sits down with stars Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara and Jenna Ortega from Beetlejuice 2 where they open about the best part of working on the film 36 years after the first, if Jenna pulled any inspiration from her character Wednesday, and what it’s like working with Tim Burton.
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00:00It's been incredible, and to be a part of something like Beetlejuice that was so influential on me as a person, and also so many people, it's kind of too much to comprehend, I think.
00:11Who's Beetlejuice?
00:13Don't ever say that name!
00:15Beetlejuice.
00:17No!
00:17Astrid! I am serious!
00:19If you say his name three times, he will appear.
00:24Beetlejuice.
00:27The juice is loose.
00:28Let me start with you. What is it like for you to be with these two legends in such an iconic sequel?
00:34It's unbelievable. I still can't believe it. I feel so lucky to be here and to have had that experience, because, you know, they're giants in what they do, so I learned so much from them.
00:43They're also just really sweet, funny people. I have such a good time when they're around.
00:49So it's been incredible, and to be a part of something like Beetlejuice that was so influential on me as a person, and also so many people, it's kind of too much to comprehend, I think.
01:01Yeah, I had such a formative experience being so young, being terrified by the snake at, like, eight years old when I first watched Super Beetlejuice.
01:05Yeah, the snake's good.
01:07The little snake's good.
01:08How old were you?
01:08Like, eight years old. Yeah, it's like, that really sticks with you.
01:11But it was funny, too, right?
01:13Yeah.
01:13Like, this movie is scary, funny, scary, funny, scary.
01:16Yes. For you, Sue, being back, was it intimidating being back on set, making a sequel to such an iconic film that meant so much to so many people?
01:24For me, it was intimidating or scary leading up to it, but once we got on the set, didn't it feel different?
01:29Because in every conversation with Tim, just more and more, he made me convinced, he convinced me that he knew it was going to be good.
01:37Yeah. He just seemed so confident, didn't he?
01:39I know.
01:39And he kept saying, you know, we're going to work it out. It's not all there. We're going to work it out. It's going to be okay.
01:43He was so open to ideas, whatever you want to give. You know, got any ideas for your gallery show? I want to hear them. You know, just anything and everything.
01:50He could talk about your character.
01:52Sorry?
01:53I wondered, like, is that a technique to make us feel...
01:57Yeah, but he actually listens.
01:59No, he actually uses your ideas.
02:01It's very rare that you have that.
02:07I'd say it's like these two sort of, with Tim, it's like, there's this sort of freedom and collaboration and inclusiveness, but you also feel really safe.
02:18Yeah.
02:19You know, because you know, I was so moved of how protective of Lydia he was.
02:26Like, I didn't realize, you know, that he had identified with her on the first one. I remember I read that or saw him say that and I was so, it made me emotional.
02:40But he's very protective of our characters, you know.
02:45But he wants to, you know, yeah, it was so special to feel that way because on the first one, it was the first time I felt included, you know, that I was asked, like, well, what do you think?
03:01You know, when you're young, you're not often asked that. You're just sort of, at least I was sort of like, there's your mark and there's your cue.
03:11But it was so, it had that spirit and that was just so beautiful.
03:17It's just the way it works, isn't it?
03:18Yeah.
03:19Yeah.
03:20Doing all of the casting reviews today, I feel like the number one thing that kept popping up was just how much fun that you had when the cameras were not rolling.
03:25Yeah.
03:26And, Catherine, I heard your hoot, I heard your hoot that you were always trying to make Justin laugh.
03:30He was like, I can't even, he's like, I can't even look at Justin.
03:33I can't even look at Catherine.
03:34I tell everyone how funny he is.
03:36Really? I was going to ask, who's the funniest in the cast? Who made you laugh the hardest?
03:40He really made me laugh.
03:41Yeah, I knew I would break if I looked at him during certain sequences that we were shooting.
03:45Jenna actively avoided him.
03:48So intensely cheesy.
03:49Avoided eye contact.
03:50Yeah.
03:51We would sometimes look at each other like, no, we can't look at each other.
03:54It was because, like, you could see his ponytail waving in the wind.
03:56I know.
03:57It was trying to scare me down.
03:59And his voice.
04:00The voice is so, so good.
04:01Oh, yeah, the voice is great.
04:02He's so, so good.
04:03But just his sincere cheesiness.
04:05Yeah.
04:06That was really good.
04:07I love it.
04:08He just goes on riffs.
