Screenwriter Alfred Gough walks EW through writing some of the sequel’s big moments and characters.
Warning: This article contains spoilers fromBeetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Netflix seriesWednesdaywas formative for the creation ofBeetlejuice Beetlejuicein more ways than justJenna Ortega.
Tim Burton on the set of ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ with Michael Keaton.Parisa Taghizadeh
“We were flattered and honored and shocked,” Gough tellsEntertainment Weeklyin an interview over Zoom.
Take the “MacArthur Park” musical ending.
Once again, Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) tries to marry Lydia.
Danny DeVito makes an appearance in ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ as a ghost janitor.JUAN PABLO RICO/AFP via Getty; Parisa Taghizadeh
“We all wanted a musical number,” the scribe recalls.
“We just didn’t know what it was.
It all felt like the movie was wrapping up too neatly.
Winona Ryder’s Lydia Deetz, Justin Theroux’s Rory in ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’.Warner Bros. Pictures
And then Tim called us.”
“And then we kept evolving it.
We were like, ‘Yes!
Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz and Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice in ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’.Warner Bros. Pictures
That’s the crazy, weird, insane thing you need at the end of this movie.'”
“What’s interesting is Beetlejuice doesn’t actually do ‘Day-O,'” Gough points out.
“It’s actually the Maitlands who do it to the Deetzes.
Justin Theroux’s Rory was inspired by Glenn Shadix’s Otho
Warner Bros. Pictures
‘Memba Otho?
Delia’s interior designer friend, played by Glenn Shadix, in the firstBeetlejuice?
That figure served as loose inspiration for Rory, Lydia’s TV producer onGhost Houseand her scheming boyfriend-turned-fiance.
“The Rory character was kind of in the first movie,” Gough explains.
“You had Otho, who was the guy you couldn’t wait to see get his comeuppance.
Rory was the character that underwent the most evolution in the development of the script.
“I don’t mean this to sound pretentious, you want to find the humanity in that character.
He can’t just be a punchline.”
We were all okay with that in the ’80s,'” he says.
“You forget sometimes, even when you show these movies you love to your kids.
You’re like, ‘Oh!
That’s a little questionable.’
But I think it is fun tonotdo a couple of those things [in the sequel].”
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