Michael Keaton may play the Ghost with the Most in long-awaited sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but in the eyes of his co-star Justin Theroux, he’s the Lead We All Need.
After 36 years, the Batman actor teams up with Tim Burton once again to reprise his role as the eponymous bio-exorcist, as Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) and her family return to Winter River following her father’s sudden death.
“You feel his spontaneity. His mind is like a spark plug; he’s sparky in life, his mind works quickly. He hops around,” Theroux says of Keaton, in an exclusive interview with GamesRadar+ and Inside Total Film. “So Beetlejuice is sort of like, if you took all the volume knobs on Michael, turned them up, and then put this voice on it. It must be very fun to play that character because, you know, the ego is so out of control, and he can’t be a villain.
“There’s nothing he can say that’s going to make you hate him, you know? The more he says that’s awful, or the more things he does that are awful, the more you kind of like him,” the Leftovers actor goes on. “He gets away with things normal people wouldn’t.”
Well, when it comes to audiences anyway… In the film, Lydia is less than thrilled about coming toe-to-toe with the green-haired ghoul once again, having been shaking off waking nightmares of him since her teens. The pair cross paths again when Lydia’s daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) gets caught up in some afterlife-related drama and she’s forced to turn to her former foe for help.
Ryder and Keaton aren’t the only ones returning, either, Catherine O’Hara is also back as Lydia’s eccentric artist stepmother Delia Deetz. “It’s sort of like having the late ’80s Chicago Bulls playing at the peak of their game, and then having to step on the court and play ball with them, you know?” Theroux laughs, having joined the follow-up as Lydia’s cringe-worthy, co-dependent partner Rory.
“You don’t want to mess up what they’re going to do, because you know they’re going to do it beautifully, because they’re all so talented,” he continues. “You want to make sure you’re just singing in the same key that they’re singing in. Once I got over the nerves of that, I had a really good time. It was a really fun part to play.”
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice releases on September 6. While we wait, check out our picks of the most exciting upcoming movies heading our way.
Listen out for more of our chat with Theroux on the upcoming episode of the Inside Total Film podcast, which is available on Apple, Audioboom, Spotify, and more.
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