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Tim Burton, 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' cast talk of their film at the Venice Film Festival
What better way to kick off the 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival than with the fun, comedy, horror film of Tim Burton, "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," the sequel to his 1988 film.
The 66-year-old director reunited with several key cast members from his original film, which included Michael Keaton (Beetlejuice), Catherine O'Hara (Delia Deetz), and Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz, who is now a mother to Astrid, portrayed by Jenna Ortega.
Other members of the cast who were present on the Lido red carpet included Willem Dafoe (Wolf Jackson), Justin Theroux (Rory), and Monica Bellucci (Delores).
We were able to interview Burton and the cast members at the press conference held at the Palazzo del Casino and they talked about the making of the sequel 36 years after they first met the Deetz family.
Tim Burton (Director, Producer)
It's interesting because people asked about it, but the funny thing about "Beetlejuice," as much as I love it, I never quite understood why it was a success. So, I never could place it to anything except, you know, something personal to me. Then after all these years, being able to work with Michael, Catherine, and Winona again on it, just made it more personal, more special. And then with Jenna, Monica, Willem, and Justin, people who got into the spirit of it and felt it. So, it was a very, very personal project for me.
In what ways do you think this piece of art is your manifesto?
The past few years I got a little bit disillusioned with the movie industry. And so, I just realized, if I'm going to do anything again, I just want to do it from my heart and something that I want to do. Because for many years, it's a bit like the Lydia character in this movie. As you grow older, sometimes your life takes a little bit of a turn. You go down another path. And I sort of lost myself a little bit, I felt.
So, for me, this movie was a re-energizing, kind of getting back to the things that I love doing and the way I love doing it with the people I love doing it with. I realized that's the only way for me to be a success is that I have to love doing it. I got a little bit lost sometimes along the way. But now, with this one, I feel like... It didn't even matter how it turned out. I just enjoyed and loved making it with all of these people. So that was the main thing.
How do you work on the soundtrack and how do you choose the songs? Because they melt with the character, with the scene in an extraordinary way.
We did it in the spirit of the first. We had a good script, we had everything, but everybody here contributed to their character. We tried to treat it like in the first movie, where there's a lot of improv, we make stuff up on the day, we would just try things.
It gave it energy, and we shot it quickly. We didn't plan it that way, but we talked about doing it in the spirit. It was the same with the music. I have a horrible playlist. We all have our own playlists. I have mine and so some of them came in very handy. In fact, a lot of the times, even the ending was not written in the script, so we were playing around with everything, both with the acting and with the cast and with the music.
I even worked with a guy, Neal Scanlan (Creature Effects Creative Supervisor) who, in the spirit of everybody, we did everything, and made puppets quickly. We did things that usually take months to work on. We'd go buy a doll from a toy store and rip it up and put rods on it and do some stuff.
This doesn't always happen in a film. It gave it an energy and a personal nature to it that everybody contributed. All the actors - Justin, Willem, Jenna, everybody - made their character, on a daily basis, something. It was so much fun to deal with. It was the same with the music.
I just find this confounding that you're able to do the sequel 36 years later.
And I didn't even watch it before I did it. (laughs)
How did it start? Was it because of the success of "Wednesday" that somebody said, what do you want to do?
No, we'd been talking about it for years. Winona and Michael occasionally, every few years, would talk about it. But I did get re-energized doing "Wednesday." Walking the Carpathian Mountains in Romania does something to a person. Yeah, so... No, but I mean, I was thinking about it beforehand, but it just kind of came together because "Wednesday", trying to shoot a TV thing on a movie schedule was fun in a weird way.
But I was thinking about it beforehand. Then meeting Jenna, obviously, was such an important thing for me, and working with her. And then just thinking about the Lydia character and what happened to her 35 years later, and thinking about my own life, and what happens when you have kids or you get in relationships, whatever. So, it just became a very simple, like, emotional movie.
It's like a weird family movie. I'm not out to do a big sequel for money or anything like that. I wanted to do this for very personal reasons. And like I said, since I didn't really understand the first thing, I didn't watch the first movie to prepare for this.
I remember the spirit of it. I remember everybody here, and I just go, okay, let's just go for it. Then I realized at the end of it all, and again, it wasn't planned, that we ended up... We shot in pretty much the same number of days that we did the first one. I wasn't planning on that. And I just realized, like, wow, we really did do it in the spirit of the first one.
Since this is a sequel, after sequels, sometimes you also do the three movies, so maybe "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice"? Are you planning on doing another one?
Well, let's do the math. It took 35 years to do this one. (laughter) Let's say it takes 30, I'll be over a hundred. I guess it's possible with medical science these days, but I don't think so.
Michael Keaton (Beetlejuice)
One hundred percent, yes. To say it's unique, I was going to say it's an understatement, but it's the most accurate statement. And there are so few opportunities to be in something that you can say is 100 percent original and unique. Because you can see a wonderful film, but it was inspired by something somewhere that someone had seen.
