Beetlejuice 2 Set Videos Rise from the Grave
It may not be showtime yet, but some behind-the-scenes footage is giving us a peek behind the Ghost with the Most’s curtain. Three videos from the set of Beetlejuice 2 have emerged, and they show Jenna Ortega as Astrid Deetz, daughter of Winona Ryder’s Lydia Deetz. There’s also a quick shot of Betelgeuse in the first video, although, as ComicBookMovie.com points out, it’s unclear whether that’s Michael Keaton or a stuntman. The final video is a possible spoiler, so I’ll talk more about that later. You can see the videos below, courtesy of Twitter users @horrormuseum, @jhoandje, and @Sharpju2022, as well as ComicBookMovie.com:
*POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
Behind the scenes footage of BEETLEJUICE 2!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/dE8Irmf4Ib
— Hollywood Horror Museum (@horrormuseum) November 18, 2023
Behind scenes of Beetlejuice 2 of with Jenna ortega pic.twitter.com/RbiQnOkshl
— justinlowe20@ (#J-Town) (@Sharpju2022) November 16, 2023
So, Ortega’s Astrid Deetz is getting married, and the groom looks like a made-up Justin Theroux. It makes me wonder what Lydia will be like in the sequel; is she still as “strange and unusual” as she was in the original, or did her experience with Betelgeuse scare her straight? And if she’s normal now, is Astrid rebelling against her mother by becoming the offbeat weirdo Lydia used to be? She looks fairly normal in the shots where she’s riding a bike or just walking around, but her wedding to (presumably) Theroux and his creepy Tim Burton makeup (I actually thought that was Willem Dafoe at first) suggests she’s at least a little like her mom once was. What strikes me most about the videos is how great the town looks. Before the strikes, the exterior scenes of Beetlejuice 2 were filmed in East Corinth, Vermont, just like the original; more filming was done in Preston, Hertfordshire, England. When the actors’ strike ended, what filming they had left took place in Melrose, Massachusetts, so considering how recent these are, they’re likely from there. If so, Melrose looks similar to the town from Beetlejuice, close enough to do some last-minute shooting. These seem to be vastly different scenes, though, so maybe they’re touching up a few different parts of the film. I like that Burton and crew are going the extra mile to make sure the movies are congruent in their look, which is something that was important to Michael Keaton. I wasn’t big on the idea of a Beetlejuice sequel, and I’m still wary of it, but the more I see and hear, the more interested I become.
