Michael Keaton in costume and makeup once again in "Beetlejuice."
Director Tim Burton is describing the feelings he had seeing Michael Keaton suit up as the “Ghost with the Most” again for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the long-awaited sequel 36 years after the release of the original Beetlejuice movie.
Fans of the 1988 original were treated last Wednesday to a first-look photo of Keaton’s return as the energetic bio-exorcist, which was followed by the release of the teaser trailer and official synopsis for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice on Thursday.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about Keaton’s return to playing Beetlejuice, Burton said, "He just got back into it. It was kind of scary for somebody who was maybe not that overly interested in doing it. It was such a beautiful thing for me to see all the cast, but he, sort of like demon possession, just went right back into it."
The teaser trailer shows three generations of the Deetz family — Delia (Catherine O’Hara), her step-daughter, Lydia (Winona Ryder), and Lydia’s daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega) — gathering in Winter River for the funeral of a family member. At the teaser’s conclusion, Astrid inadvertently opens a portal to the Afterlife while looking at a model of the town in the attic of the family home, which allows for Beetlejuice’s return along with his proclamation, “The Juice is loose.”
The film is set for a September 6 release, and the title treatment graphic at the end of the teaser trailer states “2024 A.D.” Burton told EW that the “after death” reference was part of a title he was considering for the film before Beetlejuice Beetlejuice won out.
“The other one I thought of, because one of my favorite Dracula movies is Dracula A.D. 1972, was Beetlejuice 2024 A.D. But this was a nice simple one," Burton said of the film’s title.
Catherine O'Hara as Delia Deetz, Jenna Ortega as Astrid Deetz, Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz and ... [+]
Burton says the sequel needed an ‘emotional hook’ to get him interested
Recalling for EW how various ideas for a Beetlejuice sequel have been batted around over the years, Tim Burton said his return hinged on what sort of emotional weight the film would have. On top of that, Michael Keaton needed to be convinced that a second Beetlejuice film after the 1988 original was justified.
"Unless it felt right, he had no burning desire to do it," Burton told the publication. "I think we all felt the same way. It only made sense if it had an emotional hook."
The esteemed director— whose list of credits includes Batman, Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Big Fish — noted for EW that the hook he was looking for came with the idea of bringing three generations of the Deetz family together.
"I so identified with the Lydia character, but then you get to all these years later, and you take your own journey, going from cool teenager to lame adult, back and forth again," Burton told EW. "That made it emotional, gave it a foundation. So that was the thing that really truly got me into it."
Along with Burton’s Wednesday star Jenna Ortega, other new cast members in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice include Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci and Willem Dafoe.
While neither Theroux, Bellucci or Dafoe appear in the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice teaser trailer, Theroux’s character — only identified as Rory — can be seen in a photo released by Warner Bros. along with Catherine O’Hara, Winona Ryder and Ortega. The photo is a wide shot of the Deetz family members standing graveside, which is also featured in the teaser.
In addition to regular theaters, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will also be released on IMAX screens on September 6.
