He’s back!
Michael Keaton returns as the titular beloved ghoul for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” the long-awaited sequel to the 1988 horror-comedy classic. Along with original star Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara reprise their respective roles as the daughter-mother duo who are haunted by sleazy ghost Beetlejuice. “Wednesday” breakout star Jenna Ortega joins the cast as Ryder’s daughter (and O’Hara’s granddaughter) who now crosses paths with Beetlejuice, too.
The Warner Bros. film also stars Monica Bellucci, Willem Dafoe, and Justin Theroux, with Dafoe teasing his character as a dead B-movie action star turned detective in the afterlife.
Tim Burton directs the sequel, which is written by Seth Grahame-Smith, David Katzenberg, Michael McDowel, Mike Vukadinovich, and Larry Wilson. Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment produces the film along with KatzSmith Productions and Tim Burton Productions.
Lead star Keaton teased that “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is a “beautiful” film due to its practical effects during an appearance on SiriusXM’s “The Jess Cagle Show.”
“The other [original] one was so fun and exciting visually. It’s all that, but really kind of beautiful and interestingly emotional here and there,” Keaton said upon watching a cut of the film. “I wasn’t ready for that, you know. Yeah, it’s great. It’s great and the cast, I mean, Catherine [O’Hara], if you thought she was funny last time, double it. She’s so funny and Justin Theroux is like, I mean, come on.”
Keaton compared making “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” to comedy “The Other Guys” in terms of how much fun he had on set. However, the “Beetlejuice” sequel is a “little piece of art” that belongs in a “museum,” according to the actor.
“[Director Tim Burton] and I were talking about it years and years ago, never telling anybody. I said, ‘If it happens, first of all, we’ve both said we’re doing it many times.’ We both agreed, if it happens, it has to be done as close to the way we made it the first time,” Keaton previously told Empire magazine. “Making stuff up, making stuff happen, improvising and riffing, but literally handmade stuff like people creating things with their hands and building something. Fucking great. It’s the most fun I’ve had working on a movie in I can’t tell you how long.”
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” premieres September 6 in theaters. Check out the trailer below.
