‘Beetlejuice’ Screenwriter Talks ‘Mark Arthur Park’ and ‘Tragedy’

[This story includes spoilers for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.]

The original’s involuntary calypso dance sequence was completed in less than two minutes BeetlejuiceThere’s no doubt that Catherine O’Hara’s Delia Deetz led dinner guests in a lip-syncing rendition of Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O.” The most famous scene from the 1988 film. The homage in the sequel was always a given.

However, for Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceDirector Tim Burton wanted to go the extra mile. The film’s climax includes another dance number – this one set to the backdrop of all 7 minutes and 21 seconds of Richard Harris’s frenzied performance and the much-covered MacArthur Park. (Donna Summer’s disco version spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 1978.) This wasn’t just another tit-for-tat. It actually drives the entire third act narrative.

Screenwriters Alfred Gough and Miles Millar are no strangers to Burton’s verses in the hit Netflix series Wednesdayand hollywood reporter On the inspiration behind their take on the now hit film, the different reasons for killing off the two main characters, and yes, “MacArthur Park” and another key soundtrack entry that was in their script from the beginning.

The film features two special, lengthy musical sequences. I realize that writers don’t always have a say in the score, but both seem to be closely tied to the script. How did you get involved with Richard Harris’s recording of “MacArthur Park” and the Bee Gees’ “Tragedy”?

Alfred Gough Well, “Tragedy,” we put in the actual script. This is just one of those songs. I remember getting that album when I was 11 or 12 years old. So when we were coming up with this sequence, we were trying to think of what could play when Dolores [Monica Bellucci] It felt kind of right to put her body back together and kill the janitor. I think that was in the first draft. We also wanted a big musical like “Day-O,” but how to top “Day-O”? The movie was over, we had the wedding, all these things happened, but we wanted more. Tim was also looking. He had a jukebox in his kitchen and he called and said, “I’ve been listening to ‘MacArthur Park’ and it’s been stuck in my head. I think that’s the song we should use.” Richard Harris ‘s version was seven and a half minutes, and he wanted to use up all that time, so then we built the third act with that song and the weird movements in that song to structure the sequence.

It’s a good song, but also crazy.

Miles Miller nut. That’s exactly why it’s perfect. We listened to it again and it was so weird that it was a perfect song Beetlejuice Movie. There are all these turning points. When Willem Dafoe and the ghoul squad come out of the cellar, there’s a weird bridge with orchestral music that works really well. The song has all these different elements that Tim could use, but it’s long. We tried to pare it down and Tim said, “No, I want it all.” He was right.

This is a sequel that’s arguably under more pressure than most. What are your biggest concerns about taking this job–and do they align with Tim’s concerns?

goff Over the course of our careers, we’ve done a lot of things that have the power to really ruin a lot of people’s childhood memories. There’s always this anxiety. You don’t want to be one of those people who screws up Beetlejuice. But you just have to put that part aside and figure out what the best story is. What stories are worth telling that also pay homage to the legacy?

Miller Most importantly, it has to be a movie we want to see – it’s not just about business. There must be a story worth telling. Also, how do we expand the world of the afterlife? How do we revisit characters that people love 30 years later and feed them and make people feel surprised about their circumstances? I think when people see where Lydia is [Winona Ryder] What’s amazing about her life is that she has now become this broken woman that has been haunted by her for the past 30 years. You have to look at the characters and take the franchise elements out of them.

I read that you had a version where Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis’ characters, the Maitlands, had cameos, but Tim didn’t pass – because those actors were so much older from playing ghosts. What does that look like?

goff It’s just a draft, just a label. We tried it and Tim said, “No.” We had discussed beforehand not to have them in the movie for that reason. The ghost is supposed to look like it did 35 years ago, but it doesn’t. Their stories have been told. We really wanted to focus on Dietz. But we had an idea, we tried it out in a draft, and there wasn’t really much else.

The movie is only 1 hour and 45 minutes long. One, thank you. Second, does this mean killing anyone dear?

Miller Not really. Because the first movie was only 90 minutes, we really wanted to keep things going. You can’t stay too long. This is actually built into the DNA of the story. Tim knows this very well. It might have originally been 107 pages, and he said, “Let’s go ahead and delete it.” We got it down to 97 pages, but nothing of substance was lost. It’s just to make sure the movie goes off without a hitch. Especially for comedy, this is absolutely true. Audiences can become exhausted watching a comedy that’s too long, especially one that’s so visual and weird. I think that’s obviously welcome.

