Nineties Babies Nostalgia
A pop culture podcast hosted by two 90s babies and best friends, Amanda and Jess. NBN Classic is a rewatch series where we recap & review teen tv and movies from the early 2000s (think Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, etc). NBN Remixed episodes follow a similar format but cover the tv, movies, and music we love now (Heartstopper, Young Royals, Demi Lovato, etc). Listen along to two best friends having a giggle, and let us know what you think.
Nineties Babies Nostalgia
beetlejuice beeltejuice: it's showtime
Lydia, Delia, and everyone's favorite undead menace are back in this sequel 35 years in the making. We go into memories of the og film and play, background on how and why making a sequel took this long, and then give allll our thoughts and reactions. And don't worry, we'll let you know when the spoilers start.
Please rate & review and reach out to us on socials for any thoughts on Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
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Hi, I'm Amanda.
And I'm Jessica.
And this is 90s Babies Nostalgia, where a couple of 90s babies rewatch and sometimes watch for the first time entertainment from the early 2000s and now.
Just to be clear, we are not sponsored by or affiliated with any of the movies, distribution companies, production companies, actors, anything that we talk about, we just really love talking about movies. And today we're talking about Beetlejuice Beetlejuice!
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, yeah! So this is kind of almost a classic and remixed episode in one because there is so nostalgia so much nostalgia related to it and also a brand new movie out. We are going to do a brief bit of of intro into what Beetlejuice is later and we'll do as our best to be spoiler free like the first part of this episode and then we'll let you know when spoilers are coming up so that don't you don't have to worry about that just getting that out there but before we get into it Jess you are a lover of spooky season however you are not a lover of horror or anything that's particularly scary so what to you is like your go-to fall media that you like to watch movies or shows what to you says like perfect spooky season.
I think like a lot of what we are yet to cover, or we have covered, but every anything that's kind of like wacky, kooky, but not too scary. So again, I'm a lover of Beetlejuice, obviously, part of the reason we're talking about it. But also like Rocky Horror Picture Show is a big one. All of the Halloweentowns are huge ones. I'm trying to think if there's any other Hocus Pocus, though I would argue that one's a little on the scarier side, but it's not horror, but it is scary.
It's conceptually pretty terrifying.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I would say like, yeah, anything that's like Casper, like anything that's like family entertainment, Halloween, that's my ideal Halloween and like media. How about you?
Well, before I answer, do you put those on throughout this season? do you gravitate towards them? Or do you just like watch normal content the way you would any other season?
Oh no, I definitely gravitate towards them, especially when the weather starts to cool down. I feel like then you're more like, okay, it's time to cozy up on the couch, put on something as like background noise that I don't necessarily need to watch the whole thing, but I'll like watch bits and pieces. and then with the mix of obviously like newer entertainment, but yeah, I will go out of my way to put them on.
Nice I similarly will go out of my way because it's like it's like I think to put it on, but i don't I don't think to put on these movies and shows the rest of the year. I don't know what it is. I don't know why it falls specifically, but it just feels wrong to watch Beetlejuice or Practical Magic in the middle of the year. so my I'm in similar vibes. I don't mind horror. I don't really watch it anymore. I did a lot growing up. I will say that during this time, I am more likely to consider watching a horror movie, especially at night, when I'm like, maybe I just want to...Tis the tis the season, you know?
Mm-hmm.
It's a when in Rome kind of vibe of like, maybe I'll be a little scared tonight. Little dabble But... In general, I need something magical or supernatural. I need those elements of magic with low stakes and some humor. I need, yeah, just like wholesome but still mystic vibes. So I love Practical Magic, I love the HalloweenTown movies, I love Beetlejuice, though I hadn't really watched Beetlejuice as an adult. and I love any like Halloween special like we talked about in our previous episode of an episode just because it's like perfect to me to be watching a show that is continuous and they just happen to have an episode that's like this is Halloween and I'm like great I don't have to change speeds fully.
Mhm.
Another non Magic, though, is definitely Gilmore Girls. Everyone knows Gilmore Girls is fall culture. I know you've never seen it, but it's just a lot of the shots are related to fall. There's a lot of sweater weather. It's in Connecticut. There's a lot of coffee and cozy vibes. And I think coziness is quintessential.
Yeah, I was gonna say, it I feel like this is just part of the year where I start watching vlogs a lot more too.
Ohh
And I think it's because a lot of vloggers tend to create that like ideal lifestyle, coziness, and they tend to like go out and do a lot more like autumn and wintery things. So I feel like I thought fall off my vloggers that I like to watch in like spring slash summer, because I'm like, I don't really care that you're going to Italy. However, I do care that you're going to the pumpkin patch with your friends and you're wearing cute cozy sweaters and I want to see that. So I feel like this is the time of year that I fall back on that as well, which kind of like fits with the like media around this time.
That's so cute. That's so funny. I love that. Okay. With all of that said, we're going to get into Beetlejuice. Just a quick trigger warning. If you know nothing about Beetlejuice and you're like, maybe this is my chance to dip my toes in and somehow you've avoided this, the entire thing revolves around the concept of death. That is the franchise. And so if that is a triggering topic for you, whether it's death of parents or self or anything, this isn't the franchise for you.
No
But with that said
Yeah, getting into some like background on the oriGeenal Beetlejuice. So Beetlejuice came out in 1988. It's an American dark fantasy comedy horror directed by Tim Burton, who was still pretty like new on the scene at that time. This was his second movie after Pee Wee's Big Adventure. And then the screenplay was written by Michael McDowell and Warren Scarin. The score was written and arranged by Danny Elfman, also one of his first well-known scores after Pee Wee. This fell but right before Batman.
Danny Elfman is from a new wave band. I don't remember what it's called cause it wasn't super significant in my mind, but I know that he has done a lot of scores and worked with Tim Burton a lot in his following projects. I want to say he did nightmare, but I'm not, I didn't do as much research on him.
I'm pretty sure yes. But they you they kind of go hand in hand now, like most things that Tim does
Danny works on, which makes sense because Tim Burton has such a specific visual aesthetic and also sonic aesthetic that it it makes sense he would want to work with the same collaborator to keep that unique style together.
Yeah, and Tim Burton is very particular about who he works with.
Yes.
And you'll see it's a lot of the same people I think, as you said, because he has a specific vision. um And I do just think naturally very few people fall into that vision. And so he kind of has to use the same people over and over again.
And he has been criticized for that.
Yes, yes. So the oriGeenal was released on March 30th, which I found fascinating because that feels like a crazy time to release this film.
Literally going against what I just said about I don't want to watch this in the middle of the year.
Yeah, when I read that, I was like, who was like, yes, Beetlejuice, let's release it in March. But it actually did really, really well. It won the Academy Award for Best Makeup, as well as three Saturn Awards for Best Horror Film, Best Makeup, and Best Supporting Actress. Amanda, did you want to give just a brief summary note? This is pretty spoiler free um of what the oriGeenal is about.
but also the oriGeenal came out in the 80s, so if you don't know, I don't care, honestly. We will be spoiler free about the new one until we're not.
