He 81st Venice Film Festival started with Beetlejuice Beetlejuicethe long-awaited sequel to the horror comedy Tim Burtonhad its first press screening in front of a packed house on Wednesday morning as the opening film of the glamorous Italian festival.
Burton and his stellar cast, which includes returning stars Michael Keaton and Winona Rydertogether with Catherine O’Hara and the newcomers Jenna Ortega, Willem Defoe, Justin Theroux and Monica Bellucithen they arrived at the Venice press room for their first group discussion on the realization of the long-gestating project.
What the Beetlejuice stars said about the movie
“One of my favorite parts was being able to look into your eyes again.”Ryder told Keaton when asked what it was like to reunite 36 years after making the original Beetlejuice. He said the atmosphere on the set of the sequel was very similar to what he felt when he was 16 years old and working with Burton and Keaton on the first film in 1988.
“My love and trust for Tim is very deep and there was a sense of a certain joy and willingness to try things,” she explained. “You feel very safe in the silly stuff, but you also feel completely free.”
Summing up the whole process of his return for the sequel, he said: “It was one of the most special experiences of my life”.
An Italian journalist noted the “feeling of happiness” in the air during that morning’s press screening and asked Keaton how he approached aging and the evolution of his character after more than three decades.
“I think it’s obvious that my character has matured”“He said with a serious expression, his characteristic mocking smile on his face. “As affable and sensitive as he was in the first one, I think he is even more so in this one. His general affectionate nature, his sense of social mores and his political correctness.”
Burton added: “When people ask how the character of Beetlejuice has evolved, we laugh.”
Theroux said Beetlejuice “seems to be in our cultural DNA” and that joining the franchise was like being given “the keys to Willy Wonka’s house or something.” He admitted that the project initially seemed “a little bit intimidating,” but once he stepped onto the film’s “beautiful sets,” “it felt extremely fun, like walking into a church and then playing, you know, basketball.”
He added that the project, while produced by Warner Bros., felt more like an independent film, without the “normal downward pressure of a studio movie.”
Willem Dafoe said he had admired Burton’s work for decades and that he was very excited when he was called for the project, and that he later made it his mission to make the director laugh on the set. He added that “it was actually quite easy,” because Burton laughs out loud easily.
What is Beetlejuice about? Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice centers on Lydia Deetz (Ryder) and her family who return to their iconic haunted house after a tragedy and then deal with the aftermath when her daughter, Astrid (Ortega), opens a portal to the afterlife where Beetlejuice resides. The trailer for the film debuted in March and showed Keaton declaring to a stunned Ryder, “The juice is loose.”
The first reviews for Beetlejuice won’t be released until later in Italy, after Burton and the cast walk the red carpet for the world premiere at Venice’s Sala Grande cinema.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
