Jenna Ortega Reveals the Surprising Fact Behind Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Taste’ Video
Actress Jenna Ortega has revealed that the elaborate, blood-soaked music video she starred in for Sabrina Carpenter's 2024 single "Taste" was shot with almost no rehearsal or choreography, despite its polished, cinematic appearance. Speaking to Esquire, Ortega said she only learned she would be involved days before filming, and the pair largely improvised the campy, Death Becomes Her-inspired video in which their characters repeatedly kill one another with weapons including a machete, shotgun and chainsaw.
Ortega described one scene in which she kisses a man who transforms into Carpenter as a "carousel of lovers", explaining she simply held a kissing pose while different partners, including Carpenter, stepped in. She named the chainsaw sequence, reportedly nicknamed after Carpenter's song "Espresso", as her favourite to film, praising the costumes and camp tone. Carpenter previously credited Ortega as her first and only choice for the video, calling the experience a "dream come true".
- Ortega says "Taste" video with Carpenter was unchoreographed and unplanned
- She learned of her role just days before the 2024 shoot
- Chainsaw scene, nicknamed after "Espresso", was her favourite to film
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Jenna Ortega is an actress known for roles in the horror-comedy Wednesday and the Scream films. Sabrina Carpenter is a pop singer whose 2024 song "Taste" comes with a music video in which the two stars play rivals who repeatedly and comically kill each other, in a style modelled on the 1992 dark comedy film Death Becomes Her.
The video became widely talked about for its glossy, horror-tinged visuals and dark humour, and Ortega's involvement was seen as a notable crossover between the acting and pop-music worlds. Its slick, tightly choreographed look led many viewers to assume it involved extensive planning and rehearsal.
Ortega has now spoken publicly, in an interview with the magazine Esquire, about how the video was actually put together, offering fans a behind-the-scenes account of a production that looked far more polished on screen than the process behind it suggested.