Beetlejuice Beetlejuice director Tim Burton says the comedy horror sequel rescued him from feeling “disillusioned with the movie industry.”
Speaking at the press conference for his film ahead of it opening Venice film festival this evening (August 28), Burton said, “I realised if I’m going to do anything again, I want to do it from my heart. As you grow older, sometimes your life takes a bit of a turn – I lost myself a little bit.
“For me, this movie was a re-energizing, getting back to the things I love doing and the people I love doing it with. I got a little bit lost sometimes along the way.”
“No matter how it turned out, I enjoyed and loved making it with all these people,” said Burton.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a sequel to Burton’s 1988 horror comedy, and sees Michael Keaton’s ‘bio-exorcist’ return to help the Deetz family close a portal to the afterlife.
The press conference was also attended by cast Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, Catherine O’Hara, Monica Bellucci, Willem Dafoe, Justin Theroux and producer Tommy Harper.
“If you asked me where did this come from – it just came from ‘out there’,” said Keaton of the sequel, gesturing to the air. “This cast – it might be better, if that’s possible, than the former cast.” Keaton, Ryder as Lydia Deetz and O’Hara as Delia Deetz reprise their roles from the first film, with Bellucci, Dafoe, Theroux and Burton’s Wednesday star Ortega as new additions.
“It was wonderful to have already established a working relationship with Tim,” said Ortega, who plays Lydia’s daughter Astrid. “Her anger comes from a different place – she’s not even angry,” said Ortega. “Astrid has a bit more trauma and resentment towards the world.”
Burton said working on Netflix series Wednesday gave him the impetus to make Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. “It re-energized me doing Wednesday – walking the Carpathian mountains in Romania does something to a person.”
“This movie feels new because it’s seeing it through Jenna’s eyes – she’s the anchor,” said the director. “I always feel grateful to the cast I have – almost always. I got scared by Jack Palance once -that’s pretty rare.”
Keaton spoke in a tongue-in-cheek manner about his title character, a grotesque figure who has little filter on his speech. “It’s obvious my character has matured,” said Keaton. “As suave and sensitive as he was in the first, he’s even more so in this one. His general caring nature, his sense of social mores, his political correctness…”
“One of my favourite parts was getting to stare into your eyes,” added Ryder
Bellucci noted that the film is about “three generations of women” in the Deetz family. “They love each other, they support each other, even when they fight,” said the actress, who added that she came to know the films of Italian horror director Mario Bava, which inspired Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, through working with Burton. Of her character, the ex-wife of Keaton’s Beetlejuice, she said, “I love her duality – she’s mean but also charming, adventurous. She’s a metaphor of life because we all have emotional scars; but she’s strong, she’s coming back.”
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has its world premiere this evening (Wednesday, August 28) as the opening night of Venice Film Festival, before rolling out worldwide from the weekend of September 6.
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