Willem Dafoe Aiming Gun at Jenna Ortega

Submission 3,594

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About

Willem Dafoe Aiming Gun at Jenna Ortega refers to a behind-the-scenes photograph from the film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice of what appears to be a wax figure of actor Willem Dafoe aiming a revolver at actress Jenna Ortega's head, her hands held in front of her in a praying position. The photo went viral on X / Twitter in early September 2024 and inspired memes and reactions online, with some people sharing their confusion over whether or not Dafoe was real in the photo or a figure.

Origin

On September 6th, 2024, X^[1] user @TimBurtonDaily posted a behind-the-scenes photograph from the movie Beetlejuice Beetlejuice depicting what appears to be a wax or otherwise sculpted figure of Willem Dafoe (portraying the character Wolf Jackson) aiming a gun at Jenna Ortega's (Astrid Deetz) head. Dafoe is seen wearing a suit and is covered in what appears to be cake while Ortega stands, praying. The post gained over 1,800 likes in three days. Some commenters wondered if the photo actually depicted Dafoe or a wax sculpture of Dafoe.

Spoiler

Purportedly, the context of the photo is from a scene in which Beetlejuice freezes Dafoe's character in place, making it likely that it is a figure.

Spread

The image was reposted several times over the following days, including by X^[2] user @AdrianCodc on September 6th, 2024, garnering over 500 likes and by X^[3]^[4] users @justashottt_ and @DiscussingFilm on September 7th, garnering over 53,000 likes and 3,800 reposts on the former and 9,900 likes on the latter in two days. It also became the subject of memes and reactions.

For example, on September 7th, X^[5] user @DocStrangelove2 posted, "Why does my boy Dafoe look like a wax figure?" garnering over 3,800 likes in two days. On the same day, X^[6] user @nesquikbunnygrl quote-reposted the image, writing, "gmod screenshot," comparing the image to something that might be taken in Garry's Mod, garnering over 422,000 likes and 27,000 reposts in two days.

Later on September 7th, 2024, X^[7] user @tylerduran21 posted a recreation of the photograph created in Garry's Mod, garnering over 12,000 likes in two days. That same day, the original image was posted to /r/BatmanArkham,^[8] titled, "Should this be our new joke?" garnering over 810 upvotes in two days.

On the same day, X^[9] user @pyrameadhead posted a photoshop of the original image adding the Bioshock Infinite logo to the top of the image, garnering over 48,000 likes in two days. A meme using the image was also posted to /r/PrequelMemes,^[10] garnering over 680 upvotes in two days.

On September 8th, X^[11] user @HimejoshiLover posted, "Dafoe does not look fucking real in this photo, idk how to explain it he just feels like an animatronic or a wax statue," garnering over 342,000 likes in a day.

On September 9th, 2024, X^[12] user @DaftHero posted a 3D-rendered recreation of the image, garnering over 1,500 likes in under a day.