27 years following the pairing of Michael Keaton and Tim Burton for Batman Returns, the duo reunited in 2019 for the live-action reimagining of the Disney classic, Dumbo. Now, ahead of the premiere of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – which sees them come together once more – Keaton is reflecting on the Disney outing, proclaiming that he “sucked.” Keaton portrayed V.A. Vandevere in Dumbo, the ruthless amusement park owner looking to exploit everyone’s favorite elephant for his own gain. Receiving a mixed bag of responses from critics, the movie would ultimately go on to earn $353 million at the worldwide box office against a budget of $170 million, thus failing to meet the estimated $500 million it needed to break even.
Sitting down with Entertainment Weekly, Keaton took time to analyze his performance in Dumbo, and admitted that it wasn’t his best. It’s something that he says still eats away at him to this day, which causes him to feel like he let Burton down on the production because of the rapport the two have. Check out his comments below.
“I love working with Tim so much, but I don’t think we ever really analyzed why we work pretty well together; we just do.
I think I let him down on one movie
, but that’s just me, and it bugs me to this day. I was clueless on
Dumbo
.
I sucked in
Dumbo
.”
With just a 46% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from critics, and a 48% audience rating, it’s clear that people weren’t very receptive to Burton’s take on Dumbo, with some such as Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian calling it “jam-packed with retro-futurist boredom.” Yikes! While the Disney film may have failed on a number of levels, and almost ended Burton’s career, for his part, the director says that he didn’t feel let down by his star’s performance at all. Chiming in during that same interview with EW following Keaton’s comments, he said:
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about. But whatever.”
Michael Keaton Says Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Is Better Than the Original
The dismal performance of Dumbo aside, Keaton and Burton are joining forces once again for the sequel to their 1988 horror-comedy classic, Beetlejuice. It’s a film that’s been 36 years in the making, and one that Keaton says surpasses the original. “In a lot of ways it’s better,” he told EW before elaborating further.
“This is something different. This one may be even better because it’s got a really strong – actually a stronger – story, kind of. It’s emotional. It’s very sweet. The cast is stupid good. The only thing I worried about was should we have left it alone?”
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice makes its premiere at the 81st Venice International Film Festival today, so we have yet to find out if it does indeed top Burton’s original movie, or if Keaton’s worries are justified. Anticipations are certainly high for the sequel, which is set to hit theaters here in North America on September 6 from Warner Bros. Pictures. Check out the trailer below.