Yep.
So the the first one, I rewatched it recently, right before watching the new one, actually. I didn't realize, I don't know, I forgot some of this. A young couple dies, okay? They're having a vacation that is a staycation, and they die by just driving off a road into a river, and they're stuck haunting their home, And shortly thereafter a new family moves in from New York and they want to completely change the decor from this cute, like, country vibe into cold, modern aesthetics. And this couple, which is very sweet, cannot deal with it. They're like, we could live with anyone else, but we cannot be stuck haunting this house with this family. So they, because they don't know how to haunt, well, enlist a demon slash poltergeist named Beetlejuice who comes to haunt that family out of the house, but then he's also really trying to marry the daughter of the family that moved in, Lydia Deetz, who at the time is 16 and is the only one who can naturally see these ghosts in the house and see Beetlejuice. He sees her as his ticket to live with the living by marrying her, which makes the living and the dead families have to team up together to get rid of him and decide to just live in harmony after that. it's It's a pretty wholesome ending, honestly. And Beaglejuice is not in the oriGeenal nearly as much as I thought he was.
Mhmm
He's like not in it that much, but I'm okay with that.
Yeah, because it's more story building about the house and the families versus involving Beetlejuice as much, which I feel like this film does a lot more of. I just want to touch on any like memories or nostalgia you have. I personally watched this a lot growing up. um As you guys know with Rocky Horror like I feel like my parents just put things on the TV sometimes that I'm like for being someone who like they would not let me go to the movie theater and see a PG-13 movie until I was 13. I'm like very confused on the things they had just on the television growing up. And this is one of them I remember our first family trip to Universal Studios and how puck and I basically like ran around Looking for the Beetlejuice actor because we were just like we love him So yeah, that's most of my like memories I i it's definitely a movie I watched a lot growing up as an adult less so
That's funny. I had similar parents that were concerned about the movies I would see in theaters, but then would just like have stuff on the TV all the time as if I wasn't watching it.
Mmhmm.
I remember I saw The Matrix when I was about nine or ten because my family's friends, my friends' family, sorry, they loved to go to the movies and I spent almost every weekend at their house. And so we went to the movies and saw it in theaters and my when my mom found out she was kind of upset because it was an R-rated movie. But then she also had things like Beetlejuice on the TV all the time at that time.
Mhmm
So it was like, what? Anyway, um I recall there are some movies that were on the TV when I was a kid that did scare me, like The Sixth Sense and It. Those gave me genuine, like, terrors for a while. But Beetlejuice was always a fun watch. Beetlejuice never scared me growing up, which was nice. I think because it's so zany. I think probably most little girls have at some point related to Lydia Deetz.
Oh absolutely.
Her whole thing is like, she can see the ghosts because what is it? the They're the unusual and ignored and she's the unusual and ignored. It's not those exact words, but it's that sentiment, which is just so like, okay, we get it. You're not like other girls, whatever.
Yeah, yeah. Too funny, though. We also want to touch briefly on the Broadway show. I didn't do a lot of research, but Amanda has seen it. um But it premiered in DC in 2018, then was on Broadway in 2019, and then did a touring run in 2022.
It was my first Broadway show I saw it on a whim because my cousin said that the soundtrack was great and I was in New York in Times Square and I was like I should see a show and so I went up to the little TKTS counter and got a ticket for Beetlejuice like an hour before the show. I also, but brief intermission of this story, want to say that we have a ah bullet point in here that Jess completely ignored that she wrote down that I have to stare at while I say all of this that says Amanda wants to fuck Beetlejuice.
I want to remind everyone of like, I don't know, like, was it a year ago? Was it fall of last year? I don't remember when.
It was about a year ago, yeah
And Amanda posed the question, was it like, what not, like what fictional character would you want to settle down with? What was the question? Something along those lines.
Yeah it was like not settle down not settle down it was like a one-time Kind of guilty fictional hall pass like What's your gross fictional fuck?
Yeah. And Amanda's was Betelgeuse.
And I don't have a single friend who's understood me for that, and that's okay because I'm not like other girls.
Just like Lydia.
Exactly. So seeing this, I had no idea what to expect. I've always been kind of skeptical of Broadway adaptations of films, but it was so well done. It was different than the movie, but still incorporated a lot of it. I forgot that Lydia's - That Catherine O'Hara plays Lydia's stepmom. I think I thought she was her mom and and and I thought the Broadway show added the fact that she was her stepmom. Not true. It's in the whole franchise.
Mm-hmm.
but they added the extra element in the Broadway show that her mom is dead which gives her sort of a an edge to why she's so like broody and misunderstood and like she has a whole song called Dead Mom.
Hmm.
The actress that played her was incredible. I've also heard she had a really big attitude and that was part of why the show had to end. I don't know. The actor that played Beetlejuice had a confusing thing going on with his vocal cords that allowed him to do the raspy Beetlejuice voice without severely damaging his vocal cords doing it eight shows a week. It was like he biologically is the only person that could play Beetlejuice because he was doing that raspy stuff the whole show. It was crazy.
That is crazy. All I can think is like, he's like Michael Phelps.
Yes
you know, like he defies normal bodily function.
No, I know, I know what you meant that Michael Phelps has like a thing that actually makes him a faster swimmer
Yep
or helps him hold his breath longer, I think.
Yeah, and also like he just produces like significantly less lactic acid in his muscles than the average human.
That's what it is.
Yeah, like so many crazy things where I'm like, you are, this is just wild. But that's what that Broadway actor also had.
Yes. the main thing is that, It really paid homage to the movie in a way that I forgot was such a big part of the movie until seeing the sequel is the practical effects, the set design the sound design it was nominated for eight Tony's didn't win any, but a lot of awards. it was nominated for in other circuits as well. And the ones that it consistently won were related to the set design because it was huge practical effects. Like they had one of those big sandworms come around the set. um it was It was just like a fun show to watch.
Yeah.
And I remember I was sat next to a couple that was in from like South Africa and the night prior they had seen Dear Evan Hansen and they were like, don't. Like, this is a much better experience. That one is so sad. This one is fun. This is what we thought we were getting for Broadway, which like, okay, why are you seeing Dear Evan Hansen if that's the case?
Yeah.
But it was really funny.
It's like maybe ask more questions before you pick a show to go see, but also makes sense.
Fair enough.
Yeah.
okay and then they announced this remake and i was like whoa that's crazy it's off broadway now and i'm sad about it ended in like 2022 but they announced this remake and i were you skeptical i was kind of skeptical
I don't know if I was skeptical.
Oh i should actually say it's not a remake it's a sequel
It's a sequel. Yeah, I did write Remake, but it is a sequel. I don't know if I was skeptical only be because You don't wait 35 years or whatever it is to make something that was successful. It was a box office hit. It was a huge success when it came out in the 80s. You don't wait this long to make a sequel unless you're trying to do it right. And like we'll get into this as we get into the like background of the sequel. But like there were a lot of opportunities to make it like right after the 88 one came out. And they passed because they were like, this is not right. So I kind of knew I was like, I don't think this is going to be bad. I think they're going to give it a real try.
