Happy Halloween! Also, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice! The long-awaited sequel to Tim Burton’s afterlife comedy, Beetlejuice, is close to being completed. The combination of the writers’ strike and actors’ strike has since put the film on pause, but Burton has insisted that Beetlejuice 2 is 99 percent done. “I feel grateful we got what we got. Literally, it was a day and a half…We know what we have to do. It is 99 per cent done.” The writers may have put an end to their strike, but talks for the actors resume this week. Burton returns to the sequel along with Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton returns as “the ghost with the most.”
Burton’s newest collaborator, Jenna Ortega, has been added to the sequel, and the movie has a lot to catch audiences up on. According to ScreenRant, Colleen Atwood, a costume designer on the film, has revealed that the movie will address the 30-year gap. Atwood spoke with ScreenRant to promote her latest work, Pain Hustlers, on Netflix when she spoke about Beetlejuice 2. Atwood stated, “Well, you’re gonna see some old friends in the costume world. There’s a real homage to Beetlejuice, the original, and then you’ll see the journey that those people have made in the 30 years since Beetlejuice, it’s been a while. So, it’s a fun process, I think the audience is gonna love it, it’s really fun.”
In addition, Burton, who has been CGI happy with his latest films, including the Disney live-action adaptation of Dumbo, has glowed about going back to basics with the special effects in this movie. “On this last one, Beetlejuice 2, I really enjoyed it. I tried to strip everything and go back to the basics of working with good people and actors and puppets. It was kind of like going back to why I liked making movies.” The sequel’s plot is still under wraps, but the cinematographer has explained, “At its heart ‘Beetlejuice [2]’ is a story about a family…And now it’s 30 years later and what are the intricacies and the human condition in keeping a family together all that time set in the craziest world possible? That’s why I choose projects. That human connection for me is always at the forefront.”