How Tim Burton Made Sure ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ Stayed in Line With the Original

What makes a film a classic? Is it the writing? The talented performers who pour their everything into making a character come to life? Or maybe it’s the director’s vision or even the hands that design and form the sets. With enough power, any one of these things can make a movie stand out and have the staying power of becoming a beloved production from generation to generation, but when every piece of the puzzle comes together, that’s when a true classic is born. All of these building blocks can be easily spotted in Tim Burton’s 1988 spooky comedy, Beetlejuice, which not only featured an iconic call sheet led by Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder but also had a deviously divine script paired with incredible set pieces and otherworldly creatures.

With the release of the long-awaited sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, just around the corner, Collider’s Perri Nemiroff sat down with Burton during a roundtable to discuss the follow-up film and how it stayed true to the iconic title that came before it. Celebrating the cast’s ability to do their own thing while still paying homage to Beetlejuice, Burton says he’s grateful for the perfect storm of talent, practical effects, and improv that made the sequel into something he can’t wait for audiences to see.

“I tried to treat this movie like the spirit of the first movie where we had a script, but
there was a lot of improv that went on
. I’m very lucky to work with people like Michael and
Catherine
[
O’Hara
] who are very good at improv. We just tried to do it in the spirit of that. Shoot quickly, and all the actors contributed,
Justin
[
Theroux
] and
Will
[
Dafoe
], everybody contributed to their character. They really took it from the page and made it something else. That was the whole vibe of the movie.

We wanted to do it with practical effects, sets, quickly, with all this great improv. That gave it an energy, which is part of what the vibe of the film is for me,
reenergizing me to why I like making movies
— just working with creative people back and forth and just making stuff up on the set. You can’t really do that much in a lot of movies, or you don’t want to, but with this property, it’s part of the spirit of it.”

What Is ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ About?

Back among the living and ready to raise a little hell, Beetlejuice (Keaton) returns in the sequel to pick up where he left off with the Deetz family. It’s been 30 years since Lydia (Ryder) last crossed paths with the ghoul, and now she’ll need to protect her teenage daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), from the demonic grub. Familiar faces like O’Hara’s Delia Deetz will return for more haunting fun, while new characters like Lydia’s husband, Rory (Theroux), and Beetlejuice’s wife (Monica Bellucci) will leave their mark on the blossoming franchise.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will be unearthed in cinemas on September 6. Stay tuned at Collider for more from Nemiroff’s chat with the cast and crew.

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