Tim Burton says it felt like being in “a time warp” to see actor Michael Keaton walk onto his film set dressed as Beetlejuice – 36 years after shooting the original.
Speaking to Sky News, at the London premiere of the long-awaited sequel to his cult classic, the director explained how Keaton “didn’t rehearse anything” before they went on set.
“He just shows up and starts doing it, all that demon possession, it was like going into a time warp!”
While the director has made far more critically acclaimed works since – from Edward Scissorhands to Batman – his 1988 horror-comedy was so “out there” it was the film that firmly placed him on Hollywood’s radar.
Tim Burton at the UK premiere of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Pic: PA
Recapturing a sense of that early “art school irreverence” was even more important to Burton all these years later, and why he shunned CGI.
“We shot it quickly… all the actors contributed making up stuff every day which is hard to do when you’re doing live effects.
Michael Keaton, on the red carpet in London, reprises his role as Betelgeuse (pronounced Beetlejuice). Pic: Reuters
“It was rushed and it was chaotic but that made it a lot of fun to make. It was in the spirit of the first movie, while it’s not going to win any awards for special effects, it was part of its DNA to do it like this.”
Winona Ryder reprises her role as goth heroine Lydia Deetz, but this time her character is a mother who has a daughter, played by actress Jenna Ortega.
Winona Ryder was just 15 when she started filming the original, and returns for the sequel. Pic: Reuters
The young star told Sky News she is a big fan of the original movie, and admits it was “absolute chaos” to film fan-pleasing scenes, where she gets to lip sync songs in a similar vein to the 1988 film.
“We were making each other laugh constantly, there was a lot of creating and collaborating and as an actor it was incredibly inspiring.”
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So why make the Beetlejuice sequel now and what’s new?
As Burton admits: “People keep asking how he’s evolved and I just laugh, he hasn’t evolved!”
“You couldn’t make this film in 1989, what you really had to do was think about Lydia and what happens as you move from cool teenager to screwed up adult. Relationships, children, because we all change over time, you don’t stay a cool teenager forever.”
Burton – one of the coolest and most imaginative filmmakers in modern cinematic history – disputes if he could ever describe himself in that way.
“I was not a cool teenager,” he laughed.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is released on 6 September in the UK.