Michael Keaton told Empire Magazine that seeing Beetlejuice become so popular is ‘f*cking weird’ and ‘off-putting.’
Keaton explained that he had to remember why he took the role in the first place to play Beetlejuice again in ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.’ He wanted to get back to his original ideas about the character instead of thinking about all the Beetlejuice merchandise:
“There’s been so much merchandising of it, I had to drop back to where it started. I had to go, ‘What was my unusual imagination even thinking about when I was developing it in the first place?’ As opposed to seeing a coffee mug or a golf club cover.”
He also talked about how strange it felt to see Beetlejuice everywhere and said:
“That was f*cking weird. To be honest with you – I’m being very frank – it was off-putting, to look and go, ‘I don’t want to look like all these little things, f*ck that – what was the thing that started this?’”
He Still Had Fun Filming The Sequel
Keaton had positive things to say about the sequel after watching the first cut of the movie. He said on SiriusXM’s ‘The Jess Cagle Show’ in March that he thought the new movie was fun and visually exciting just like the original:
“I’ve seen it now. I’m going to see it again after a couple of little tweaks in the editing room, and I confidently say this thing is great. The original was so fun and exciting visually. [The sequel is] all that but really beautiful and interestingly emotional here and there. I wasn’t ready for that. It’s great.”
In an interview with People magazine earlier this year, Keaton said that filming the new ‘Beetlejuice’ movie was the most fun he’s had on set in a long time. He liked that the movie felt handmade and didn’t rely too much on technology. He and director Tim Burton wanted to keep that handmade feel from the beginning.
Keaton returns as Beetlejuice in the new movie along with original cast members Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara. Jenna Ortega joins the cast as the daughter of Ryder’s character, Lydia Deetz. Warner Bros. will release ‘Beetlejuice 2’ in theaters on September 6, 2024.
You can watch the trailer for the film below.
