Cinebill, Ep. 04 - Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

[Music] popcorn Optimist welcome to popcorn Optimist at film appreciation YouTube channel that believes the more context we have the more likely we are to appreciate films this is a new weekly series about the week's new releases and it's called think of cinns as non-spoiler contextual previews when we go to the theater we get helpful contextual information in the form of a program or a play Bill we don't get those at the movies and that's what this is so please enjoy our cinnabelle for the legacy sequel unn as the juice is loose facts and figures starting with the official synopsis from the official website beetle juu is back after an unexpected family tragedy three generations of the Deets family returned home to Winter River still haunted by beetle juice Lydia's life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter astd discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic and the portal to the afterlife is accidentally open with trouble brewing in both Realms it's only a matter of time until someone says Beetle Juice's name three times and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his very own brand of Mayhem the film is rated PG-13 it runs 105 minutes the official release date is September 6 2024 and is distributed by Warner Brothers Pictures love seeing the Gein logo by the way moving on to casting crew starting with the film's titular star Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice Katon of course known for the original Beetlejuice the first two Batman films Batman and Batman Returns both directed by Tim Burton and the recent Knox goes away also directed by Katon the film also Stars when known a writer of course from the original Beetle Juice and from the Netflix series stranger things Katherine O'Hara known for the original Beetle Juice the Christopher Guest directed films like waiting for guffman and A Mighty Wind and the CBC series shits Creek David Jenna Orga Ortega known for screams 5 and six directed by Matt B Nell open and Tyler Gillette and the Netflix series Wednesday with half the episodes directed by Tim Burton Monica beluchi beluchi known for 2022 is memory directed by Martin Campbell and the 2002 guest bar no film irreversible Justin thorough known for 1999's malland Drive directed by David Lynch and the HBO series The Leftovers and finally William defo defo of course known for many many films but I'll name check 1985's to Live and Die in LA directed by William friedkin 2017's the Florida project directed by Shawn Baker and 2023 is poor things directed by yorkos Lanos the film was directed by Tim Burton more on him later it was written by Alfred Goff and Miles Miller wh let's switch that the writing Duo have worked on a number of projects together like CW superhero classic Smallville and the Netflix series Wednesday story is by Alfred gof Miles Miller and Seth Graham Smith Seth Graham Smith known for writing the novels Pride and Prejudice in zombies and Abraham Lincoln vampire Hunter as well as 2012's Dark Shadows directed by Tim Burton music is by Danny Elfman Elfman wrote his debut score for Tim Burton's peewee's big adventure and is known for many scores but I'll name check his score and singing contribution as the singing voice of Jack Skellington and Nightmare Before Christmas what's This what this's everywhere what's this there's things production designers by Mark scrutin who worked as art director on gravity directed by Alfonso Quon and production designer on Netflix's Wednesday the movie was edited by Jay Pitney known for editing 2023 Scream 6 as well as Netflix's Wednesday and cinematography by Harris zamber luos known for working on many films with director Kenneth BR including 2021s Belfast and it was produced by plan entertainment and Tim Burton Productions and finally notes and Harkin Harkens is a term that we'll return to later starting with director Tim Burton born in Burbank California he attended cow Arts his student film stalk of the celery monster is what got him noticed at Walt Disney Productions where he would go on to make the short films Vincent and Franken weeny his first feature 1985's peewee's big adventure would be the start of a massive career in film with works like Batman Edward Scissor Hands Ed Wood my personal favorite big fish and of course Beetlejuice Hallmarks of Burton style include a love for expressionism defined by tape modern art galleries as expressionist art refers to the expression of subjective emotions inner experiences and spiritual themes as opposed to realistic depictions of people or nature perhaps the most common examples are from the German expressionist films like 1920s the cabinet of Dr CI gar directed by Robert wine and 1922s no Fatu directed by FW manal Burton is also a noted fan of hammer film Productions including their horror Productions common examples include 1957's the curse of Frankenstein 1960s the brides of Dracula and 1968's the devil rides out all directed by Terence Fischer Burton also has a very clear love of writer Edgar aleno and actor Vincent Price he's known for mixing horror and humor a good example would be this closet scene from [Music] Beetlejuice God we just have to pray the other closets are bigger than this one oo look the sequel to be Beetle Juice has gone through a few different phases since Beetle Juice's original release in 1988 including one pitch for Beetle juu goes Hawaiian I'll show my hand and say I'm a little sad we didn't get that one different writers have worked on it over the years including Graham Smith who retains the story by Credit Burton would ultimately commit to making the sequel once the story centered Lydia as an adult with a child of her own Kat and wored a sequel might double down on the Beetlejuice character equaling diminished returns this is Katon speaking to the New York Times hey man those car crashes were really good let's give them 50 car crashes we both new don't do that and here he is speaking to Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show we had a deal I said if we ever do it I can't be in it if I'm in it maybe a minute longer than I was that's it don't if I'm in less in other words I'm only in the first one for like I don't know 12 minutes or something like that is that right yeah I'm in it for a very short time I said we can't like do more practical effects were also a priority for the film here's Keaton again speaking to The Tonight Show not too much technology you know like really handmade you know what I mean yeah I know so fun so much cji Burton also spoke about practical effects to the New York Times saying I realized I got caught up in the Hollywood thing I tried to strip everything and go back to the basics of working with good people and actors and puppets it was kind of like going back to why I liked making movies this movie feels a bit like a legacy sequel which according to Wikipedia a legacy sequel is a work that follows the continuity of the original works but takes place further along the timeline often focusing on new characters with the original one still present in the plot a Hallmark of legacy sequels is the effect of time on the characters and also on the artists here's Burton speaking to Fred film radio about returning cast members what made it special is like a very personal movie and then working with you know Michael and and Winona and Katherine again was very emotional for me and then so revisiting this family which I was interested in and then seeing that she you know three generations of of of these women in this family and that just became very interesting Harkin Harkin is a term my wife likes for ail that recalls an earlier film that's not really how the term is used but my wife likes it so here we are starting with of course the original Beetle Juice directed by Tim Burton and we'll be covering other Legacy sequels for our purposes we'll be discussing films where the cast returned as well as the Director a rare feat starting with the before Trilogy directed by Richard Linkletter and starring Ethan Hawk and Julie delpi that's 1995's Before Sunrise 2004's Before Sunset and 2013's before midnight we'll also mention 2017's T2 train spotting directed by Danny Bole in 202 2 Francis Ford Copa re-edited The Godfather Part 3 into a clearer slightly shorter film and it's definitely worth checking out and finally Dracula ad 1972 directed by Alan Gibson the film is a favorite of Burton this is Burton speaking to Rotten Tomatoes I think it was hammer on the decline and they thought hey let's get hip which was a mistake but I enjoy mistakes sometimes and I'll leave things with this quote from Tim Burton speaking to the New York Times about onea writer's character lyia that was my interest in this for everybody that was a cool teenager what happens to you as an ad what happens to you what are your relationships like what happens when you've got kids for me this movie couldn't have been made until now I understand all these things a bit more because of my own strange Journey how much of any of this you actually need to know to enjoy the film I don't know I haven't seen it yet but I hope this information was fun to learn and I hope it helps raise your appreciation for the film When You See It join us next week we'll be covering the horror remake speak no evil directed by James Watkins popcorn optimist [Music]