{"id":22790,"date":"2024-09-01T13:46:59","date_gmt":"2024-09-01T11:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/?p=22790"},"modified":"2024-09-01T15:41:12","modified_gmt":"2024-09-01T13:41:12","slug":"qa-with-tim-burton-director-producer-beetlejuice-beetlejuice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/blog\/2024\/09\/01\/qa-with-tim-burton-director-producer-beetlejuice-beetlejuice\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A With Tim Burton (Director \/ Producer) – Beetlejuice Beetlejuice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


QUESTION: So, the time was finally right for you to make a sequel to the beloved Beetlejuice. How did things come together?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TIM BURTON:<\/strong> I worked with Al [Gough] and Miles [Millar] on Wednesday<\/em>, so I knew them very well. And so that was great, because they\u2019re very collaborative. And I basically treated the movie similar to the first one\u2014which was we had a script\u2014but then, I worked with a lot of good improv actors. I learned from the movie that that was part of the fun of the original, which had a looser spirit to it. We had a script that we worked on as we went along, too, in certain ways, and relied on these great character actors, who brought a lot to it. This was a similar spirit. Without thinking too much about it, in making this, we tried to reconnect to the fun of making the first movie. Everybody contributed to their characters, and so it was very exciting to work in the spirit of the first film that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

QUESTION: Can you set up the story?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TIM BURTON:<\/strong> You\u2019re asking the worst person. [laughs] I directed it. Well, it\u2019s basically revisiting the Deetz family 35 years later and seeing where they are. There\u2019s something that happens in the family, which sort of triggers the events that are going on. But it\u2019s almost coming in to see where these people are now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

QUESTION: The character of Beetlejuice is eons old. Has he changed in this relatively brief passage of time?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TIM BURTON:<\/strong> There\u2019s not a lot of character depth or growth with Beetlejuice\u2014I mean, he is kind of what he is. We reveal certain things about him that we didn\u2019t know from the first movie, but it\u2019s such a sort of strange character anyway. That\u2019s why I loved going back to this story, just because it was just slightly different and sort of had his own set of rules, which I liked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

QUESTION: The character of Beetlejuice is so ingrained in our pop culture. And the film is just such a wonderful manifestation of your imagination, your vision. What went into realizing your vision this time?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TIM BURTON:<\/strong> Well, there was the original movie, which we paid tribute to\u2014Bo Welch was the designer on that\u2014and I worked with [production designer] Mark Scruton on this, whom I worked with on Wednesday<\/em>. So, there are certain aspects of it that were what I would just call \u201cpart of that world,\u201d except for the house, which was all kind of new. We had some sets that were reminiscent of what we did, because that was the world. We expanded it a bit, but again, we didn\u2019t feel like over-expanding it. I mean, we built all of the sets. So, it got more expansive, but not too expansive. And like I said, it was all in that loose spirit of spontaneity and improv, with everybody developing their own characters and just getting into it that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

QUESTION: Did you encourage improv from this comedically adept cast?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TIM BURTON:<\/strong> Especially on this movie. I mean, everybody\u2014Michael, Catherine, Winona, Jenna, Justin, Willem, Monica\u2014all contributed, and I love that. The script was like a blueprint and it was there, so we weren\u2019t all going, \u201cHey, what\u2019s going on?\u201d And again, it reminded me of the first one; if you read the script and then you read what it became, it was two different things. There\u2019s a lot of stuff that goes on and it was the same on this. So, it was almost like making an animated film in the sense that there are lots of contributors in the mix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

QUESTION: And it\u2019s also 35 years later in Winter River. You got to go back to the same town in Vermont where you filmed the first time. What was that like?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TIM BURTON:<\/strong> It was really interesting going back to Vermont, because we were wondering, \u201cWell, what is it like? You know, is it all built up?\u201d And it was actually strangely kind of exactly the same. It was weird. You wouldn\u2019t go, \u201cThis is 35 years later,\u201d you\u2019d go, \u201cOh, we were here just last week.\u201d It was very, very strange. But again, it was because that was part of the vibe. That place was and is a little bit of a character. It was like working with the same people again. It was an emotional thing to go back there. It added something for me, anyway, to re-experience that place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

QUESTION: Everyone connected with <\/strong>Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice<\/strong><\/em> seems to have come away with the same comment\u2014they had some of the most fun they\u2019ve had making a movie. What about you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TIM BURTON: <\/strong>Well, maybe our ideas of fun are wildly different, perhaps! My idea of fun compared with anybody is probably different. But, I would say, \u201cYes, I did have fun.\u201d It was one of the more satisfying experiences I\u2019ve had in a long, long time. After years in the industry where I get a little bit sidetracked, or I just might not be as interested in the business that much anymore, it reconnected me to what I love, which is making a movie. You push the business stuff aside and you go right to it. And so, yes, I did have a very artistic, exhilarating and emotional time. So, yes. If you call that fun, yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

QUESTION: Anything stand out? Any favorite part?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TIM BURTON: I don\u2019t have a favorite part. I think it\u2019s just more of the overall experience and the unknown quality of it. I think that that was the thing. It\u2019s like, there\u2019s expectation attached to the idea of a franchise, that sort of thing. On this, there was no expectation, not even a necessary idea of what it<\/strong> is. That sometimes can help you. It\u2019s like, they can\u2019t put it in a category. But I think there\u2019s a certain type of unknown excitement when you\u2019re doing something where you just really don\u2019t know what it is. And Beetlejuice <\/em>has always been that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

QUESTION: Your films are tailor-made for watching on a big screen in a theater. The breadth of the worldbuilding, the detail. They also seem to inspire the awe and wonder of a story told to us when we were children. Was the theater-going experience important to you growing up?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TIM BURTON:<\/strong> Oh, yeah. There was a theater in Burbank [California], the Cornell Theater\u2014they\u2019d show triple features for 50 cents. Absolutely, I\u2019ll never forget those first theater experiences. I remember seeing Jason and the Argonauts<\/em> as my first movie and I still remember it. So, those things can impact you\u2014or they did to me\u2014and I think they still can to some degree\u2026 and that\u2019s amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

QUESTION: So why do you think it\u2019s important for people to not only see <\/strong>Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice<\/strong><\/em> in a theater, but movies in general on the big screen?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TIM BURTON:<\/strong> Well, a few years ago, there seemed to be a very polarized thing with cinema or TV, and it was like, \u201cWhat\u2019s it going to be?\u201d And I think luckily what we\u2019ve seen is that movies are important. Seeing something on a big screen\u2026 like this movie, we made it for the big screen. You make it to be felt in a cinema. You make it for the scope and the size and the sound, and all of that. So, it\u2019s very important. And luckily, I think that polarization is diminishing a little bit, and people still realize how important and how beautiful an experience it is to go to a movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n