That's interesting. I didn't think of it that way. I thought of it more as we are currently in this nostalgia reboot era. And so it's like an easy cash grab. And that's why I was more skeptical. But I i will say I had the peace of mind that just As a fan, as a viewer, Tim Burton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O'Hara are all people that I trust to put a lot of themselves and a lot of sort of reverence behind a project, whatever they're doing.
Yep.
I think they're all great at what they do. And so all of them coming back made me feel like, you know what? I don't know what this is gonna be, but I know it's probably gonna be good. Also Michael Keaton coming back, like no one could play Beetlejuice if it weren't him.
Nope.
Yeah.
And Burton has said out loud many times he wouldn't have done it if Keaton wouldn't have come back.
Yeah, I'm sure he wouldn't have done it without Keaton or Winona. Well, he could have done a story without her, but I'm sure he wouldn't have wanted to.
He has publicly really only spoke about Keaton, but Winona was very vocal that like she wouldn't have done it if Keaton and Burton weren't involved.
yeah
She only wanted to do it with the two of them, which makes sense. we kind of talked about our nostalgia and now we're going to go into Beetlejuice Beetlejuice the sequel, a little bit of background. It opened at the Venice International Film Fest this year on August 28th and then it theatrically released overseas first on September 4th and then in the US on September 6th. By the time this episode comes out for you guys to listen to, it should be available for streaming. So if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend. I didn't double check. I think it will be on Max would make sense.
Oh, that would make sense because Beetlejuice is currently on max.
Yeah. So if you haven't seen it and this makes you intrigued, definitely go watch it on the streaming services. I will probably give it another watch knowing that it's going to be on the streaming services. Yeah.
I was pumped because I thought you were going to say prime because I feel like every theatrical release goes to prime first and that's the only one that I don't have. Well, that and like, what's it called peacock. So I'm very happy.
Yeah, yeah. so currently it has grossed $338 million to an $100 million budget, which is kind of wild to me because they basically straight up refused to give Tim Burton his budget. Like he asked for 130 million and they were just gonna put it on streaming but he was like streaming straight to streaming is not gonna do Beetlejuice justice and needs to have a theatrical release and they're like okay then we'll give you a hundred mil and if you can make it for a hundred mil or less then we'll give it a theatrical release which is just wild because I'm like you got your money way back like why would you not give him the money to do this right I don't know
Yeah, and I think that it shows an apprehension or misunderstanding of like the cult classic that surrounds Beetlejuice. I think part of why this has done so well, I think a lot of people felt reassured the way that we did about having the main cast come back, but also that we don't get a lot of wholesome, spooky content. There's been a lot of resurgence in horror content lately,
Yes!
but not as much just like a family friendly spooky related thing and really again they're being dumb because did they not see how Wednesday blew up a year ago and he also did that and that's a similar vibe yeah
Yeah, I think what they were doing was like his last successful theatrical release was Alice in Wonderland. And I think that was 2010 or somewhere around then. So they were like, you haven't had a successful theatrical release in over a decade, which is fair.
I know
But then again, as you said, they're not taking into the context of the cult classic that is Beetlejuice. Regardless, I'm glad they let him make it. i glad I'm glad he came in under the budget to get his theatrical release. And now the studio knows it was well worth it.
That is also just side note crazy to hear and think because Tim Burton to us is like such a name and such a figure that you don't think of him having any sort of like quote unquote flop era, but he has kind of had one for the last decade. I think he's worked on less, but I think also his stuff has been more animated or more mainstream in a way that we don't want. Like this is what we want from Tim Burton.
Mm hmm.
But normally when we see his name, we're like, oh, that'll probably be good. So it's kind of like crazy that his movies haven't been breaking even.
Yeah Yeah, agreed. this one, as you mentioned, again, also directed by Tim Burton, the screenplay was written by Alfred Goh, who is a very, very well known writer, but for our purposes of our show, he also wrote Hannah Montana the movie. but he wrote a bunch of more credible stuff. Like that is not a summary of his work at all. I just needed to shout it out.
Love it.
And also written by Miles Miller, who was the writer on Wednesday, plus a bunch of other stuff too.
Score once again by our Danny Elfman.
so this is where I'm gonna get into, I'll try to keep this short, because I know I'm talking a lot through this portion, but this is where I'm gonna get into some like, background of like how this sequel came to be because it was a long time coming. OriGeenally after the success the studios were like we need another one we need another one and there was like so many different iterations of ideas and none of them really stuck mostly because Burton didn't have faith in any of the screenwriters that were writing on these ideas as well as there just wasn't a lot of hope that It could be a story done well. Some of these ideas which made me laugh were Beetlejuice and the Haunted Mansion. Beetlejuice goes Hawaiian which like act like that actually almost became a thing and it sounded really dumb so I'm glad that was not a thing.
That's upsetting.
And Beetlejuice goes west.
Oh my God, I hate all of this, but I do understand this was a different time for media. Like these were pretty normal spin-off ideas for a straight to VHS sequel, you know?
Mm hmm. Totally. And to me, it's like if they were to do one of those, that would have been a cash grab.
Yes.
in 2011, another story was pitched and it was eventually shelved in 2019, but this story was worked on for a really, really long time to the extent that, like, Winona and Burton both spoke about it publicly during that time. Winona Ryder specifically spoke about it in interviews. And at that time Keaton and Winona were both signed on to reprise their roles in this sequel that then was shelved in 2019.
Hmm.
And then it was brought back to life in 2022. with Burton co-producing it with Brad Pitt's studio which was Plan B Entertainment and then the casting finished in early 2023 and then it was slightly delayed because of the strikes and they thought we weren't gonna get it until 2025 but we were still able to get it this year which was awesome.
Shit on Brad Pitt all you want and you should for a number of reasons, but for some reason I feel like Plan B Entertainment really pops out some good shit.
Agreed.
Yeah, so getting into our cast, obviously we have Beetlejuice. Not spelled the way the title of the show is or movie is spelled, but I don't care. played by Michael Keaton, who reprised his role from the oriGeenal. As we said, he is an afterlife ghost bioexorcist who really knows what he is. At one point in this one, Lydia calls him a demon. I don't know that he is classified as a demon. I don't care. He's fun. He's zany, he's crazy, he's down for a good time.
Yep.
