Tim Burton Went ‘Back to the Basics’ for ‘Beetlejuice 2’ and Rediscovered ‘Why I Liked Making Movies’

Tim Burton is enjoying his time making Beetlejuice 2.

While speaking with The Independent, Burton, 65, said his experiences making major studio movies have often left him exhausted, but returning to the undead world of Michael Keaton’s Beetlejuice character was a change of pace.

“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,” Burton said of his past experiences with major studio movies.

“But I do enjoy all the people I’ve worked with. On this last one, Beetlejuice 2, I really enjoyed it,” he added. “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.”

Burton told the outlet that the upcoming sequel, expected to release in theaters in September 2024, “is 99 percent done.” Filming took place earlier this year outside London and in Vermont before the Screen Actors Guild went on strike in July, shutting down production on major Hollywood movies.

“I feel grateful we got what we got. Literally, it was a day and a half,” Burton told the outlet of finishing the project. “We know what we have to do.”

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The Beetlejuice sequel will see Keaton, 72, reprise his titular role, while Winona Ryder also returns to the movie as Lydia Deetz. Monica Bellucci, who is dating Burton, will also appear in the movie alongside Justin Theroux, Willem Dafoe and Wednesday‘s Jenna Ortega. Catherine O’Hara is also expected to reprise her role from the original 1988 movie.

While plot details about the movie remain unclear, Keaton told Empire in June he was excited to reprise one of his iconic ’80s roles.

“Beetlejuice is the most f—in’ fun you can have working. 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,” he said at the time.

“[Burton] and I were talking about it years and years ago, never telling anybody. We’ve both said we’re doing it many times,” Keaton added of the movie’s decades-long road from conception to production.

“We both agreed, if it happens, it has to be done as close to the way we made it the first time,” he added. “Making stuff up, making stuff happen, improvising and riffing, but literally handmade stuff like people creating things with their hands and building something.”

Keaton said, “It’s the most fun I’ve had working on a movie in I can’t tell you how long.”