After 36 years, Tim Burton is back with another “Beetlejuice” movie, which opened the Venice Film Festival to raves from critics. But don’t expect another entry in the franchise anytime soon. THR reports that the director won’t consider it for another 36 years, when Burton will be 102.
READ MORE: ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ Review: Tim Burton Is Back & At His Best In Decades [Venice]
At the UK premiere of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” last night, Burton shot down the prospects for turning his beloved series into a trilogy of films. “Well, if [the same] time frame goes on, I’ll be about 100. So maybe. I doubt it,” the director told THR. It’s a quippy answer, but it’s also the truth. No one expected a sequel to the 1988 film decades later, but here it is, complete with Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara reprising their roles. But Burton’s return to “Beetlejuice” wasn’t a cash grab, nor was it due to a creative dry spell, where the director had no other ideas to implement. Instead, Burton considered it time to return the story’s characters as a way with reckoning with his own aging process.
“Well, because the Lydia character (Ryder) interested me,” Burton told THR about his idea for the new sequel. “Getting older is where you start thinking about what happens in life. [She] starts as a cool teenager. Relationships… Do you have kids? What are they like? What do you like? How do you change? These are all things that I know and experience. So it felt more right to make this now, rather than back in, like, 1989.” Of course, Ryder’s Lydia isn’t centerstage in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” either. She’s relegated her role as primary character to her daughter Astrid, played by Jenna Ortega, Hollywood’s latest Scream Queen. Other newcomers in the sequel include Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, and Willem Dafoe, too.
Thanks to roles in “X,” “Scream,” and “Wednesday,” Burton’s “Addams Family” Netflix spinoff series, Ortega has emerged as horror’s new heroine, and no one else comes close to vying for her crown. So it was a no-brainer for the actress to sign on for “Beetlejuice 2” when Burton asked her to star. “Most definitely. I mean, I was surprised he asked me about “Wednesday,”” Ortega said to THR about joining the film. “I was surprised he asked me about “Beetlejuice.” Working with him is a dream.” But what Ortega really enjoys about working with Burton is the inclusive nature of his film sets. “It’s the best. It’s so safe, it’s so collaborative, it’s so inviting, and everybody just keeps outdoing themselves,” Ortega continued. “It’s very playful and it doesn’t feel like work, you don’t want to leave. Playing [Ryder’s] daughter is probably one of the most grateful experiences I’ve ever had. She is just an absolute legend and one of the loveliest people.”
But Burton bringing on the likes of Belluci and Dafoe helped raise the stakes of “Beetlejuice 2″ as well. Dafoe had never worked with Burton before the sequel, so when the offer arose, the actor simply couldn’t refuse. “That was a big draw,” Dafoe said “I mean, I followed him for years, and I really like his movies. He’s contributed a lot to movies, so when he asked me to do something, even if I’m not exactly sure what it’s going to be, I was happy to sign off.” In the sequel, Dafoe plays a ghost cop who was a B-movie actor before he died; a role Dafoe plays with relish. “You know, the narcissism of actors, things like that, I [could] play within this,” the actor quipped. It’s the second straight role for Dafoe, after Yorgos Lanthimos‘ “Poor Things,” that required heavy prosthetics. Dafoe didn’t mind. It’s fun because it has a kind of playful, goofy aesthetic,” said the actor, “but it still sticks with the horror genre.”
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” sees the Deetz family return to Winter River after Astrid’s father passes away, only for Ortega’s Astrid to release Keaton’s Beetlegeuse back into the world. Calamity ensues, but the Deetzs aren’t the only group that wants Beetlegeuse back to the Afterlife. Burton’s sequel hits theaters next weekend on September 6, and expect it to do well. After opening Venice, “Beetlejuice 2” has a lot of buzz thanks to numerous positive reviews. And if it does well at the box office, maybe a “Beetlejuice 3” is right around the corner?