During a recent interview with People, Oscar nominee Michael Keaton opened up about his highly-anticipated return in Tim Burton’s horror comedy sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Keaton shared his “fun” experience shooting the sequel, confirming that he and Burton agreed that the upcoming film won’t heavily rely on CGI.
“It’s the most fun I’ve had on set in a long time. On one hand, you’d go, ‘Well, of course it’s the most fun. It looks like fun.’ As you know, it doesn’t always work like that,” Keaton said.
“The one thing that he and I decided on early, early, early on from the beginning, if we ever did it again, I was totally not interested in doing something where there was too much technology. It had to feel handmade. What made it fun was watching somebody in the corner actually holding something up for you, to watch everybody in the shrunken head room and say, ‘Those are people under there, operating these things, trying to get it right.”
The Batman Returns vet also revealed that he had a great time seeing the sequel’s use of practical effects, as opposed to acting in front of a blue screen.
“It’s the most exciting thing,” Keaton shared. “When you get to do that again after years of standing in front of a giant screen, pretending somebody’s across the way from you, this is just enormous fun.”
Who’s involved in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice?
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on a story by Seth Grahame-Smith. This marks Burton’s feature directorial comeback, four years after helming Disney’s live-action Dumbo. Besides Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara are also returning as Lydia and Delia Deetz. They will be joined by new cast members Jenna Ortega as Lydia’s daughter Astrid Deetz, Monica Bellucci as Betelgeuse’s wife, and Willem Dafoe as a B-movie action star who died and then became a detective in the afterlife.
It is produced by Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Burton, Tommy Harper, Marc Toberoff, and David Geffen. Additional cast includes Justin Theroux, Arthur Conti, and Burn Gorman in undisclosed roles.
The sequel arrives in theaters on September 6, 2024.
