best way,” Snow said. “Not only was I going to be baring my soul and my body, but also my singing. There was a lot of scary elements to it. Then I talked to Ti and I realized that the way that he was going to shoot it, that the sexuality of the characters was more based in who they were and what their endeavors were, as opposed to shooting it in a gratuitous way where you were really going to feel like it was exploitative in terms of their bodies.”

For Ortega, a former Disney kid who has been expanding her work into decidedly more grownup fare, the chance to do something really different was intriguing.

“I had never read anything like it before, and that was super-enticing to me,” Ortega said. “I love that my character comes off one way initially, and then flips the script mid-film. … I just had a lot of faith in everybody who was behind the project and faith in the script itself. I was really eager to do something that I had never done before and put myself in an environment that was so different from anything I’ve ever filmed.”

For each of the film’s female stars, keeping up a constant stream of conversation with West was key to feeling comfortable, and not just in terms of how the sequences would be filmed, but why they existed. “Ti made us feel very, very comfortable,” Snow said. “We also had a lot of control and agency over how it was done, which I think was crucial in doing this.”

As Goth noted, the porn shoot is part of each character’s primary motivation. They all want to be there, there’s never anything untoward about the situation.

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A24

“The intention behind it all was really important to me. This group of people, it’s sort of a means to an end. They’re not just making a porno for the sake of making a porno,” Goth said. “They’re all very ambitious and they’re all very driven and they have their own ideas of what success means and what they want. It’s them wanting to make something more of themselves, and wanting to really just create a better life for themselves. That, I could understand, and I related to that.”

Snow added that it was important to her that Bobby-Lynne, one of the more eager participants in the porno “was powerful and had agency over her body.” And while Ortega’s Lorraine first arrives as the quiet, God-fearing, boom mic–wielding girlfriend of RJ, she eventually decides that she wants to get in front of the camera, too.

“That wasn’t a conscious decision. The scene actually wasn’t initially in the script,” Ortega said. “When I signed on, that wasn’t a part [of the film]. It was something that came later on. … [It was] flipping the stereotype over and just taking somebody who you wouldn’t really see in that position suddenly in that position. I think it adds to the spontaneity of the decision and also just the spontaneity of the film.”

While both Goth and Snow bare all on-screen, they’re not alone: Henderson and Mescudi strip down, too. “I think that it was really important for us that Scott and Martin were just as naked, because I think it shows that there was more of an atmosphere and a meaning to this porn movie that was justified [in terms of] us all using our bodies as a, I don’t know, like a mechanism, instead of it being gratuitous,” Snow said.

All three stars pointed to intimacy coordinator Tandi Wright — “the sweetest, kindest intimacy coordinator in the world,” Ortega said — for adding to their comfort and spawning still more conversations with West and the rest of the cast and crew.

“X”

Christopher Moss

“I think in the past couple of years, it’s been a prerequisite to any scene that you feel is intimate in any way, even when I’ve kissed someone in a scene, I feel like it should be taken seriously, because I think it needs to be treated mechanically and like a dance. It has to be professional, and the actors have to feel comfortable,” Snow said. “This is a professional situation. Tandi was so fantastic to work with and made us feel, not only comfortable in terms of our own skin, but comfortable within our characters and really allowing us the space to be who we were supposed to be in that moment, and not thinking about the physicality and the vulnerability of it all.”

Goth had never worked with an intimacy coordinator before “X,” but found the experience to be incredibly helpful as well.

“I didn’t really know what to expect with our first meeting. It was me and with Scott and Tandi, and we met up in a hotel room and we just got to know each other a little bit,” Goth said. “I found it very beneficial. because we were able to get through any awkwardness that you might have felt on set beforehand. It just really allowed you to get to set on the day and start having fun with it. You build that sense of trust and safety with your coworker.”

Was it scary? Sure. But the results speak for themselves. “Just thinking about it and going over the scene and getting ready for it all [was scary], but by the time you do the first take and you’ve established what it is and what needs to get done, that goes away,” Goth said. “Then you can start having fun with it and just try to make the scene as good as possible.”

A24 will release “X” in theaters on Friday, March 18.

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Jenna Ortega is spilling on her upcoming new Netflix series!

The 19-year-old actress will be starring in the title role in Wednesday, a coming of age tale about The Addams Family daughter.

In a new interview, Jenna dished on what it’s been like filming the show so far and taking on such an iconic character.

