Jenna Ortega: Put down phones, watch ‘Klara and the Sun’

Jenna Ortega used the London red-carpet stop for “Klara and the Sun” to urge audiences to set their phones aside. Speaking to Variety at the BFI Southbank premiere on October 15, she said the film should push viewers to “put our focus on one another and put down the computers and phones.”

Premiere details

The adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel opened the 70th BFI London Film Festival as a headline gala. Additional screenings ran October 16–17; Sony Pictures will open the picture in U.S. theaters on October 23.

Cast and credits

Ortega plays Klara, the Artificial Friend. Amy Adams co-stars as the mother of Josie, played by Mia Tharia. Taika Waititi directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Dahvi Waller.

Reported comment vs. on-screen text

The Variety quote is drawn from Ortega’s red-carpet interview and is not attributed to any line inside the finished film. No statements from Waititi or Waller on the adaptation’s handling of technology have been released, leaving the precise thematic framing open for now.