Michael Keaton obviously played Beetlejuice. He played Batman in Batman and Batman Returns. He was in Herbie Fully Loaded, which I did not realize. He was in Cars, did not realize. Toy Story 3, Minions, Spider-Man Homecoming. Michael Keaton does a lot of work and what I've learned from a recent interview between him and Jenna Ortega is that he started in stand-up And Beetlejuice was one of his earlier roles, and he's someone who doesn't overthink it. Like, Jenna Ortega is very much an overthinker. And he was like, when Beetlejuice happened, we didn't know what it was going to be. Tim's a quiet guy. I had to just kind of like read the scripts and go for it. And as soon as I did and we saw some of the visuals, Tim was like, OK, I know where we're going with this, which I think is great because he's like, When you look at him, you don't see Beetlejuice,
No
but then he somehow pulls this out from within him and it's fucking nuts.
Yeah, and you wouldn't want anyone else to play him.
No, but when I see him in an interview, I'm like, that man is not Beetlejuice, like that man is a baseball coach.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It is true.
we have Lydia Deetz, played by Winona Ryder, also reprising her role in the sequel. She is the mother of Astrid Deetz, and also the host of a like reality TV talk show um called The Ghost House with Lydia Deetz.
She also is known for a lot, Beetlejuice.
It girl of the 90s.
Yeah, Edward Scissorhands, Dracula, she was in the 94, Little Women, Star Trek.
Girl interrupted. Sorry.
Yeah, Black Swan.
Sorry, me interrupting girl to say girl interrupted.
yeah was also in Black Swan and then more recently she played Joyce Byers on Stranger Things and I wanted to note here because I thought it was kind of a fun fact is that sequel we were talking about that came up in 2011 and then was shelved in 2019 when she signed on to do Stranger Things in 2016 She was like, if we get an okay to start producing this Beetlejuice show, you have to let me take a break to go do that. And they like gave her the okay. They're like, yeah, if you agreed to be on Stranger Things, we'll let you go do Beetlejuice, girl. It's fine
I love that. But also, why wouldn't they? Because ah boost your profile again.
Totally.
Astrid Deetz is played by Jenna Ortega. Astrid is Lydia's daughter. They have a deceased father. And she doesn't have a good relationship with Lydia because she doesn't think that her mom can actually talk to ghosts because she can't talk to her dad. And so it's very strained. She gives a lot of the energy that Lydia gave in the first movie, but in the opposite direction where she is highly speculative. obviously Jenna Ortega is having a moment. She was in Jane the Virgin and stuck in the middle when she was younger, but more recently you Wednesday scream movies like, and she's becoming known as a new scream queen, which is also why it's funny to see her in this role being like ghosts aren't real.
Yeah, it's cute. Then we have Delia Deetz, played by Catherine O'Hara, also reprising her role. She's Lydia's stepmother and Astrid's step-grandmother as part of the plot, which we'll get into. She is now a widow.
She's known for a bunch of stuff, guys, but also Nightmare Before Christmas, Home Alone, Home Alone 2, and then Schitt's Creek. to me, whenever I see her face, I'm like, Moira, but obviously I know she was known for a lot more things before that. But I can't separate it.
that's fair, I've never seen Schitt's Creek and I still think of like the memes of her from Schitt's Creek first, even though I've i've like loved watching her in so many things. I think mostly I'm just like happy that she's kind of having this second wave in her career where I feel like she's really being celebrated in a way that she probably was or deserved to be in the 90s and early 2000s.
Totally.
We kind of have Charles Deetz. I didn't need to put this in. He's dead. So we get him walking around headless and a voice.
Him Headless is played by Mark Heenan and the voice is Charlie Hopkinson. The reason I included this is because of the main cast members that, as we've mentioned, have returned. They chose not to really include Jeffrey Jones, and were very creative in the inclusion of Charles Deetz because he is registered sex offender. So that was kind of the reason for his like, disclusion from the film.
Which I didn't know. When I was watching it, I thought, this guy must be dead. But instead, no. He is now a registered sex offender. And they used archival footage of him to help recreate his body as much as possible.
Mm hmm.
We're getting into our new characters here. So we get Rory, played by Justin Thoreaux. Rory is Lydia's stupid boyfriend slash TV producer slash manager. He's woo woo as hell, but also not woo woo at all. like He's clearly using her. And he was inspired by Otho? Oh, that makes sense.
Mmhmm.
Otho from the oriGeenal film, who was Delia's interior design slash exorcist friend, the clearly gay guy in the suit that's like, I know about ghosts. and Justin Thoreau's been an American psycho, Charlie's Angels full of throttles, hot, Miami Vice, Lady and the Tramp, he was a screenwriter for Tropic Thunder, Iron Man 2 and Rock of Ages, he was a screenwriter for all three of those, wow.
He's also directed some stuff by, I didn't recognize any of the names, so didn't include it.
Wolf Jackson is played by William Defoe. He's a ghost detective. Amanda described him as a not cop cop.
No, because he's not a cop. He played a cop on a TV show when he was alive. So now he is pretending to be a cop. And sometimes he's like, why can't I solve this case?
And his assistant is like, you're not a cop. You're an actor. But he's like from a show like Miami Vice or something, but is now dead and still playing this out.
Yeah, yeah, he's he was a detective on the show and then now he's a ghost detective.
William Defoe, also, an icon. Yeah, so he played supervillain Norman Osborn in all of the Spider-Mans guys, um as well as American Psycho. He also was in the Fault in our Stars, which I was like, really? John Wick and Aquaman.
We get Dolores, who I called Scary Baddie Bitch Ex Wife, played by Monica Belucci.
yeah
She's Beetlejuice's first wife. First and only, technically, but he refers to her as his first wife. And she's out for some revenge. Monica Belucci is a model and French and Italian film actress, starred in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. And you know what else she is? Really hot.
Yeah, hence model and French in Italian film actress. Then we have Jeremy Fraser, who's played by Arthur Conti. He's an undead teenager that has like a little bit of a love interest in Astrid. He is known for a role in House of the Dragon. Also fun in fact, when he got the call that he got this job, they called him on April Fool's Day. So he was like, is this a joke? Or am I actually in the sequel?
Okay, our quick spoiler-free summary, as spoiler-free as we can be after having given all that information on the characters, Lydia Deetz returns to the house of the oriGeenal film with her teenage daughter, Astrid, her stepmother, Delia, and her boyfriend, Rory, in light of the passing of Lydia's father, Charles. While in Winter River, the Deetz's reconnect with the afterlife via new characters, as we mentioned in the previous section, and their old pal, Beetlejuice. That is my brief quick summary that you could find on anything, a trailer.
Our overall thoughts which we're going to keep pretty spoiler free as well and then we're going to get into our favorite moments and that will have spoilers. I really, really enjoyed it. I wasn't sure what to expect because I was hearing quite mixed reviews. I was hearing a lot of people who were like, if you like the oriGeenal, you'll hate this one. And then I heard a lot of other people who were like, if you like the oriGeenal, you'll love it. And so I was like, I don't really know how this is gonna be, but I really enjoyed it. I also thought it was the perfect length, which lately I've been feeling like movies are too long, but this was like a 90 minutes. It was great.
