Empire had the pleasure of hosting the one and only Michael Keaton on Saturday evening, as part of a VIP event also featuring a screening of 1989's Batman and the upcoming The Flash, in which he reprises his iconic superhero role for the first time in decades. But Keaton also opened up about the joy of working on another film which features a return for one of his classic characters: Beetlejuice 2.
Keaton is clearly enthusiastic to be once again back with old friend, director Tim Burton and finding more chaos for his bio-exorcist lunatic to cause."Beetlejuice is the most f--kin’ 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 says. "There’s a woman in the great waiting room for the afterlife literally with a fishing line – I want people to know this because I love it – tugging on the tail of a cat to make it move."
The Beetlejuice sequel is something that has been in development limbo for years, but Burton and Keaton are finally shooting it. And from the sounds of it, doing exactly what they want. "[Burton] and I were talking about it years and years ago, never telling anybody. I said, ‘if it happens, first of all, we’ve both said we’re doing it many times. We both agreed, if it happens, it has to be done as close to the way we made it the first time. Making stuff up, making stuff happen, improvising and riffing, but literally handmade stuff like people creating things with their hands and building something. F--kin’ great. It’s the most fun I’ve had working on a movie in I can’t tell you how long."
Beetlejuice 2 will be in cinemas on 6 September next year.