10 Best BTS Facts About Making Beetlejuice 2 That Will Change How You See The Sequel

From Tim Burton’s hidden cameo to the secrets of Delores’ resurrection, these behind-the-scenes details from the making of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice make the sequel even more impressive. Beetlejuice 2 is one of the most satisfying legacy sequels in recent memory. Michael Keaton slips effortlessly back into the role of Betelgeuse, Jenna Ortega makes for a compelling new lead who recaptures what made Lydia Deetz so iconic, and Burton’s use of old-school practical effects is refreshing in the age of CGI. But the wild stories about how the sequel came to be make it even better.

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Charles Deetz’s shocking stop-motion death scene was based on a typically eccentric personal confession from Burton. One of the actors in the Beetlejuice 2 cast was so hilarious that they kept making one of their co-stars crack up and break character. The now-iconic “MacArthur Park” dance sequence at the sequel’s climax almost wasn’t in the movie at all. If Burton hadn’t worked on Wednesday, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice might not have ever gotten made. There are plenty of fascinating facts from behind the scenes of Beetlejuice 2 that will make audiences appreciate the sequel even more.

10 Winona Ryder & Tim Burton Discussed A Beetlejuice Sequel For 15 Years

Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) holding a remote and sitting by a tv with the Beetlejuice 2 logo on it

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In an interview with Esquire, Winona Ryder revealed that she and Burton had been discussing the possibility of a Beetlejuice sequel “on and off” for 15 years. Whenever they were both in Los Angeles, they would meet up to share ideas for the potential follow-up. Ryder said that these discussions were “always very top secret,” and every time she thought the sequel would finally happen, Burton signed on to do something else.

It’s clear that neither of them wanted to do a sequel just for the sake of it. They didn’t want to commit to making another movie unless they knew they could get it right and make something worthy of the first film. When she finally signed on to reprise her role as Lydia in a Beetlejuice sequel, Ryder was “excited,” but also “really scared.

9 Jenna Ortega First Met Michael Keaton In Costume As Betelgeuse

Michael Keaton as Betelgeuse wearing his red tuxedo at his wedding in Beetlejuice 2

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Ortega told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show (via NBC) that she first met Michael Keaton in costume as Betelgeuse. She was in the middle of a hair and makeup test for the sequel, while Keaton was doing a wardrobe test in full Betelgeuse regalia. Keaton is such a legendary actor whose work has meant so much to everyone that meeting him under any circumstances would be intimidating. But Ortega was particularly freaked out to meet Keaton in character as one of his most iconic roles.

Keaton had prosthetics peeling off his face when he casually introduced himself: “Oh, hey, I’m Michael.” Ortega described it as “a jump scare” when she got a tap on the shoulder and she turned around to see a poltergeist in a pinstripe suit standing over her. As terrifying as it was, at least it made for a great late-night anecdote.

8 The Delores Resurrection Scene Was Filmed With Multiple Performers As A “Live Event”

Delores' split face, played by actress Monica Bellucci, in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

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One of the most inventive sequences in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice sees Betelgeuse’s scorned, dismembered ex-wife Delores putting herself back together. Her severed body parts all independently crawl out of the storage crates they’ve been trapped in and staple themselves to be whole again. It would’ve been easy for the filmmakers to pull this sequence off with CGI, but it wouldn’t have looked as good. Instead, Burton pulled off this sequence as an elaborate performance art piece.

The filming of Delores’ resurrection sequence was pretty complex. Monica Bellucci had to learn complicated choreography for each individual body part. Multiple different performers were used to portray Delores’ body parts and the whole thing came together as a “live event.” Burton and his team used practical methods wherever possible and only resorted to digital effects when all else failed.

7 Directing Wednesday Inspired Tim Burton To Finally Make A Beetlejuice Sequel

Astrid (Jenna Ortega) standing next to a hanging ghost in a school uniform in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
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The offer to make a sequel to Beetlejuice had been on the table since the first movie became a big hit. Over the years, it came close to coming together a few times, but Burton never committed to it. It wasn’t until he got back in the director’s chair to helm a few episodes of Wednesday for Netflix that he was inspired to finally direct a Beetlejuice sequel. Working on Wednesday reinvigorated Burton’s love for making stuff and telling stories, which made him want to finally move forward with Beetlejuice 2.

It’s easy to see the influence that Wednesday had on Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Burton recruited the series’ creators and showrunners to write the script for the Beetlejuice sequel, and brought in Wednesday Addams herself to star. Plus, narratively and stylistically, Beetlejuice 2 borrows a lot from Wednesday.

6 Charles Deetz’s Death Is Based On Tim Burton’s Nightmare Death Scenario

Charles Deetz with fellow passengers on the stop-motion plane in Beetlejuice 2
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After Jeffrey Jones’ disturbing crimes, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice had to get creative to come up with a way to write him out of the sequel. The filmmakers came up with the novel idea to kill off Charles Deetz and have him spend the rest of the movie as a headless corpse voiced by a Jones soundalike. In a quirky stop-motion animated sequence, Charles is onboard a plane that crashes in the ocean. He miraculously survives the crash, and then gets eaten by a shark.

According to screenwriter Alfred Gough (via People), this morbid death scene was based on “Tim’s nightmare of dying.” Burton’s personal worst nightmare for how he might die is being in a plane crash, surviving the crash, almost drowning, and getting devoured by a shark. It’s easy to see why that would be Burton’s worst nightmare; it’s a pretty nasty (but cinematic) way to go.