Yeah, I have to say, i as someone who rewatched the first one right before this, right before seeing this one, I was not disappointed at all. I thought that the OG cast and crew knew exactly what to do and it felt like a true sequel where there was enough new stuff, but enough homage to the oriGeenal and a lot of the same tone of the oriGeenal. so the haters can back off.
And in general, like critic wise and viewer wise, it is getting more positive sentiment than negative sentiment, um though it does still continue to be pretty mixed.
I will say my only mixed review for it or like criticism of it is that I do feel like it got too big. It got maybe definitely a little too big. because they felt the need to keep those elements from the old movie and then add to everyone, to everything. So we get more world building about the underworld, which is great. We get more about Beetlejuice's backstory. We get more about the Deetzes and Astrid gets a whole side plot. And so it got to a point where there were too many characters and too many things going on, and it didn't make enough of a difference. like You could have lived without William Defoe's character and Hottie Dolores. like Neither of them needed to be in this film. They actually spend the majority of it just walking through hallways in the underworld
Mmhmm.
without interacting with the other characters. I think they have one scene with the other characters. But I did like the world building that didn't add to the plot, like the like fun little elements. And i yeah, that's just my one criticism. Was It got a little too big.
I feel like for the purpose of this is the sequel and that is it. Like Tim Burton has said, it took us 35 years to get to this one. We're not going to get another one because he was like, at that point, I'll be 100 years old, so I'm not making it.
Hahahahaha
So I think like.
Is he 70?
I don't know, but I swear that that was the interview quote that was clipped, but he can't be 70. He must be in his like 50s, don't we think?
He could be in his early 60s.
66 so yeah he would be nearly 100 in 30- he would be 100 in 35 years
Yeah
so with that i don't think the world building is too large if they were setting it up for another one it's like okay you already stretched us so big like how much more are you gonna add but knowing that this is kind of where it ends i feel like um it was nice to have the expansion on certain characters
See, I get what you're saying, but I feel almost different of like be knowing that this is the only other one we're gonna get. Could we have had a more succinct and meaningful plot without taking away from it with these like extra little things?
I feel like the extra little things is what makes Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Fair. It is very extra.
I don't think Beetlejuice is giving meaningful plot. And I don't think people are coming to it for that.
Hey, one could argue both films are about grief and the abnormal
Yeah they are
and coming to terms with death.
Yeah, I think themes you can extract from them, sure, but meaningful plot?
Fair enough.
Up for you to decide.
But in the note of um the... the ah sequel paying homage or doing a good job recreating those feelings of the first one. Like I said, with the Broadway show as well, they did a lot of physical sets, which I think really shows you can tell to you can in this world where a lot of our films are very heavily CGI, which makes sense CGI is now really good. And a lot of these things with it are being are supernatural and elements that are hard to recreate. But he created a lot of physical sets that they would wander through that you can tell when you're watching it that this is a physical set. And it's that made it feel more like the oriGeenal one. And I appreciated it.
and that was intentional. like They still wanted it to feel handmade like the oriGeenals so they purposely tried to use as little technology as possible, which I thought like for the end product, it was the right choice because it did make it feel similar to Betelgeuse.
Yeah, and I think part of the charm of Beetlejuice is really just thinking about how stupid it would be if this is what the afterlife is and how absolutely wild it is. And so to see it built out really drives that home.
Yep.
If it were all animated, it would just be like, I don't know, watching an animated movie almost, whereas building it out makes it feel real in a sense.
Yeah.
You know who you did remove from the cast list that I put? Bob.
You never put him there. I added him to favorite moments. I did not remove him. I can guarantee to you I did not remove him. I added him to favorite moments because he was nowhere on the list.
Okay, shout out to Bob in our overall thoughts because he is from, in our overall thoughts, it sounds like he's dead. Well, he kind of is. He's the shrunken head in the first one that now has a huge role in this second one. That was one of the ways that they paid homage to the first one. However, did it need to be this large? Debatable. Does he need to be the poster child of all the promo? Maybe not, but it's kind of fun. It is a little gimmicky.
It's gimmicky but I love it. And you know there are gonna be so many bobs for Halloween and I am here for it.
How? He's a shrunken head!
They'll figure it out.
You just need a suit to be extra big.
Uh-huh.
Okay, are we getting into spoiler zone?
Yeah, we're gonna talk about like our favorite moments, things we loved, so this will be more specific to the plot in the movie. So if you have not watched it yet, as I said, open up your Max, click on it, go watch it now, come back, finish the rest of our podcast episode, or if you're okay with spoilers, then continue listening.
Okay, straight off the bat, when i we open up and we don't know what we're opening up to, it's a TV scene that then becomes the TV film studio. I was like, Lydia Deetz being a TV host is so funny. I don't know that I saw that for her. I didn't hate it. It was just hilarious that she was using her paranormal activities for that.
But also I'm like, was it her choice? Or was it the yucky boyfriend? What's his name? Rory.
Well, I got the impression she met Rory because of her so TV career.
Yeah.
I don't know. She referred to it at one point to Delia as selling out. So I kind of wondered how it came about, but I also just assumed that she had this gift and nothing else really going on for her in life. and Yeah.
Yeah, use it to your advantage, I guess.
But also her having to pop, like, what, Valiums or something to get through it. Good touch.
yeah, like she clearly does not want to be there either.
something I really did like about this sequel is Lydia and Delia's relationship and how it's evolved because watching the first one, I always thought these two in a very platonic family way match each other's freak. Like Delia is a crazy artist into the spooky. Lydia is into the spooky and just like annoying teenager vibes. And so it was fun to watch this one because they are more on a friend level. They've gotten past a lot of that tension from the first one and also and Delia repeatedly pokes fun at Lydia's relationship with Astrid because she's like, she's given you the sass that you gave me when you were that age, which is like kind of just, it's, it I thought it was really well done. I enjoyed that.
I also appreciated it because it made it feel real too, because a lot of times it is true. Delia is like, you do not have a reason to like, be like, oh, Astrid doesn't like me. She only cares about her father, blah, blah, blah. When it's like, okay, you also behaved the exact same way.
Yeah you have no ground to stand on.
No. Do you want to touch on Delia's career?
I just thought it was hilarious.
Yeah
though Lydia's career development was a little left field. Delia's career development was not what I thought it would be, but it was perfect. It was exactly what it needed to be. She's now doing like nude performance art, okay? She's incredible. She was so over the top in the first one and they said, we're gonna make her even zanier. And she is so successful at it that she's donated an entire art wing to Astrid's private school. She's doing nude performance art in middle and in New York City.
Which honestly probably would be successful.
Well, maybe not at her age, but also yes.
Fair, fair.
