The Big Picture

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff interviews Winona Ryder for Tim Burton’s
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
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Ryder discusses how practical effects played a significant role in bringing the Afterlife sequences to life and getting to play more with that side of things this time around.
Ryder also praised Jenna Ortega as a scene partner, emphasizing her authenticity and contribution to the film’s beating heart.

It’s been nearly 40 years since the portal to the Afterlife was opened, but finally, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is bringing everyone’s favorite demon bio-exorcist (Michael Keaton) back to life. In addition to Keaton making his return, Tim Burton is reuniting with Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara to introduce the next Deetz generation. To bridge this gap between fans of the first movie and new audiences, and to usher Beetlejuice into a whole new world, Ryder says the sequel was always waiting for Jenna Ortega.

In the movie, Ortega plays Astrid, the daughter of Lydia Deetz (Ryder), who first encountered the Afterlife and all that entails in 1988. When a death in the family brings three generations of Deetzes back to Lydia’s old hometown, a portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened, and once again chaos reigns.

Ahead of the sequel’s theatrical release, Collider’s Perri Nemiroff had the opportunity to sit down with Ryder to take a look back and reflect on what it was like to return to Burton’s whimsical world. They discuss why it was impossible for a sequel to be made until now, why this one is “so beautiful and miraculous and weird and unique,” and what it’s like sharing scenes with Ortega. You can watch the full conversation in the video above, or read the transcript below.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice After a family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia’s life is turned upside down when her teenage daughter, Astrid, accidentally opens the portal to the Afterlife.Release Date September 6, 2024 Studio

The ‘Beetlejuice’ Sequel Was Waiting for Jenna Ortega
“She’s the perfect puzzle piece to add, and she sort of completes it.”

PERRI NEMIROFF: One of my absolute favorite parts of this movie is the mother-daughter relationship between you and Jenna. It gives it a really effective beating heart. What is something about her as a scene partner that you appreciated, maybe even something that helped you reach something in Lydia that you might not have been able to without her?

WINONA RYDER: Jenna is absolutely one of my favorite people. She is the most authentic person. We bonded. Once the conversation started, it just never stopped, and that is really true. I go to her for advice. [Laughs] Truly, I feel like this movie, because we talked about it for so long, had to be perfect, andI realized we’re waiting for her to be born and grow up. You know what I mean? She’s like the perfect puzzle piece to add, and she sort of completes it. I don’t even have enough adjectives. She’s just such an incredible person to work with and to know, and to know her is to absolutely love her. Then with Catherine [O’Hara], the empathy I now have for her because of my relationship with Astrid. It was a dream. It really was.

Image via Warner Bros.

What a beautiful way to put it. I love it. I keep thinking about how special it is that Jenna, being in this and in Wednesday, is ensuring that Tim’s work and worlds keep having an expanding fan base and get to newer generations.

RYDER: I know, and doing it so well. She’s so present. She’s not trying to just replicate. She put so much thought into it, and it’s just so beautiful to watch. I’m so grateful.

I feel it in all of her work.

Winona Ryder’s Lydia Gets to Venture into the Afterlife
“It was incredible. I mean, mind-blowing.”

I wanted to veer towards puppets and practical effects, which I could talk about all day long. Of all the practical effects in the first film, which would you say was the most wow-worthy of the bunch, and now, on this new film, which one blew your mind the most?

RYDER: In the first one, I did the floating. I remember being in this harness that Debbie Reynolds had been in, and everyone who had been in it had signed it, but it was very old and didn’t help with the circulation of your body. [Laughs] That seemed very wild and fun. I didn’t really get to go into the Afterlife, and this time I did, and it was incredible. I mean, mind-blowing. And just to know that there are people under all of those, it’s a dream. Everything these days is CGI, and then with AI, so to see that this can happen, and it works, and it can look so beautiful and miraculous and weird and unique. I mean, you have to have these incredibly talented puppeteers. It’s inspiring.

It feels like a movie made by human hands.

RYDER: Yes, it was many human hands. There really wasn’t any of that other stuff.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is in theaters on September 6 in the US. Click the link below for showtimes:

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