5 Catherine O’Hara Kept Making Justin Theroux Break Character

Catherine O'Hara as Delia Deetz at a funeral in Beetlejuice 2
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Justin Theroux gives one of the funniest performances in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice as Lydia’s unscrupulous boyfriend and producer, Rory. His eccentric mannerisms and wacky line readings make him a joy to watch throughout the film (even though the character is totally unlikable). But there’s someone else in the movie that Theroux found even funnier. Theroux said that Catherine O’Hara kept cracking him up and making him break character during filming (via E!).

Theroux said that he was “constantly laughing at her” during the shooting of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. He ruined a bunch of takes by laughing at O’Hara’s typically hysterical performance. The chain of character-breaking continued beyond Theroux. O’Hara may have been the one who cracked up Theroux and made him laugh during filming, but Theroux was the one who cracked up Ortega and made her laugh during filming.

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4 To Keep The Sequel Fresh, Tim Burton Didn’t Rewatch The Original Movie Or Read Old Beetlejuice 2 Scripts

Michael Keaton looking surprised as Betelgeuse in Beetlejuice

Burton wanted to keep Beetlejuice Beetlejuice as fresh as possible, so he didn’t go back to look at any of the scripts that had already been written for Beetlejuice 2 before working on it. There’s estimated to be around 15 possible scripts developed for a Beetlejuice sequel over the years (via TheWrap), but Burton didn’t want to recycle elements from any of them. He didn’t want the writers of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to consult any of those previous drafts for ideas.

Burton wanted the sequel to be created from scratch. There’s a reason those 15 scripts never got produced, and Burton didn’t want to just make a hodgepodge of all the previous versions that didn’t work. Burton didn’t even rewatch the original movie in preparation for directing the sequel (which makes it all the more impressive that he was able to recapture the feel of the first one so perfectly).

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3 Danny DeVito Accepted His Role “In A Minute”

Danny DeVito as a dead janitor in Beetlejuice 2

One of the best surprises in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was Danny DeVito’s early cameo appearance as a janitor in the afterlife. DeVito essentially plays this janitor as an even more disgusting and careless version of his It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia character, Frank Reynolds. DeVito was perfect for this small but unforgettable role, but according to Gough (via Entertainment Weekly), this character wasn’t written with DeVito in mind.

After reading the script, Burton thought DeVito would be perfect for the part. He’d previously worked with DeVito on Batman Returns, Mars Attacks!, Big Fish, and Dumbo, so the two had already developed a good working relationship and an on-set shorthand. Gough said that when Burton called DeVito to offer him a cameo in Beetlejuice 2, the actor “said yes in a minute.” He clearly had fun with the role, so it all worked out.

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2 Baby Betelgeuse Was Voiced By Tim Burton

Baby Betelgeuse prepares to bite Lydia's leg in Beetlejuice 2

One of the most disturbing creations in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the baby version of Betelgeuse that appears in a couple of Lydia’s unsettling hallucinations. This Betelgeuse baby is a creepy inversion of all the baby versions of iconic characters that have popped up in hit franchises in recent years, like Baby Yoda, Baby Groot, and Baby Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. Unlike those pop culture babies, Baby Betelgeuse is decidedly un-adorable — it wouldn’t make a cute Christmas gift like a Grogu Funko Pop.

In the DVD commentary for Beetlejuice 2, Burton confirmed that he voiced Baby Betelgeuse. Burton used to scare his own kids when they were little by imitating the Sun Baby from Teletubbies, so he just translated that voice to Baby Betelgeuse. Burton has made a couple of cameos in his own movies, but this is by far the most bizarre.

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1 The “MacArthur Park” Dance Sequence Wasn’t In The Original Script

Astrid (Jenna Ortega) and Delia Deetz (Catherine O'Hara) playing a hand game against their will in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Much like its predecessor, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice culminates in an elaborate musical number where the characters are possessed by demonic spirits and forced to boogie. In the first movie, this dance number was set to the funky tune of “Banana Boat (Day-O)” by Harry Belafonte, but for the musical scene in the sequel, the filmmakers chose a very different song. When Betelgeuse arrives at the church and takes over Lydia’s wedding, he forces all the guests to dance and lip-sync to “MacArthur Park” by Richard Harris.

According to Gough, “MacArthur Park” wasn’t in the original Beetlejuice 2 script. After the script was finished, the writers felt that the climactic wedding sequence wrapped up the story too neatly and it needed something else. It was Burton’s idea to add in a musical number set to “MacArthur Park.” Now, the song will forever be associated with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

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Source: Esquire, NBC, People, E!, TheWrap, Entertainment Weekly

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ScreenRant logo 7/10 221 8.8/10 Beetlejuice Beetlejuice PG-13

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the sequel to the original Tim Burton classic that starred Michael Keaton and Wynona Rider in a horror-comedy that involved ghosts trying to scare off new homebuyers from taking their house. The sequel brings back Michael Keaton as the hilarious and sleazy ghost with selfish intentions, now joined by Jenna Ortega in a new role.

Director Tim Burton Writers Alfred Gough , Miles Millar , Mike Vukadinovich , Seth Grahame-Smith , Michael McDowell , Larry Wilson Cast Michael Keaton , Winona Ryder , Catherine O’Hara , Jenna Ortega , Justin Theroux , Willem Dafoe , Monica Bellucci , Arthur Conti , Nick Kellington , Santiago Cabrera , Burn Gorman , Danny DeVito , Sami Slimane , Amy Nuttall , Mark Heenehan , Charlie Hopkinson , Liv Spencer , Skylar Park , Matthew Lyons , Jane Leaney , David Ayres , Sophie Holland , Walles Hamonde Runtime 104 Minutes Expand