One of the things that I didn't love, but didn't hate, but didn't love is that the oriGeenal ghosts, the oriGeenal protagonists of Beetlejuice are not in this series. They're the only of the OG cast that didn't come back. I mean, aside from Charles, who wasn't invited back, which Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin. I knew Alec Baldwin wasn't coming back. For some reason I thought Geena Davis was. I understand why you couldn't have one without the other because they are such a couple. I also don't think Alec Baldwin could have come back if he wanted to. I don't think he wanted to. I think his ego was probably the problem because I think he perceives himself. I don't know this man. I don't know why I'm projecting so much vitriol onto him, but I think that he probably perceives himself as having had the biggest career after the the first movie and being a little too big to come back. That's not the case. They've all had very successful careers. Geena Davis included. They've just had more genred careers. His has been a bit more mainstream. I don't think he could have come back because ghosts don't age and nothing about that man looks or sounds the same as it did in the first film. I have never been attracted to Alec Baldwin except in the first Beetlejuice because he's like nerdy chic cute.
Yeah.
I don't know how that is the same man.
Yeah.
I was hoping Geena Davis would be here. Even a cameo in the underworld. But for some reason, all they say is, they found a loophole and got to pass on. And I guess I could have used a little more elaboration?
Yeah, from what I was like reading, it sounds like they tried different ways to include it. But then again, they would have had to get both of them to sign on and they would have had to work around like the anti aging stuff, which would have made them not look that great. So then they were like, Oh, do we throw them in as a cameo at the end, but then it didn't really fit with the way the plot progressed. So then all in all, they just chose not, you know, to explain it as they found a loophole and they chose not to give it more than that. I get why you were kind of disappointed, but when I was reading more on it, I was like, OK, I understand why they were like, we don't have a really good way to put them in, so we're just going to choose not to.
Yeah, and the anti-aging would have been a lot more CGI than they would have wanted to do, I'm sure.
Yeah
but so am i just like Did I just go on a whole rant about Alec Baldwin's ego for no reason? was he originally like Do you think that he he was in talks to maybe do it?
I'm sure he was in talks everything I read said there was no confirmation at any time that either were signed on though.
Okay, okay. Because I feel like Geena would have signed on if they had found a way to do it. But I'm not confident he would have.
Yeah, I think if it was a cameo where they could go in film a quick cameo for like three hours or something and then leave.
Mm hmm.
I feel like he might have done it then but they just couldn't find a good way to make it make sense with the plot which I was like because then as you said you already felt like the world got too big and then it's like I guess this was part of the previous existing world but still.
Fair enough. I really, well, I do have to say as much as I think Dolores and Willem Dafoe were inconsequential to the plot entirely, because okay, the whole point of them is that she's going after Beetlejuice and Beetlejuice is like, well, Lydia, I have to marry you so I can stay in the living and then she can't get me. And I'm like, he didn't need a reason to marry her, to want to marry her when she was 16. He doesn't need a reason now. He could just want to marry her to be in the living. But anyway, when she she shows up, she's disembodied, dismembered into like five or six different parts and her parts crawl to each other and staple themselves.
Yeah, they're all in like separate boxes like away from one another.
Yes. And this was a heavily animated portion. And they all crawl to each other and staple themselves together with a fucking industrial staple gun. And it is maybe the hottest thing that I've ever seen and the whole scene, which is pretty long. I was just thinking, that's my kind of woman.
hard disagree. I found it absolutely terrifying for sure. The scariest part of the entire film and they put it in the first like 15 minutes. Cause you are watching her industrial staple, all of her body parts together. And it is entirely too long for her to be doing this. Like
It's so hot.
I hated it.
I just love a baddie brunette.
She was hot when she was all stapled and like sucking everyone's souls. That was pretty hot.
Oh yeah
But like the watching her staple herself, not into.
There is that thing, if you guys didn't know. she's She's a soul sucker, apparently that's a thing. And if you get your soul sucked, then you're dead dead. You're not in the afterlife anymore. Which I thought that was like a perk, like don't people want to move on from the afterlife? But anyway, I'm not gonna get into that too much. And she has this ability from a cult that she joined before she and Beetlejuice died. And she's the one that killed him, I think. And they were alive in like the 600s or the 1600s. I don't know. A long time ago. He was a grave robber. I didn't need all this backstory. And I didn't like how he looked when he was alive. It ruined it a little bit for me.
Okay.
He's such a freak when he's dead. I didn't need to see him being a grubby little grave robber.
Okay. i didn't mi- again I didn't mind it. But yes, I think it does take away from like the allure of him being this like kooky kind of crazy man. That you're like, ooh. He's fun, but then it kind of normalizes him a little too much. You're like, no.
Well, I think i maybe it's the opposite that I'm like, this is a fun guy that like could maybe have an an ounce of all rightness in him. And they were like, no, just so you know, he was a piece of shit when he was alive and he's a piece of shit now.
Sure.
in the Jena Ortega subplot. She kisses the dead ghost boy before she knows that he's a dead ghost. This is how she finds out and that scene. made me cringe so hard. I was wearing a denim jacket with lace cutouts and I pulled the lace cutouts over my face to watch through it because I was just like dying because it felt so teenager cringe that she just like goes to his room and they obviously know what's gonna happen but no one wants to say it and it felt too real and awkward.
I thought it felt too real and awkward until they then start to float up to the ceiling together and then that took me out of the awkwardness and I was like, oh shit, things are about to get crazy.
Oh yeah, that's when I could breathe. That's when I could release. was when they started floating, I was like, I can be comfortable again. How did you feel about the um the twist? because they So Jenna, real quick for y'all, Jenna Ortega's character spends a lot more time in Winter River because she's like mad with her her mom. she gets Her bike gets flown off the road, and she like slides through a fence and meets a boy who's in his tree house, and they like bond over reading Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte. Not like other girls and so she hangs out with him We find out after this kiss that he is in fact dead and then Later on as she's trying to help him in the underworld. We find out he murdered his parents and then himself So he's bad dead. How'd you feel about this reveal Jess?
That he was dead or that he was a murderer?
I guess both? Did you see them coming?
No, right after the movie, Puck was like, I saw that twist from the beginning.
Yeah, same.
Like the moment Astrid like crashed into that fence, I knew that he was a ghost and that she could see him. I did not see it coming. um I guess it wasn't shocking because obviously the whole story of Beetlejuice, so I knew it was going to have to tie back to the underworld somehow. But I thought it was a good twist, personally, because I didn't see it coming. But I think for most people, it was not a good twist. It was expected.
I actually thought the twist might be that Astrid had died because she hits her head on the tree really hard.
Oh.
I knew one of them was dead, at least.
Yeah.
And then when we couldn't see his parents And once it was revealed that he was dead, I was like, okay, so he killed his parents. Like, there's no way he's a good guy, which also Puck, who's Jess's sibling, who we've mentioned, because we've talked to them a bit about this. They were like, yeah, I knew when I didn't see their faces, something was wrong.
That's, so that's once we knew he was dead, I kind of knew something went down with the parents too, because you don't see their faces and he like shoos Jenna past them or Astrid past them, like to make sure that they don't turn around or anything.
Yes.
