Don’t Expect More Beetlejuice in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

In a new interview with the New York Times, Tim Burton, Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara discuss reuniting for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice as they reminisce about filming the original.

While the conversation includes some interesting tidbits about Beetlejuice‘s shrimp cocktail glove-puppets and The Handbook for the Recently Deceased (“…someone actually wrote an entire handbook. I thought it was just a prop!” Ryder exclaims), very little is revealed bout next month’s sequel. However, Burton notes the film’s titular character will once again enjoy fewer than 20 minutes of screen time.

As he says, “I didn’t realize until after we shot it [the sequel] that it almost mirrored the same schedule we had on the first one. You were probably in this one more than the first movie, but we always said less is more.” Keaton echoes Burton comment, stating it was a deliberate decision to keep Beetlejuice’s schtick to a minimum. “Yeah, our agreement was no more Beetlejuice than the last time. If it’s over a minute or two, maybe, but we’ve all seen that failure. ‘Hey man, those car crashes were really good. Let’s give ’em 50 car crashes.’ We both knew, don’t do that.”

So, can we really expect fewer than 20 minutes of the film’s marquee character? One who is billed twice in its very title, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice? In the original movie, Beetlejuice only has 17 minutes of screen time in a film that runs just 92-minutes long. As the sequel runs 104, he’d need just a few more minutes of screen time to achieve an equal ratio.

Has the newly reenergized Tim Burton, once again filming with practical effects and his pre-Johnny Depp muse learned to reign himself in since 2019’s Dumbo? In the same interview, Keaton—by his own prompt—admits he “sucked in Dumbo,” stating: “I love working with Tim so much, but I don’t think we ever really analyzed why we work pretty well together; we just do. I think I let him down on one movie, but that’s just me, and it bugs me to this today. I was clueless on Dumbo. I sucked in Dumbo.” Here’s hoping the Burton-Keaton alliance continues- from the sound of things, we’re excited to see what they do together next.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice opens September 6.

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