04:09One of the best I remember is him acting like a cheeseball actor, talking about the power he has on a set.
04:16It's intimidating to other actors.
04:18He's too good at it.
04:20So funny.
04:21Well, speaking of character Jenna, I also want to ask you, I feel like I got a little hint of Wednesday.
04:25Is there anything that you learned from Wednesday that you brought to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice?
04:29No.
04:30Really?
04:31No, I really don't think so.
04:34I mean, I think obviously it's Tim's world, so I think that, you know, things in the universe kind of naturally, you know, kind of can be similar at times.
04:43Or, you know, like a lot of my lines were nasty or bitter, and, you know, that's like Wednesday's whole thing.
04:49But for the most part, I think a lot of what was based in Astrid was just kind of the experience that she had had growing up, you know, not being very close to her mom.
04:59Yeah.
05:00Being sent away to a boarding school.
05:01Losing her father.
05:02Her parents getting divorced.
05:03There's just like a lot of resentment.
05:05I think she was just kind of mad at the world.
05:07Yeah.
05:08I think she's actually quite a normal person, but I think sometimes that stress and not knowing where to put it or place it is kind of where her nastiness came from.
05:15Where Wednesday, she just kind of, she does it for the pleasure of it all.
05:19Right.
05:20The pleasure of it all.
05:21Yeah, I loved so much what Jenna brought, because, you know, she, it's completely unique.
05:29It's so unique.
05:32And it really made me think a lot about what art, you know, like it made sort of my making.
05:43I mean, I have to have a back story.
05:46I do it these days.
05:47Right, right.
05:48She said that.
05:49And so, like, you know, it was just very, very unique, and it was great.
05:56And it helped me a lot, you know.
06:00Yeah, I swear, like, I have that, like, what do you think?
06:05Like, if I try, what do you think if I try this?
06:08Like, you know, I learned a lot from her.
06:11I love it.
06:12And speaking of other shows we love, I also, I know Beetlejuice is opening up this, you know, a new world, but we're also closing a chapter with Stranger Things.
06:18Yeah.
06:19How was the final season?
06:20How was that wrap up for you?
06:21We're still filming.
06:23Still filming.
06:25Yeah, till the end of the year.
06:28So, how's it going to be for you to say goodbye to that?
06:32I don't know.
06:33I mean, you know, it's going to be bittersweet.
06:38You know, it's going to be bittersweet.
06:43Yeah, yeah.
06:44We're going to be sad, too.
06:46But also it is the 10th year that, which is wild.
06:51I could never, I never imagined it would, you know, it's sort of like Beetlejuice.
06:57Like, I don't think any of us anticipated that show becoming what.
07:02I did.
07:03You did?
07:04Oh, I said in about 36 years, we're going to do another one.
07:06Yeah, I said it.
07:10Catherine, what do you remember most from filming the first one?
07:13Like, what sticks out?
07:14What's the memory?
07:16Meeting my husband.
07:17But, yeah, probably had to go.
07:19Yeah.
07:21Oh, just how fun it was.
07:24I'm keeping, I wish I, I've got to think of a better word than fun.
07:26I just sound like a, someone who goes around and takes jobs to have fun.
07:30What are we doing today?
07:33But it really, I guess I look for that.
07:36And it was there every day.
07:38The first one, I just remember laughing with Tim about anything and everything.
07:43And poor Glenn Shattuck.
07:45He played Otho.
07:47I'm telling you, no one.
07:48He was like the social director of the cast.
07:50He kept us together for years.
07:52He would be calling us and trying to get us together.
07:54And writing us letters.
07:55I loved getting letters from Glenn.
07:57No one would be more in heaven doing the second movie than Glenn.
08:03I'm so sorry.
08:04I know.
08:06But, yeah, the friends we made.
08:08But just every day.
08:09Honestly, every day was fun.
08:10That dinner scene, the day I was seen.
08:12The guys under our table wearing shrimp gloves to grab our faces.
08:16Why do I feel like Moira Rose would also love Beetlejuice Beetlejuice?
08:19Moira Rose.
08:20I feel like she would love Beetlejuice.
08:21I don't know why I didn't get the role.
08:26Maybe you'll have.
08:30Amazing.
08:31Y'all are so iconic.
08:32Thank you so much for your time.
08:33This was so fun.
08:34We love the film.
08:35We're so excited for everything.
08:36So nice to meet you guys.