Talk to me about the guidelines you developed around the character of Charles Dietz in your writing. Obviously, his death was the catalyst for the entire story – but Jeffrey Jones, the actor in the original film, was persona non grata. [He is a registered sex offender.] The character was only seen as a corpse with the upper body bitten off by a shark, but you used his likeness in a photo and an animated sequence.

goff The animated story about Charles’ death comes from Tim telling his worst nightmare of death, which is that he was in a plane crash, he survived, he almost drowned, he was about to be rescued, and then he was eaten by a shark. This is a great story. Because the first movie had stop-motion animation—remember when the sculptures came to life and had those things—we wanted to put that in there. So it became a twist on the exposition moments of the backstory. Like Betelgeuse and the Italian movie about his origin story. For Charles, showing his head helped reflect a real-life situation.

There are many practical effects in the movie, and the Betelgeuse baby is one of them. Did you originally intend for it to be a tag at the end, or was it just how interesting it became the first time it came out?

goff We didn’t want the movie to feel like it was wrapped in a bow, so we thought of Lydia’s Tim giving up her show while she and Astrid [Jenna Ortega] Starting the trip she was going to take with her dad. Tim’s idea was to make this sequence so that it looked like she was getting married and everything was going well – and then she gives birth to the Betelgeuse baby and you realize it was a dream. It’s the curveball at the end of the movie, so you realize that nothing in this world can be wrapped by a bow.

Miller This was the last scene we wrote before the strike. We originally flipped the scene in the hospital hours before the strike. That was the last thing we wrote for the movie. It felt crazy and inspired and it felt like this good, warm, lovable feeling, and then baby Betelgeuse came back and it was perfect.

Why did you choose to kill Delia?

Miller It was actually Catherine’s idea. We were talking about her character and she said, “I think she should kill herself because she loves Charles so much. The ultimate thing she can do is go into the afterlife with him. It’s a great idea, but in a comedy, the main character is in The suicide at the end of the movie, it felt like a weird well. What more creative, bizarre way to die? So we got his idea of ​​the viper, and we really liked it.

Season 2 where are you Wednesday ——Has the reaction to the first season influenced your current direction?

goff We are halfway through production. We are all in Dublin now. The ideals obviously change as you see the show play out and people react to it, but we don’t serve that stuff. You definitely accept that, but we’re doing what we want to do and how we see season two before people know what season one is going to be like. This is also crazy. It’s great to have something that really impacts culture.

Miller We always shoot one script at a time and keep people’s ideas out of our minds. Shooting on the island was a great bubble. We know nothing about anything and are just really focused on making great episodes. This is something we’ve really worked on over the past three years.

Has anyone ever contacted you about something? addams family As a feature? It’s somewhat surprising that there hasn’t been a live-action theatrical exploration of this property since the early 1990s.

goff It felt like we were exploring addams family On this show until Wednesday. So, that’s the story. when we do smallvillepeople always ask us if we’re going to make a Superman movie. But that’s the story we’re telling. I guess that’s how we feel here. There are so many stories to tell in this universe and we’re excited to do that.

Are you surprised by Jenna’s comments about her legs? Wednesday Script comments? It seems like every time she does ask for something, she has to address it – and I realize that I’m basically doing the same thing by asking you this.

goff That’s hard. We’ve done a few shows like this, e.g. smallvillebecame a huge hit upon its launch. Suddenly, these young stars were thrust into the spotlight. They will make mistakes. They will say something. I think you just have to give them grace and know it will happen. It’s never pleasant, but it just comes with the territory. I think we’re at a point now where the internet is going to do what the internet is going to do. What you don’t want to do is give these things oxygen.

Miller We work closely with Jenna on the show. Obviously we worked with her. Beetlejuice. It’s always an incredibly collaborative and joyful experience. We are so proud of her work that this year we asked her to serve as showrunner. She is one of the hardest working and most talented young actresses in the industry and we are extremely lucky and extremely proud to have her working with us. So here’s the thing. A show of this magnitude always gets people talking. But that’s not our reality or her reality.