Michael Keaton Teases ‘Beetlejuice’ Sequel As “Enormous Fun” & The Creative Decision To Not Rely Heavily On CGI

Michael Keaton is teasing the upcoming Beetlejuice Beetlejuice film that will open in theaters later this year. The Tim Burton film is a sequel to the 1988 horror comedy that starred Keaton in the titled role.

In a recent interview, Keaton opened up about returning to play Beetlejuice and deciding early on with Burton that he wanted to avoid relying heavily on CGI.

“The one thing that he and I decided on early, early, early on from the beginning, if we ever did it again, I was totally not interested in doing something where there was too much technology,” he told People. “It had to feel handmade.”

He continued, “What made it fun was watching somebody in the corner actually holding something up for you, to watch everybody in the shrunken head room and say, ‘Those are people under there, operating these things, trying to get it right.'”

Keaton noted, “When you get to do that again after years of standing in front of a giant screen, pretending somebody’s across the way from you, this is just enormous fun.”

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is set to premiere on September 6 and will have Winona Ryder reprise her role as Lydia Deetz, as well as Catherine O’Hara’s return as Delia Deetz. The cast includes Jenna Ortega as Astrid Deetz, Monica Bellucci, Willem Dafoe, Justin Theroux, Arthur Conti, and Burn Gorman.

Over the years, Keaton revealed that he and Burton had talked about making a sequel to the film, saying, “We thought, ‘You got to get this right. Otherwise, just don’t do it. Let’s just go on with our lives and do other things.’ So I was hesitant and cautious, and he was probably equally as hesitant and cautious over all these years. Once we got there, I said, ‘Okay, let’s just go for it. Let’s just see if we can do it, if we can pull this off.'”