Check out what she shared inside…

“It’s been quite an insane experience. I’ve been lucky enough to get the opportunity to work with an iconic director [Tim Burton] who just so happens to be one of the sweetest directors I’ve worked with, and also the most detail-oriented,” she told THR.

“To step into the shoes of somebody who’s a bit more eccentric and frightening has been really exciting for me, and definitely a challenge — especially with such a beloved character, I really want to take care of her and do her justice,” she added.

Jenna also shared that she’s never felt so much pressure to portray a character as she does Wednesday.

“There are several different paths that anyone could have taken for this character. We’ve never seen Wednesday Addams as a teenage girl, so some of her harsh mannerisms may come off as hilarious when she’s younger, but as you get older, how much of that can you get away with?” she says. “Or how do you keep that at the forefront of her personality without people growing to dislike her or find her annoying? So just trying to balance that … I’ve never felt so much pressure on a job, and I’m trying to keep my cool.”

Wednesday is a sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery charting Wednesday Addams’ years as a student at Nevermore Academy. Wednesday’s attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the local town, and solve the supernatural mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago — all while navigating her new and very tangled relationships at Nevermore.

If you missed it, find out more about the cast of the upcoming series!

Jenna will soon be seen in the upcoming movie The Fallout, which comes to HBO Max TOMORROW (January 27). Watch the trailer here.

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The official trailer for Jenna Ortega and Maddie Ziegler‘s new movie The Fallout has just been released!

The Secret Life of the American Teenager star Megan Park makes her feature film screenwriting and directorial debut with the film, which will premiere on HBO Max.

Click inside to watch the trailer and learn more…

Here’s a synopsis: Bolstered by new friendships forged under sudden and tragic circumstances, high schooler Vada (Ortega) begins to reinvent herself, while re-evaluating her relationships with her family, friends and her view of the world. Moving away from her comfortable family routine, she starts taking chances with a series of quicksilver decisions that test her own boundaries and push her in new directions. As she spends more time with Mia (Ziegler), they grow closer, and Vada slowly redefines herself through their shared experiences, leading her further away from that day and closer to living her life in the now.

The movie also stars Niles Fitch, Will Ropp, Julie Bowen, John Ortiz and Shailene Woodley.

The Fallout will debut on HBO Max on January 27th.

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justjaredjr.com/2022/01/18/jen…

Megan Park’s heart-wrenching directorial debut “The Fallout” shows how a seemingly normal day in the life of high schoolers is swiftly destroyed by a horrific shooting — and how that shooting is then refracted through social media. The film won the Audience Award for Narrative Feature at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival, and arrives on HBO Max January 27. “The Fallout” also features a leading turn from “Scream” breakout Jenna Ortega, starring opposite Maddie Ziegler. Watch the trailer below.

Jenna Ortega stars as Vada, a high schooler in emotional freefall after a school shooting alters her friends, family, and other relationships in her orbit. Others affected by the shooting act out in different ways to cope with their pain. Once-silly Nick (Will Ropp) becomes an overnight sensation as a victim’s advocate, while Quinton (left injured by the shooting) proves to be the most surprisingly emotionally stable. Meanwhile, Shailene Woodley co-stars in a small role as a therapist. Director Megan Park effectively makes the transition from actress and singer to feature filmmaker (her past credits include music videos such as Billie Eilish’s “Watch,” as well as short films).

But it’s Ortega who emerges again as a breakout star. She played the pivotal role in the second season of Netflix’s “You” as Ellie Alves, wise and young neighbor to Penn Badgley’s secret serial killer Joe. Ortega most recently stepped it up big time in “Scream 5” as Tara Carpenter, who answers the phone in the film’s first scene.

More from IndieWire’s review of “The Fallout” out of SXSW:

The filmmaker’s aesthetic, a compelling blend of strong compositions (Park and cinematographer Kristen Correll show particular skill at overhead shots) and a social media-slick presentation, matches well with the tough material. Mostly, though, it captures the energy of the teenage experience — not just by way of on-screen texting (a lot of it, and most of it necessary and natural) or through sequences that often feel a touch too close to music video-issued idealism, but through Park’s obvious investment in the emotional life of her characters. Few sequences are as brutally effective as the shooting itself, but “The Fallout” has plenty of other emotional upheavals to work through over the course of 92 tight minutes.

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