Even Fellini or Kurosawa, brilliant as they were, somewhere was influenced by something. If you ask me where did this come from? It just came from somewhere out there. So, it's rare to be a part of something like that. He and I have a nice working relationship, and we have a lot of laughs. And this cast is unbelievable... It might be better, if that's possible, than the former cast. So, I was excited to do it again.
Winona Ryder (Lydia Deetz)
I was so thrilled to be with everybody again. It had been such a special experience, the first one, and just to be able to come back to it was a dream come true. And my love and trust for Tim runs so deep and there's a sense of playfulness where you can try things and you know that if it's bad, he won't use it.
It's these opposing things where you feel so safe in that sense, but you also feel just completely free, and I appreciated being around that energy again. It was very similar to the first one. I absolutely feel so spoiled to work with all these people. It was one of the most special experiences of my life.
Monica Bellucci (Delores)
I'm so honored to be part of this amazing cast and to enter Tim's world. Tim is an artist and a filmmaker. He knows how to create situations that are fantastic and horrific, comic and emotional at the same time. So, this helped me so much to create this monster. I mean, more than a monster, she's a creature. Delores. And I love her duality because she's mean but also charming and dangerous. To me, she's a metaphor for life because we all have emotional scars, but she's strong and she's coming back. And yeah, I love this world because I love comic books as well.
Did you recognize in the film the great horror masters - Mario Bava, Freda, Darius?
Yes, absolutely. Tim loves Italy, and of course, he showed me so many movies. Through him, I discovered Mario Bava, actually, more than I knew, and I think that his way of working is so inspiring for everybody, even on set. His creativity helps everybody to have more energy, and he's so precise. He knows what he wants, and of course, as Winona said, we feel so protected as actors.
Earlier you were talking about the scars of this woman, and this is also a very vindictive woman who aims for immortality. Are there any points of contact with this woman, and did you also go look for scars inside her to build this character?
The process for an actress is always very mysterious. So, it was mysterious also for me. But when Tim told me about this character, he told me "There is a key role in the film for which I thought about you." He showed me what he had in his mind.
There is this moment when she puts herself together. It was incredible for me because I had to learn an entire choreography and I felt a bit like a mime.
And about the scars, she moves a bit like a broken doll. So, for me, it was also very interesting to get into this character.
This film is also about women. There are three generations of women in this movie, and they love each other, and they support each other, even when they fight. So, I think it is also a great moment for women in society. They have an amazing impact. This film comes out at a special moment.
Jenna Ortega (Astrid)
I was so, so thrilled and excited to join "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice." Obviously, I was a huge fan of the first one and I love everyone here. I looked up to a lot of this cast and it was wonderful to have already established a working relationship with Tim because he's somebody whom I trust immensely, and I enjoy working with.
So, coming on to this one, knowing that I was joining a team of giants and people who are so special and talented at what they do, I just tried to mind my business in the corner. But for the most part, I think you hear that Lydia has a daughter, Astrid, and you think that they're going to be the same.
For me, it was just making sure that I wasn't ripping off lovely Winona's work back in the day and making something new, but still pulling certain aspects and things like that that would make them similar. They're very self-assured and opinionated and know who they are.
Their anger comes from a different place. Lydia's maybe a little bit more, not even angry. She just loves dark things. And Astrid has a bit more trauma and resentment towards the world, and that's what she's working through.
Justin Theroux (Rory)
It's something that feels like it's in our cultural DNA. So, you do feel like you've been handed the keys to Willy Wonka's house or something. It just felt at first a little intimidating, and then once we got onto the set, the sets which were beautiful, felt extremely playful. It's like going into a church and then playing pick-up basketball. It just felt really fun, felt really independent.
It felt very unfettered. It didn't feel like there was the normal downward pressure of perhaps a studio film, and it was really playful. It was in the spirit of the best idea winning, let's have fun, let's enjoy ourselves, and it was incredibly gratifying.
Willem Dafoe (Wolf Jackson)
I was just happy when Tim called me. I followed his movies, his work for years, so I was excited by that, and then when I arrived, yes, it's a complete world. It's a world that you enter, and there's a real pleasure in inventing things, as Tim says, and also trying to make him laugh.
Catherine O'Hara (Delia Deetz)
For me, there was no denying the aging. Just kind of embrace it, be happy to be alive and so happy to be back together with everyone. It was lovely.
I don't remember really discussing it so much when we came to an agreement. We just all went the way of Lydia and Delia having come to a new place. I think both Jenna, Astrid, and Delia care for Winona, for Lydia, and are worried for her. She's in a weird place in her life and we can see the direction she's going and that aligned us in a way, in a good way.
The beat goes on and if you're lucky enough to have the beat go on, you've got to try to evolve and grow and we grew together. It was just so great to see Michael's face up close again. (laughs) And to have Michael's charm come through in Beetlejuice and he hasn't aged a bit, he was always dead.
—MGP, GMA Integrated News
