“Beetlejuice” is back!
In a conversation with TODAY’s Al Roker, Michael Keaton, 72, said he felt “nervous” reprising the iconic role 36 years later for the sequel “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice," out Sept. 6.
“I was nervous going in. You don’t want to mess it up,” Keaton said. “Can I do this and not disappoint everyone, frankly?”
Once he saw the script told a "really, really solid story," and appraised the level of talent of the cast surrounding him, he felt “the pressure was kind of off (him) a little bit.”
Catherine O'Hara and Winona Ryder are also among the original actors returning to Winter River, Connecticut to reprise their beloved characters. Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux and William Dafoe are joining the cast.
Thirty years after the original, the characters have naturally aged in “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice,” but O’Hara clarified to Al that the lead ghost Betelgeuse remains, well, “dead.”
Keaton added that his character has also stayed “just as suave as ever.”
Al noted that O'Hara's character, Delia Deetz, seems to have mellowed out in the new movie compared to her 1988 role.
“You got to be,” she said. “How long can you spend the energy arguing with somebody?”
“It just gets tiring,” Keaton added.
As for Ryder, who plays Lydia Deetz, she said returning to the “Beetlejuice” set has been “pretty emotional.”
“I just remember being — every moment I was very present,” Ryder said. “It was really one of the most special experiences I’ve had.”
The original movie told the story of dead couple Adam and Barbara Maitland, played by Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis, respectively, who enlist Beetlejuice to scare the Deetz family out of their home. The results are hilariously disastrous.
The sequel's trailer, which was released in March, and the cast, as well as director Tim Burton, have been rather tight-lipped regarding the project.
In the trailer, Lydia once again calls in the aid of Beetlejuice to help “save her daughter" Astrid, played by Ortega. The goofy ghost, donning his iconic black-and-white-striped suit and wild green hair, appears before her and says, “The juice is loose.”
Ryder said on TODAY that having a daughter changed her character, who was once a disgruntled teenager. There's “a tremendous empathy now that I know what it’s like to have a daughter,” she said.
O'Hara, who plays Lydia's mom in "Beetlejuice," called it "karma."
Who from the original cast is returning for 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice'?
O'Hara, Ryder and Keaton are returning for "Beetlejuice 2," but not everyone in the cast is.
Davis and Baldwin, who played the young couple trapped in their home, are not.
Davis, in a June interview with TODAY.com, confirmed she would not be in the sequel, and shared her theory as to why.
“I think it makes sense because we told the story of the Maitlands, and in that world, ghosts don’t age. You stay in the same clothes you died in and everything,” she explained, adding that it's been “quite a long time” since the Maitlands died in a car accident.
She put it this way to Entertainment Tonight: "My theory is that ghosts don’t age... Not that I have.”
