Tim Burton Was Ready To Retire, But Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Has Left Him Re-Energized

At a recent press day for "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" attended by /Film's own Jacob Hall, director Tim Burton answered some questions at a roundtable over whether there were "any other of [his] movies or creations" he wanted to perhaps make a sequel to. Could he perhaps be giving us another "Sweeney Todd" or another "Sleepy Hollow" down the line? Burton's answer was surprisingly resolute:

"No. In fact, I think I would say the opposite, in a funny way. Because I've done that a little bit, and I feel if I do something next, I mean I don't know what I'm going to do, but I want to do something where... I think I almost got out of making movies after my last one. Because I just didn't feel this whole studio thing.

Burton's last movie was "Dumbo" in 2019, a live-action adaptation of the beloved 1941 film, which received a middling box office performance and a mixed critical reception. What did Burton do after that? As he explained, "I went off and did a TV thing, just did 'Wednesday' in Romania just to kind of re-cleanse, so to speak, or re-energize, whatever, sort of a thing. So I had no burning desire to make the sequel or anything. I just wanted to make this movie. So I think I've re-calibrated the way I'm going to approach things in the future."

Burton also described his approach to revisiting the original "Beetlejuice," which came out back in 1988: "It was important to me to not to think about sequel, franchise, all these words. Like when I first started, none of those words were around, franchise or blah, blah, all that, reboots, rehab, restructure. Whatever." So what changed to make him return for "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice?"

The most exciting part of the "Beetlejuice" sequel for Burton seemed to be the movie's practical effects, which the director considered superior to relying on regular CGI. "You didn't have to describe to the actors, 'Oh, well, this is going to happen. This is going to look like that,'" Burton explained. "So having all that stuff there and having sets and having everybody there, it just ups the energy in terms of the set and therefore what you're making ... You get rid of all the white noise of business and studio, anything, and you just get right into it. And that again, it just re-energized me."

In an exclusive interview with Jacob Hall, Winona Ryder (who's reprising her role as Lydia Deetz) shared Burton's enthusiasm. She explained how the production for the original film had a low-pressure, "kind of under-the-radar feeling," and remarked that "it blows my mind how he was able to completely recreate that." As she explained further:

"I trust [Burton] a thousand percent. I know he's not going to use something that doesn't work. And at the same time you feel safe in the best way because he has a vision ... He had that same energy, which I think he's talked about wanting to get back to. And he really managed to do that. It was really, really incredible. I did work with him in between and I've known him, oh my god, I've known him since I was 15. And his energy and the way he gets inspired in the moment, 'Oh, what do you think of this?' It's infectious."

"Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" releases in theaters on September 6, 2024; hopefully that exciting behind-the-scenes energy can be felt by the audience too.