So I knew something was up with the parents. So once we knew he was dead, I had a feeling I was like, something shady happened here. you
but yeah, I don't think it was a big surprise Twist cuz like you said it had to tie back around
Yeah
one of my plot holes that I didn't love is there's this recurring detail that Lydia for some reason can't speak to her dead husband like she can't Manage to conjure him to speak to him which is part of why Astrid doesn't believe that she has these abilities anyway and And they do see him in the underworld. He has fish all over him. I didn't love it, but that was very Beetlejuice of him. My other friend loved it because she was like, that is very Beetlejuice.
Yeah.
Because he literally has like blue, tiny fish
Piranhas.
just in his skin, wiggling around while he has this moment with his family.
But that's how he died.
I know I know
Oh, okay.
It was just, I guess I didn't need the one on his face or something. Cause I'm like, he's reconnecting with his daughter. But anyway, they do find him in the after world. And in that, he says, I know you can't see me, but I'm watching, I check in on you all the time. And I'm like, how are we acknowledging the fact that she can't see him without giving any sort of explanation? I want to know why. I need a little detail.
I guess I just assume that she can't see everything that is undead, like maybe just ones that like need something from her or like, I don't know.
But it seems like she conjures people for her show.
Yeah, she does.
I agree, it doesn't make it doesn't make sense.
If he had passed on, that would make sense. But because he is working in the underworld, it doesn't.
yeah
Tim Burton write me something.
Mm-hmm.
I wrote this note specifically for you and Puck's little rant.
Delia dies in this film because she's like performing some sort of ceremony at Charles's grave and so she orders in these snakes that she is told that the venom is removed that they were defanged so that she'll be okay because they're defanged well they're not they bite her and she dies and then in the afterworld she says something along the lines of them being poisonous do you remember the exact line or no
she So she doesn't say it. when At the very end, after the big wedding scene, because we do get another wedding scene in this film, she has to tell Lydia and Astrid that she's dead because they don't realize that. And she says, I got scammed. And Astrid says, the snakes were poisonous.
But the snakes were not poisonous because they can't be they're venomous.
poison and venom are different things and this really bothered Puck and then also Jess when Jess was alerted to this information because ah those are different things and maybe Delia would make that mistake but Astrid probably would not.
No. Also, if you're wondering, venom is it bites you, you die. Poison is you bite it, you die.
I've never
And that's how you know the difference. Yes.
I've never heard it explained that way. That's so So then are like poisonous spiders, actually venomous.
Um, they're probably, I don't know if they're
Like a black widow.
There are both poisonous and venomous spiders. So if if it is biting you and you are getting sick from it, that is venomous. That is not poison.
Yeah, black widows are not poisonous. They're venomous
Ooh
because they do and then you get sick.
how did you feel about Delia dying though?
I felt like it was entirely unnecessary.
I agree. I agree. I kind of got the like, it was like a happy ending. She got to be with Charles, but I also felt like, damn, Lydia and Astrid have gone through enough. Like let them go off into the sunset together.
but the way she died is the way that Delia would die. Like that felt very accurate, you know?
Yes, that felt like, how has this not happened sooner?
Yes, exactly, exactly.
So as I mentioned, we do get a wedding scene, which we get in the first one, and I think it was so iconic they had to do it again. I lowkey thought Lydia might be down for this marriage. because she she needs Beetlejuice's help and so she very quickly signs a little contract saying yeah fine I'll marry you whatever because she needs his help with Astrid so that she doesn't die and they have a whole number and a church and a big it's a whole ordeal but like lowkey Lydia didn't look mad about it until the end when she was like, actually, no, I'm not marrying you. And then she had a line about, you know, this something about the 600 year age gap, which I did appreciate because in the first one, it's like he did. He was he is very old, preying on a child, you know? So I wasn't disappointed, but I was a little like. Well, they could have they could have wed. I wouldn't have put it past her at this point.
I also feel like it in this entire movie Lydia's kind of just like She feels very like not in control of her own life. Like Rory is making most of the decisions for her in terms of her career, Delia and like the situation with Charles passing is like forcing her to make decisions to go back home. Like it just doesn't really seem like she really cares about a whole lot. So I agree with you in that sense. It's like, well, she was like, okay, I guess I have to marry Beetlejuice. I'll marry Beetlejuice if it means I save Astrid. You know, she just kind of was like, oh, I'll do what I have to do, whatever. like
also just like who's gonna match her freak like him, you know?
Yeah, yeah.
it was kind of interesting how she spent the first half or two thirds of the film being terrified of Beetlejuice like having panic over him kind of haunting her and he's back and all of this only to then as soon as she needed something be like okay Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice yeah fine I'll marry you go find my daughter you know like she switched up so quickly that I thought she's really blowing it out of proportion before are you really that scared of that man doesn't seem like it
I feel like she is, but when she realized it was her only choice, she was like, I guess.
Fair enough. I did think the song in the wedding was entirely too long. Like twice as long as it needed to be halfway through, I thought. Oh, we're still going.
entirely disagree. I loved the song. I loved the dance. Catherine and Jenna's way of communicating with each other entirely with facial expressions, because their bodies were kind of in a trance. So they were doing this dance together. But their face was being like, why are we doing this? What is happening? And I loved watching them together. It was very fun. It also felt like a little bit of an homage to Wednesday and the dance scenes in Wednesday, which I did like.
they i So I have seen a clip of an interview where someone asked Jenna like how she felt about seeing another ah Tim Burton dance scene on her script and she said this one was a lot better because Wednesday wasn't choreographed and she had no idea what she was doing. She didn't kind of expect that there would be some sort of dance because there was a sort of dance in the first one. I agree that I liked their dance. I just think, and I did talk to a friend about this who works for a movie theater, I was going to say in film, that's not what they do. they had similar thoughts, and so I don't feel alone that like The music parts are inherently part of Beetlejuice, and like they're so charming. But I think that in the first one, there's two songs, right? There's the... day yo And then at the end, there's the... like jump in the line everybody looks fine ok i believe you And both of those ones are like half their normal length. This was like a full music video when the at the end of a movie.
Yeah.
It took away a little bit of its charm when it kept going for me. Because it wasn't adding to the plot at all. It was just Beetlejuice singing to a wedding cake and then their silly expressions. But I'm glad you enjoyed it. I enjoyed it until I didn't.
I just feel like is there anything else they could have used with that time? I don't think so. I think they already did a lot. I'm okay to have a little bit of a long dance.
Fair enough.
Justice for Beetlejuice, lowkey, cause I was watching this thinking, he really does a lot for the Deetzes, you know? Like, Lydia calls on him and is like, you're gonna save of my daughter from passing on because she's getting spoofed by this ghost and then while he's mid-mission on that and also being hunted down by his soul sucker ex-wife Delia Deetz is like all right Beetlejuice you're gonna show up and you're gonna help me find Charles and like do other stuff like he's running multiple gigs for the Deetzes with Yeah with the the guarantee he's gonna marry Lydia whatever but I feel like he look he would have done it anyway And I kind of feel like he's just like down to help out and and no he's not a good guy
He absolutely would not do anything if there wasn't something in it for him. He is fully motivated by self, what he needs.
what's in it for him when when Delia gets him though?
