The path to finally getting a “Beetlejuice” sequel off the ground started on the set of the Netflix series “Wednesday.”
“Wednesday” creators and showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar would meet with Tim Burton, the show’s executive producer and the director of the first half of the season, every morning during production. They would go over the scenes that were supposed to be shot that day, just to talk them through. But then they got a text one day from Burton. He wanted to meet them after the shooting day had wrapped.
“We thought something was wrong,” Gough admitted in an interview with TheWrap.
But something wasn’t wrong. Instead, Burton wanted to talk to them about something – a sequel to his 1988 hit “Beetlejuice.”
“He basically said, ‘Beetlejuice is the movie that everybody asks for a sequel to,’” Gough said. Burton, at the time, had been talking to original cast members Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton. “He said, ‘If I don’t do it now, we’ll never do it,’” remembered Gough. Burton had enjoyed the experience of working with Gough and Millar on “Wednesday” and asked if they were interested in taking a crack at the script. They were.
That weekend they went to Burton’s apartment in Romania. Burton went over the things he wanted from the screenplay – he wanted the story to center on Keaton, Ryder and Catherine O’Hara’s characters. And he knew how they would all be brought back together – Charles Deetz’s death. Killing off Charles was a necessary move, since actor Jeffrey Jones, who played Charles in the original film, was arrested in 2002 for possession of child pornography and soliciting a 14-year-old boy to produce sexually explicit images. But it was also an ingenious inciting incident to get the story of the sequel moving.
Charles’ death, which involves a plane crash and a vicious shark attack, was “Tim’s personal nightmare of how he would not like to die,” said Millar. Burton suggested that Charles’ death could serve to reunite the main characters, in the same house from the first movie. “What we love about the movie is it’s a joyous comedy about death. That theme runs throughout,” said Millar. “And I think it’s very interesting that a comedy can work and tackle that subject in a way that it does.”
Among the other things important to Burton was a strong 1970s influence. That has been seen in some of his other films but it really takes center stage here – the Bee Gees’ “Tragedy” plays while Betelgeuse’s ex (Monica Bellucci) puts herself back together; there are multiple jokes about the afterlife’s “soul train;” Willem Dafoe’s character is a former TV cop turned afterlife private eye straight out of a ‘70s procedural; and the entire climax is set to “MacArthur Park,” the song originally written and performed by Jimmy Webb, which was covered by everybody from Nancy Sinatra to Donna Summer to Glen Campbell.
In fact, “MacArthur Park” became a sticking point for Burton as the trio developed the story.
Burton was inspired by the song, which he had in the jukebox in his kitchen. “He called and said, ‘I’ve been listening to this song, I’m obsessed with it. What if the whole third act is set to ‘MacArthur Park?’ And we said, ‘Uh okay,’” said Millar. Gough added: “You listen to that song and it’s seven-and-a-half minutes.” They would occasionally suggest taking part of the song out of the script, only to get a call from Burton saying, “Let’s put all of it in.” Millar concluded: “It’s that bonkers.”
Of course, Burton had been here before, on the precipice of making another “Beetlejuice” movie. The 1988 film was only his second feature ever, but it was a smashing success — at $75 million worldwide it was the 10th highest-grossing film of the year, and set an Easter weekend record when it opened in March. But Burton was already a hot commodity, as Warner Bros. enlisted him to direct “Batman” on the strength of his first feature “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.” He cranked out “Beetlejuice,” “Batman” and “Edward Scissorhands” in three years.
The first – and most infamous – attempt to get a “Beetlejuice” sequel off the ground was “Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian,” written in 1990 by British playwright Jonathan Gems from an idea cooked up by Burton. (It involves the Deetz developing oceanfront property, enraged Tiki gods and a climactic surf competition that Keaton’s Betelgeuse wins.) That same year Warren Skaaren, who worked on the original movie, wrote “Beetlejuice in Love.”
In 2011 Seth Grahame-Smith, who had worked with Burton on “Dark Shadows” and “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” (which Burton produced but didn’t direct), was hired to do a new version of the sequel script, which seemed to get pretty far.
Grahame-Smith has a story credit on the final film, but Gough and Millar said they didn’t read it. Millar guesses that there have been 15 different scripts produced over the 36 years. “But we deliberately didn’t look at any previous versions,” Millar said. “Tim wanted a clean slate, to take his ideas and come up with something that felt fresh. I think it’s important for a sequel that it has a reason to be.”
What Millar, Gough and Burton settled on was a story about “three generations of Deetz women” – Delia (O’Hara), Charles’ widow; Lydia (Ryder), Delia’s step-daughter, who has a connection to the other side; and Astrid (Jenna Ortega), Lydia’s goth teen daughter and Delia’s step-granddaughter. Gough and Millar asked themselves who Lydia would be 35 years later. They imagined that she would still be seeing ghosts everyday, which turned into the idea “that she’s this fragile person who has now turned to one of these paranormal shows you see all over cable and streaming,” said Gough.
Millar pointed out that Burton actually watches these shows. And one night over dinner, Burton told the writers that Warner Bros. had wanted to call the original movie “Ghost House.” Naming it “Beetlejuice” was a personal victory for him. When they were coming up for the name for Lydia’s trashy ghost hunter show, they struck on an idea – call it “Ghost House,” the original name of “Beetlejuice” that Burton battled against. “That’s a nice Easter egg,” Millar said.
Of course, they didn’t have to look far for the latest generation of Deetz, since Ortega was already starring as the title character on “Wednesday.” While Burton was sure to tell them that they couldn’t write Astrid like Wednesday, there was a sneaking suspicion on the part of the writers that Ortega was perfect for the part. “In the back of our head, we always knew that’s who was going to be right,” said Gough. “Just knowing how Tim likes to work with the same people on multiple movies, it felt like Jenna was the next in that illustrious line. Let’s just say that we were not surprised when he offered it to her.”
Of course, a sequel that had spent decades in development hell almost came crashing down again last summer. Millar and Gough had turned in one of the last scenes of the movie the same day that the Writers Guild of America decided to strike. (This reporter actually spoke to the writers on that same day for a Wrap piece on “Wednesday.”) Of course, a few weeks later, the Screen Actors Guild joined them on the picket lines and soon after “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” had to pause production.
But what could have been a curse turned into a blessing, because by the time they had reassembled in November, Burton had put together a rough version of the movie. “He had a couple of days to shoot but he also could pick up other things that he wanted to pick up,” said Gough. “We added a couple of scenes and moments just to help. It kind of worked to our advantage – to be able to put the movie together, watch it, and then get what else he needed.”
With the movie finally coming out and garnering strong reviews (including ours) and word of mouth, it’s enough to make you wonder if the title of the movie, which Gough and Millar said Warner Bros. chose, is a portent for a potential third movie. While the duo is deep in production on the second season of “Wednesday,” they admit it’s hard to think about making a third film, especially given the difficulties of getting one sequel off the ground.
“I don’t think Tim’s looking for a third one. It would always be about the right story and the right reasons for doing it. This has been an incredible ride to do this movie. At many points in this process, we were like, What are we doing? Why are we messing with an iconic movie? It really is great that people like the movie like they do. That’s a great thing to accomplish, for everybody involved,” said Millar. He then quickly added: “Never say never, right?”
Right. And if Gough and Millar are summoned, once again, to Burton’s trailer at the end of a long day of shooting “Wednesday” Season 2 they’ll know what it’s for – and this time they won’t think they’re in trouble.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is now playing exclusively in theaters.
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