Beetlejuice 2: Why aren’t these actors in the sequel to the first film?

36 years after the release of the first opus, Tim Burton agreed to speak the name Beetlejuice again. Thus, the demon played by Michael Keaton reappeared, along with some newcomers (Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci) and some old ones. including Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara.

But some of the cast from the first film are missing, even though their respective characters are mentioned or appear in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Here are the reasons for this absence, for various reasons.

Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis

In 1988, through the eyes of Adam and Barbara Maitland, we discovered the world of the dead as presented by Tim Burton. Victims of a fatal car accident (which this sequel refers to with two figures and a vehicle visible in the river on a model of a winter river), the two spouses cannot leave the house and must withstand the arrival of the Deets.

Which prompts them to call on Beetlejuice to get rid of them before cohabiting with young Lydia (Winona Ryder), who can see and interact with the dead, acting as a link between the two families. 36 years later, the Deitzes return to River after death, and everything seems to indicate that they will meet Adam and Barbara again. But no.

Skeptical of her mother Lydia’s so-called gifts, Astrid (Jenna Ortega) suggests calling on the Maitlands to help them solve their problems and thus prove to the teenager that they exist. But the latter will not meet them, because, as we are told, they have found a way to free them and leave the area. “as if by chance”replies the young girl on the edge of the camera’s gaze, in one of the rare moments when the film seems to comment on itself, as if to acknowledge this inconsistency.

Admittedly, the answer seems very practical to explain this absence, forcing us to discover an order of the universe that we did not know before. And Tim Burton justifies not mentioning Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis by wanting to turn certain pages: “The idea for me was not to tick all the boxes”The director explained people. So even though they were an integral part of the first film, I wanted to focus on something else.

My theory is that ghosts don’t age. Unlike me

Deetzes, in this case, and the question of the passage of time: “That’s what interested me in this sequel, the three generations of mother, daughter and granddaughter. That’s the core of the story, and I personally couldn’t handle it in 1989 or at the time.”

Timing, which, according to Geena Davis, is why she wasn’t called back, as she confirmed last April when she confirmed entertainment tonight His absence in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: “My theory is that ghosts don’t age. Unlike me.” Words echoed in her documentary Everything Can Change, which explores the underrepresentation of women in Hollywood, especially of a certain age.

And which are entirely relevant, as Maitland’s return was considered, then abandoned: “We had a version where they appeared at the end, but the problem is they’re ghosts”says co-author Alfred Goff Entertainment Weekly. “So they had to look the same as they did at 35, which would be impossible. I think Tim felt—and pipes Agreed – that their story had been told.

That’s what the Maitlands were like “released” Unlike Charles Dietz, they have to live in an old house and therefore appear in the film.

Geoffrey Jones

The case of Geoffrey Jones is different. And more terrible. If his career stalled at the dawn of the 2010s, Charles Dietz’s translator did not die. At least physically. Because we can consider it artistic. The Hunt for Red October or Holiday in Amadeus saw Ferris Buehler, in addition to other attacks with Tim Burton, thanks to Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow, he was found guilty of assaulting a 14-year-old minor in St. The case dates back to 2003.

He was listed as a pedophile from then until September 2009, when he had to renew his registration on the sex offender registry. But he failed to appear at the hearing and was arrested in June 2010, then sentenced to 250 hours of community service, followed by three years of supervised release. The verdict, combined with the scandal surrounding his condition, severely curtailed a career he had tried in vain to restart.

Is this why the Beetlejuice story of Beetlejuice has his character die, allowing the Deetzes to return to Winter River? The authors have not commented on this topic, but the character is present throughout the story: in a frame-by-frame animated sequence that tells us his unenviable death (from Tim Burton’s worst nightmare), swallowed by a shark after escaping a plane crash and drowning, then as a half-body wandering behind.

Headless, which, like the explanation for Maitland’s absence, is very practical. And let the film rely on the character in the absence of his face (except for a photograph that adorns his tombstone in the shape of a shark’s fin). or his voice. Because we don’t hear it when Charles speaks in the world of the dead, it’s not Geoffrey Jones, synthesized from the first Beetlejuice outtakes, then modified. The team called in another actor who is not credited.

In order not to risk the scandal surrounding Geoffrey Jones damaging the image that the general public has of Charles Dietz, given that many viewers will no longer watch? Details may come later, but for now, the actor’s name seems more taboo to the team than Beetlejuice’s to the characters.