Beetlejuice 2: Michael Keaton is having a lot of fun working on long-awaited sequel

Thirty-five years after the release of the Tim Burton-directed classic Beetlejuice (watch it HERE), production is officially underway on a sequel – and star Michael Keaton told Empire that he’s having a blast making Beetlejuice 2! Keaton said, “Beetlejuice is the most f-ckin’ fun you can have working. It’s so fun, it’s so great. And you know what it is? We’re doing it exactly like we did the first movie. There’s a woman in the great waiting room for the afterlife literally with a fishing line – I want people to know this because I love it – tugging on the tail of a cat to make it move.“

The actor revealed that he and Burton had agreed that if Beetlejuice 2 ever got made, it had “to be done as close to the way we made it the first time. Making stuff up, making stuff happen, improvising and riffing, but literally handmade stuff like people creating things with their hands and building something.” That’s how it’s going, and as a result Keaton is having “the most fun I’ve had working on a movie in I can’t tell you how long.“

Beetlejuice 2 was in development hell for decades. In 1990, Jonathan Gems was hired to write a sequel that was going to be titled Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian. Burton considered having Daniel Waters rewrite that script, Pamela Norris did rewrite it, and Warner Bros. offered Kevin Smith the chance to do another rewrite. He turned it down. Seth Grahame-Smith was hired to write and produce a new version of a sequel in 2011. Mike Vukadinovich was brought on to rewrite his script in 2017.

Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, co-creators and co-showrunners of Netflix’s hit series Wednesday, have written the screenplay for Beetlejuice 2 that is actually being filmed. Plot details are being kept under wraps. Brad Pitt’s Plan B is producing the sequel, which is filming in London.

In addition to Keaton reprising the role of Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice 2 also stars Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz; Catherine O’Hara, back as Lydia’s stepmother Delia; Jenna Ortega as Lydia’s daughter, Monica Bellucci as Beetlejuice’s wife, Willem Dafoe as a law enforcement officer in the afterlife, and Justin Theroux in an unspecified role.

We’ve also heard a rumor that Jean-Claude Van Damme might show up in the movie as a ghost, but that has never been confirmed.

Are you looking forward to Beetlejuice 2, and are you glad to hear that Michael Keaton is having fun making a sequel that’s taking a practical, handmade approach? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.