‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ cast shares their experience in doing the movie

Back once again in his signature black-and-white stripes, Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) – the trickster demon and shapeshifting bio-exorcist – finds a way back to the Deetz family (particularly Lydia, his one who got away), oozing his signature kind of dead(ly) charm, to create chaos, raise a ruckus, and otherwise just be his ghoulish and ghastly self, in the sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, directed by Tim Burton, with original cast members Keaton, Winona Ryder (Lydia Deetz) and Catherine O’Hara (Delia Deetz) joining newcomers Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monica Belluci and Willem Dafoe.  

“It’s great when you see people that you haven’t seen for a while, and then you go back into it,” says Burton. “I didn’t realize it’s been like decades. You know, it felt like yesterday, and it’s quite amazing when that happens. It was great. Honestly, it was strangely emotional seeing them all together again. But that’s what made it a special thing.”

After the first movie, released in 1988, there was lots of talk about a sequel and different ideas were thrown out over the years, but nothing really clicked for Burton. “And so, all this time goes by, 35 years, and what really got me interested and excited is… life,” says the acclaimed director. “It’s like, what happened to the Deetz family? You know, it’s 35 years later, what happened to Lydia, this interesting teenager? And so you start to use your own life experience: you’re an interesting teenager. What happens when you become an adult? Do you have children? What are your relationships like? What have you become? Things happen to all of us as we get older and change – relationships, children – all those things. That was the nucleus of it for me that got me back interested in it – what happened to the Deetz family. It was quite emotional for me to revisit these characters.”

In Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River after an unexpected family tragedy. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia’s life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid (Ortega), discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic and the portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened. With trouble brewing in both realms, it’s only a matter of time until someone says Beetlejuice’s name three times and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem. The sequel’s screenplay is by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (Wednesday), story by Gough and Millar and Seth Grahame-Smith (The LEGO® Batman Movie), based on characters created by Michael McDowell and Larry Wilson.

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On returning to one of the most iconic characters he’s ever played, Keaton says, “I was nervous, really nervous, because the choice that I made, that was a big leap. It was a risky move that happened to have worked. So then, you think, ‘Oh geez, can I pull that off again after all these years?’ I think there was way more pressure on this one – we didn’t really want to mess this up. I was very nervous about it and me. But we hope we got there. I think we did.” 

Of his fellow original cast members, Ryder and O’Hara, Keaton adds, “I was praying they would be back in it; you really need Catherine and Winona. To have them back was really fun. Winona is the sweetest and she just fit right back in… And Catherine’s a pal of mine – this is the third time we’ve worked together. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

For Ryder, who plays Astrid, making the sequel felt “startlingly similar. I don’t want to say even better, but… Well, these are the same characters, but they’re just older. Having been through the first one and the effect that it had, there was pressure in coming back to it, but there was also this complete trust, because it’s Tim. And also, I was going into something really, really brilliant and really special, because I’d been there when I was 15. And that’s all Tim, and that’s all Tim’s heart. His heart is just so fun, and it’s such a beautiful playground of emotion and humor, and everybody lives inside of it. You get to live in it for that time and it’s a really, really beautiful place to be.”

Besides having a lot of fun in the first movie, O’Hara, who plays Lydia’s stepmom Delia, waxes nostalgic for the world of Beetlejuice for another special reason. “I met my husband [production designer Bo Welch] on the original, so that’s my first thought when I think, ‘What does that movie mean to me?’” she shares. “He designed the sets for the first movie. And Tim made him ask me out. So, I love them both.” Working with Burton, Keaton and Ryder on the sequel was “so fun! Like no time has passed,” says O’Hara. “It’s got the same great, loose, fun vibe that the first movie had. And that comes from the top… Tim and his great producers, who let him do what he does best.”

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, distributed in the Philippines by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Discovery company, creeps into Philippine cinemas on September 4.