Beetlejuice 2: Willem Dafoe Reveals Details About His Character

Beetlejuice 2 is one of the many films that recently resumed production now that the WGA and SAG strikes are officially over. Director Tim Burton is returning for the sequel with Michael Keaton back as the titular character alongside Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz and Catherine O'Hara as Delia Deetz. New additions to the story include Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe, Justin Theroux, and Monica Bellucci. While attending the Marrakech Film Festival, Dafoe spoke to Variety and shared some information about his new Beetlejuice character. 

"I haven't seen any footage yet, but it was fun to do," Dafoe teased. "I play a police officer in the afterlife, so I'm a dead person. And in life, I was a B-movie action star, but I had an accident and that's what sent me to the other side. But because of my skills, I became a detective character in the afterlife. So that's my job. But it's colored by the fact of who I was [when I was alive]: a B movie action star." 

Michael Keaton and Tim Burton on Returning To Beetlejuice:

"Beetlejuice is the most f*ckin' fun you can have working," Keaton previously shared with Empire. "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." 

Keaton added, "[Burton] and I were talking about it years and years ago, never telling anybody. I said, 'If it happens, first of all, we've both said we're doing it many times. We both agreed, if it happens, it has 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. F*ckin' great. It's the most fun I've had working on a movie in I can't tell you how long."

"Honestly, I don't really know, because I am really not that good at talking or speaking or trying to sell something, so to speak. Looking back, it's a very, very strange journey that I can't quite explain," Burton told the Independent when asked about thriving in Hollywood. "That's why it is hard for me to watch the movies afterwards, because I still feel the emotional whatever of it. I don't get a release from that. But I do enjoy all the people I've worked with. 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."

Beetlejuice 2 is currently scheduled to debut in theaters on September 6, 2024.