Michael Keaton will soon be seen reprising his iconic role of Beetlejuice in Tim Burton’s comedy horror sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Apart from the O.G. cast that is returning including Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara, some fresh faces will also be seen in the sequel. From Jenna Ortega to Willem Dafoe, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is filled to the brim with exceptional talent.
However, there is a bit of bad news for fans who were excited to see Michael Keaton returning to play the titular character as the actor only has seventeen minutes of screen time in the film. As it turns out, limited screen time was actually his condition to return as Beetlejuice.
Michael Keaton Returns at Beetlejuice but with a Catch
Beetlejuice returns to our screens next month with Michael Keaton playing the titular character. The sequel is set a whopping thirty-six years after the events of the first movie. When Lydia Deetz’s (Winona Ryder) rebellious daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) finds a model of Winter River in the attic, the portal to the afterlife opens releasing ‘Betelgeuse.’
While the storyline sounds absolutely entertaining, fans were recently hit by an update that felt like a punch to their guts – Keaton’s limited screen time.
In an interview with GQ magazine, Keaton revealed that one of his conditions to return as Beetlejuice was that he would have limited screen time – 17 minutes out of the total 104. He simply didn’t want to be the star of the sequel and we wonder why.
According to Keaton, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is not as driven by his character as in the first film.
He stated,
The idea was, no, no, no, you can’t load it up with Beetlejuice, that’ll kill it. I think the Beetlejuice character doesn’t drive the story as much as he did in the first one. He’s more part of the storyline in this one as opposed to the first one, which is a case of, this thing comes in and drives the movie a little bit.
As for how the sequel will differ from the original, Keaton stated that the mother-daughter duo between Ryder and Ortega is what’s going to make Beetlejuice Beetlejuice beautiful and emotional.
The [original] was so fun and exciting visually. [The sequel is] all that but really beautiful and interestingly emotional here and there. I wasn’t ready for that. It’s great.
Well, we are just going to have to wait for a few weeks to find out how the sequel fares to the original and how it’ll work with Keaton being on screen for such a short period of time.
Fans are Upset with the Update
Everything was going well for the sequel. Fans were extremely excited to learn that Tim Burton would be returning to direct and that the sequel would feature some iconic cast members from the O.G. including Keaton.
However, now that Keaton has spoken up about his screen time, all that excitement seems to have come to an abrupt stop. Fans are understandably not happy with his limited time on screen and some are even saying that they will simply not watch the sequel anymore.
Take a look at the fans’ reactions below:
Nice to know! Was planning on watching it but now I’m skipping. So tired of Jenna Ortega in everything.
— TweetyBlue7 (@BlueTweety23) August 20, 2024
Oh dear. Please not another bait-and-switch.
— Liamphibia (@liamphibia) August 20, 2024
So it's going to suck.
— The Town Crier (@Distant_Mirror_) August 20, 2024
Damn that killed the whole movie for me then, is it just two hours of freakin Ortega hamming for the camera? No thanks
— Phoenix R. (@Sektor30) August 20, 2024
Disappointing
— Blondie (@Blondiee39) August 20, 2024
While fans have all the right to be upset and disheartened by the news, we must add that working on the sequel was “the most fun” Keaton had on set “in a long time.”
Only time will tell if Keaton’s decision to limit his time in the film ends up working out for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice or not.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will be out in theatres on September 06, 2024.
Beetlejuice is currently available to watch on Max.
