The 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival is kicking off in Hollywood fashion with the world premiere of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” Wednesday evening on the Lido.
To make the sequel, Tim Burton reunited with several key cast members from his 1988 horror-comedy, including Michael Keaton playing the titular ghoul, Catherine O’Hara, and Winona Ryder as Lydia, now mother to her own sullen teen played by Jenna Ortega.
“I’m not out to do a big sequel for money,” Burton said a few hours before the premiere, with his cast alongside him. “I wanted to make this for very personal reasons.”
The reason, he said, was that he’d become disillusioned with the film industry in the past few years. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” was the kick he needed to fall in love with the process again.
“I just realized if I’m going to do anything again, I just wanted to do it from my heart. Something that I wanted to do,” Burton said. “It’s a bit like the Lydia character. Sometimes your life takes a little bit of a turn, you go down a different path. I sort of lost myself a little bit.”
