Michael Keaton, star of the upcoming film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, has praised director Tim Burton for using practical effects rather than CGI.
Keaton, who reprises his role as the eponymous character, said that the film “had to feel handmade” in an interview with People magazine, and that it was refreshing to be working with physical props again after years stood in front of a green screen.
There is much anticipation for the second Beetlejuice movie – coming just the 36 years after the first – and Keaton is one of several stars reprising their roles. Winona Ryder is back as Lydia Deetz, along with Catherine O’Hara as Delia Deetz. They are joined by several new cast members including Jenna Ortega as Lydia’s daughter.
In the interview, Keaton revealed that he and Burton agreed from the start to go back to a more old-school method of producing effects for the film. For one, it would be in keeping with the original, which was made before computer technology could provide realistic effects. It also gave the film a feel of the B movies that Burton watched as a child and he wanted it to look purposely fake and cheap.
For this, it meant that Keaton had to sit for hours to have all the make-up and prosthetics applied to make his character. In addition, stop-motion animation was used for afterlife sequences and character transformations. Meanwhile the roster of weird creatures that appear as a mixture of puppets and animatronics, which means the actors could physically interact with them.
“What made it fun was watching somebody in the corner actually holding something up for you,” Keaton told People. “It’s the most exciting thing. When you get to do that again after years of standing in front of a giant screen, pretending somebody’s across the way from you, this is just enormous fun.”
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is released in cinemas on September 6.
