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Beetlejuice's Michael Keaton on how Jenna Ortega instantly fit into the world of the sequel

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice's cast took the stage at CinemaCon to chat the movie

Jenna Ortega in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice — Image credit: Warner Bros

News by Tiffany Babb, Contributing writer

Published on Thu Apr 11 2024

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At CinemaCon on Tuesday afternoon, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice director Tim Burton took the stage alongside cast members Michael Keaton, Willem Defoe, Monica Belucci, Justin Theroux, and Catherine O'Hara to share their experiences working on the upcoming sequel to 1988's Beetlejuice - a movie decades in the making. During the presentation, Michael Keaton shared that he had definitely felt trepidation returning to the world of Beetlejuice, though he and Tim Burton had discussed it on and off for years.

About his experience on the original film, Keaton said that he and Burton "kind of went nuts," and that he "was kind of nervous" to try to duplicate that experience. But his fears were put to rest working on the actual film, which, as Keaton shared, was "about as much fun as you can have." During the studio presentation, Keaton took the time to shout out one particular actor, new to the Beetlejuice world, for how she fit into Beetlejuice Beetlejuice so easily.

In the upcoming film, Jenna Ortega plays Astrid Deetz, the third generation of Deetz women that we've seen in the Beetlejuice world. As for how Ortega slid into the very specific weird world of Tim Burton's Beetlejuice, Keaton shared, “It was really interesting to watch [Ortega], because she just got it. She just said ‘I got it, I know how to do this.' She was just perfect.”

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice hits theaters this fall on September 6, 2024. Buy tickets on Fandango or Atom Tickets.

Keep track of everything that's happened at CinemaCon 2024 right here at Popverse.

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