SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. Say it three times, fans of the '80s film know, and out pops a dark-eyed, disgusting and manic ghost played by Michael Keaton.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BEETLEJUICE")
ALEC BALDWIN: (As Adam Maitland) What are your qualifications?
MICHAEL KEATON: (As Beetlejuice) Ah, well, I attended Juilliard. I'm a graduate of the Harvard Business School. I travel quite extensively. I lived through the Black Plague, and I had a pretty good time during that. I've seen "The Exorcist" about 167 times, and it keeps getting funnier every single time I see it. Not to mention the fact that you're talking to a dead guy. Now what do you think?
DETROW: Now, "Beetlejuice" sequels have been rumored online for years, and some of the pictures and scripts have not quite screamed this will be an excellent movie. I am thinking specifically of a real script called "Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian." But now, finally for Beetlejuice, it is once again showtime.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE")
KEATON: (As Beetlejuice) You know what? Long-distance relationships can be difficult, especially when one of you is dead and the other is ignoring it for 30 years. But Lydia and I - we have a definite psychic connection.
DETROW: "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" hits theaters tomorrow. Why now? Director Tim Burton told me he finally came around to the idea a few years ago, when he started thinking about what the movie's main character, the gothy teenager Lydia, played by Winona Ryder, would have been like as an adult.
TIM BURTON: And so I just thought, well, what happened to her like 35 years later? You know, what happens to all of us? You know, you go from cool teenager to questionable adults. You know, whatever - you know, what kind of relationships do you have? Do you have children? You know, what are the left and right turns have your life taken, you know, and the kind of wait that just only comes with time? So, you know, the idea of just seeing three generations of these, you know, mother, granddaughter, daughter.
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CATHERINE O*HARA: (As Delia Deetz, screaming) No. No. No.
WINONA RYDER: (As Lydia Deetz) Delia, what's wrong?
O*HARA: (As Delia Deetz) Oh, I'm trying to capture the perfect primal scream. I'm going to blow it up, mount it on the wall, and I invite all of you to do the same.
BURTON: Sometimes as an adult, you lose your way a little bit. You kind of - and then you have to kind of reconnect to yourself. So it became very personal and emotional to me.
DETROW: That's interesting because I feel like the character is very clearly isolated in so many different ways in the original movie or just kind of a loner. But that's playing out the same way this time because there's this central part of her life of communing with ghosts and having this experience with Beetlejuice.
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RYDER: (As Lydia Deetz) I can't believe I'm doing this - Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice.
DETROW: That her daughter just straight up doesn't believe her, and that in its own way is just as isolating as kind of the teenager moving to the new house and having a stepmother she doesn't like.
BURTON: Exactly. You know, and it's, like, a classic dynamic. And it's not unusual where you've got the parents, and there's a natural built-in rebellion with kids. You know, you basically, even if you love them, there's something that you're rebelling against, you know. It's like if the parents were wild, the kids are conservative. The parents are conservative, kids are - you know, I've seen that dynamic play out itself many, many times. So, to me, it was a fairly identifiable dynamic.
DETROW: "Beetlejuice" is a movie that I think people have instant feelings about, whether it's the music or whether it's the look or whether it's Michael Keaton as "Beetlejuice."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BEETLEJUICE")
KEATON: (As Beetlejuice) I'm the ghost with the most, babe.
DETROW: There's so many distinct things about this movie separate from the movie as a whole. As you decided to make this sequel, what to you was most important, the look, the cast, the story?
BURTON: Everything. I think it's funny 'cause when I felt strongly about making the movie, I didn't - you know, there was certain things that I just wanted to just creatively recreate the feeling of, like, in the first one where, you know, we shot it quickly. It was a lot of improv, and all the effects were practical. And those were kind of things that I want to kind of - just to kind of re-energize, you connect yourself to why you like making movies, you know? So, you know, with no CG, we did all, you know, puppet, live, makeup, sets. And that was very much part of the vibe that was important to it and also with the actors, you know?
It was important that everybody contributed to their character, make up stuff all the time on the set. And even with the effects, the person who I had make the effects, Neil Scanlan, who I've worked with before, he was in the same spirit, which it's not easy to do to make these physical effects quickly. So, you know, but we did it. And again, it was a very important part of the sort of energy and rhythm of making the film.
DETROW: Are those things - like practical effects and improving as you go along, are those harder to convince studios of in 2024 than it was in the late '80s?
BURTON: Oh, sure. Definitely. I mean, but I sort of put my head down, didn't think about sequel, didn't think about franchises, didn't think about money, just thought about making this movie. So it's not something you do on every film, but for this particular property, this particular thing, very important.
DETROW: Can we just - I don't even have a question here. I just want to say that it was amazing to see Michael Keaton, who's in his 70s, immediately portray Beetlejuice exactly the same as he did nearly 40 years ago. What was that like for you to see that?
BURTON: I felt the same way. And believe me. I was there because, you know, I mean, we didn't rehearse. Again, we treated it the same way. So he shows up on set, and it was like demon possession.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE")
KEATON: (As Beetlejuice) The Juice is loose. I'm going to make you so happy.
BURTON: And I can see the crew, everybody's like - their mouths were hanging open. It was like, oh, my God. And I know Michael's not sitting there practicing in the front of the mirror how to play Beetlejuice. You know, he just did it again. It was like - it was very amazing and disturbing all at the same time.
DETROW: There are visual constants. There are sonic constants. There are character constants. There are threads through your work over the years. And I'm wondering how you connect those, what you think the most important recurring themes are in the work that you make.
BURTON: Well, I mean, look. I, you know, everybody keeps - the loner, the out - you know, and I thought - I sort of kind of grew out of it, but the thing is you don't grow out of that stuff, you know? Once you feel those feelings, you always feel the same way. And I was - never felt like a proficient enough filmmaker that I could change my style. You know, I mean, my drawings look like my drawings, you know? Nothing I can do about it.
You know, even if I wanted to try to make something else, I don't know if I could because I only know, you know, how I feel. You know, I'm not the greatest communicator. So, for me, I just have to feel it in some way, shape or form. You know, for me, I was lucky because I was getting a bit disillusioned about myself and the whole film industry and everything. So, for me, it was important to just go back and go, OK, this is what I love. This is the kind of feelings I like. Don't analyze them too much.
DETROW: When you think about the Lydias and the Jack Skellingtons and the Edward Scissorhands of the world, do you have any thoughts on whether it's easier or harder to be a different outsider in 2024 compared to when you were a kid?
BURTON: I mean, the whole thing that has changed everything is, you know, social media and the internet. I mean, if I look at back then how I felt and I think about trying to imagine myself, how I felt then, surviving this world of social media and internet stuff, I don't know how well I would have survived, you know, though it's hard for me to say. I mean, I feel kind of freaked out for kids in a way because it's a whole weird, new world which seems slightly disturbing to me.
DETROW: Yeah. On one hand, there's all these outlets to be creative that weren't there before, and you can find people like you, and on the other hand, you're much more vulnerable.
BURTON: Yeah. Everything has its up - you know, good and evil exists in every form of things, you know? So even though as bad as I recall feeling as a child and a teenager, I'm almost grateful that I wasn't in the social media age.
DETROW: Yeah, for sure. Well, Tim Burton, director of "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," in theaters tomorrow, thank you so much for talking to us.
BURTON: Thank you, Scott. Thank you very much.
(SOUNDBITE OF DANNY ELFMAN'S "MAIN TITLE (FROM 'BEETLEJUICE')") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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