I think he just says, like, fine, and then you'll help me find my bride-to-be, but, like, he didn't need her for that.
Sure, but maybe he thought he did. But I feel like he does not do anything, like he's not doing it out of the kindness of his heart. He has no kind in his heart. He's definitely doing it for self motivation. Like he he wants to not be in the undead and anymore. He wants to be living.
Which is also dumb because, bruh, you're such a good poltergeist, what would you do in the living?
Yeah, true.
last comment here, which we briefly mentioned, I loved the expansion of Bob and all the little zombie shrinker heads. I thought they were so cute and just great. All the scenes with them made me giggle. Um, yep.
I was also confused when they all ran out of the house on Halloween why everyone could see them because I thought if they're ghosts, then people shouldn't be able to see them. But maybe there was a maybe they're not. I don't know. It was confusing. It was another little plot hole, but I just was like, we're rolling.
I don't think it was a plot hole. I think that it was in order to get Astrid back. They had to open up a portal between the underworld and the real world. And so it let some of the real ghosts in.
Oh, like let them fully instead of just like a haunting.
the It was like a leakage.
Okay. Okay.
And they came through, which honestly, if anyone was going to come through, they are the people who I would want to see.
Yeah, instead of one bob, there's now 30 and they're all employed by Beetlejuice.
Yeah.
so So getting into some fun facts, because that was those were all of our main thoughts on the movie, which overall, as we said, great movie, enjoyed it thoroughly. Go watch it on max or wherever it is. But some fun facts. Jenna Ortega has said that because all because there were so many physical sets and practical effects, the hallways in the underworld are all slanted. So she had to like walk with one knee bent or add a slant, which was a fun experience.
Mmm.
Also, apparently Tim Burton is just like a quiet man who's like very focused on the visuals and doesn't care so much about the actual acting. He cares a lot about the visuals going on in in a scene and like is very detailed with that. So then when a take is over, he doesn't really give the actors any feedback and Jenna said that in Wednesday he was like very quiet and then in Beetlejuice she could see that he was more comfortable and he opened up a bit more spoke a bit more and was like clearly more at ease because he was working on She figured it was like twofold of like he hadn't worked on TV before. This is also a film he's worked on before with a cast he's worked with before. But it's just funny because like it was a conversation between her and Michael Keaton where they were talking about that. And he was like, yeah, no, Tim's always been quiet.
I could see that if you're a visual person too, like I feel like if he needed to give direction, he would.
Mm hmm.
But I feel like he's so specific in who he hires because he has a specific specific visual in mind that as long as that is nailed, he just like trusts that the acting will come with it.
Yeah, I agree. She said it was it was kind of like she would have to ask for direction sometimes is how it was.
which is good to put a person in that position. Like you should speak up and ask questions, you know?
She also said that when. Wednesday finished he said he wanted to meet with her and she thought it was about Wednesday 2 so she like prepped all of her thoughts and her notes and went into his office with all these ideas and he just like plopped the script for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice in front of her and was like think about it and then she went home and read all of it and was like this is great of course I'll be a part of it but yeah
yeah
she didn't really have to audition or anything like that he just went I like you. I keep working with you.
I kind of love that. Also like the no context for her to be like, oh, it's definitely me about Wednesday 2. Let me prepare. Let me know what I'm going to say. Just kidding.
Yeah. And you know what? Clearly that went well too because she's I think an EP on season two and she's had a lot more creative control on season two because she struggled with the first one and all that.
Yeah
They're filming right now. It's not coming out for another year. Oh, well. My other fun fact is I just have like a lot of love for the relationship between Catherine Winona and Jenna. Jenna has said that she sometimes struggles to feel like she can relate fully with people her own age and at the same time Catherine and Winona especially Winona has said like she loves her younger cast members but they don't have the same like reverence for film or mentality about it that Jenna and she do do and like they've said in interviews the thing they miss most about this movie was each other and Winona said that The reason it took them this long to make a sequel is because they had to wait for Jenna to be born, which was just like so sweet. And I love all their banter.
I think it's so sweet and I think it's so which this is a huge media moment everyone knows about this, but I also think it's so important for older actresses like Winona and Catherine to get experience with younger actresses like Jenna because then you have red carpet moments. where paparazzi are telling Winona Ryder to remove her sunglasses and she goes to do it because she has been conditioned to listen to what the paparazzi want and you have Jenna in her Gen Z brain being like, you don't have to do what they're telling you to do, don't do that.
Mm-hmm.
stop. like And Winona's like, oh yeah, you're right, I don't.
And I feel like it's the beauty of those relationships that come out of something like this where you're like, it is so important that Jenna had them to look up to and for them to guide her through this film, but also just equally as important for them to like see what it's like to be a younger actress and to have the perspective now um that she can also instill some wisdom on these older actresses, which I think is really beautiful.
I saw in a video, Catherine was like, Oh, did you guys see that went viral? And Jenna was like, I really didn't think it was a big deal. Like she didn't have to take off her sunglasses.
Yeah.
But it's also they mentioned it's it's also way easier to say that to someone else than to yourself. I agree. Like it's it's good for someone like Winona who was such an it girl and has had a career, I think that Jenna's is on track to be very similar to
Yes
to see what it's like for a newer generation and what it's like to to be valued in that way and have that self confidence. um But at the same time, I think mentorship is huge in the arts, including acting and film and and to have those relationships so that what the authenticity that Winona and Catherine bring to the screen can continue to be brought to the screen by Jenna and other actors that have worked with them. I love it.
Me too. Do you have any other final thoughts?
I watched this movie thinking, was I wrong in saying that I would fuck Beetlejuice? And I left thinking, no, I was correct.
I don't see it, but you know, I'm all for it.
Do you have any other final thoughts?
No, it's great. You should go watch it. it makes sense they waited so long. that That was the right choice. This was the right story to tell, I think. Up next, we're still calling it fall content, baby, but we are shifting gears hard to Heartstopper because season three comes out next week and you know we got to talk about it. We are very excited. I'm so excited. I rewatch.
I'm so excited!
Yeah, I rewatched season one and season two in August as preparation because I knew I had a busy September. So I was like, I'm not going to be able to watch them in September. And it makes me even more stoked. can't wait to talk to you guys about it for hours and hours.
And we hear it's gonna get sexy!
Yeah, and a little dark.
Ah! And that, you know what, that is also fall content because it's like cozy and heartwarming. And maybe also, like you said, a little dark.
Well, we hope you enjoyed this episode. And if you did, please rate and review us wherever you listen to podcasts. Also follow us on our social media. We're Nineties Babies Nostalgia on Instagram and YouTube. Spell out the word 90s. We're also on TikTok, but use the numbers there. And just like engage with us, DM us, comment on our posts. We love talking with you all. And with that, we'll see you in the next one.
Stay spooky! Bye!
Ooooh!
Nineties Babies Nostalgia