(Music)
Yeah! >> Back when we did our
Edward Scissorhands episode a metric (Bleep) ton of you guys were super
down for us to follow it up with Beetlejuice.
Well, ask and you shall receive, assuming we feel like it.
Which we do in this instance!
Here are nine things you didn't know about Beetlejuice, probably.
(Sound) >> It's
showtime. >> Rumors of
a Beetlejuice sequel are pretty much the Internet's version of herpes,
just when you forget about it there's another flareup.
Even now there's a holding page on IMDB for a Beetlejuice 2 since Tim Burton and
Winona Ryder have both more than hinted at it happening.
In the event any of this turns out to be true let's just hope that they've change
the sequel concept from what they had planned back in the 80s.
See, there's been talk of a Beetlejuice sequel since Beetlejuice but
Tim Burton quickly became busy with Batman Returns and it never got off the ground.
The pitch, Beetlejuice goes Hawaiian. >> I'm the ghost with the most,
babe. >> I wish I was kidding but
I definitely am not.
Tim Burton liked the idea of juxtaposing a surf movie with German expressionism,
because it doesn't work at all.
And that was how they came up with the plot revolving around the Deetzs'
opening a fancy hotel on a Hawaiian island.
But then, see, there are a bunch of ancient Hawaiian ghosts that don't like
any of this at all so they seek Beetlejuice's help to scare them away.
Blah blah blah, Beetlejuice does what he does best, creating chaos across the whole
island, of course, only after turning himself into something called Juicifer.
In the end,
Lydia saves the day by conjuring a tsunami to wipe out all the demons on the island.
At this point, I will remind you that they were really going to make this movie.
I think we can all agree that it's a really good thing that they didn't.
Next thing please.
(Sound) Beetlejuice goes Hawaiian sounds like
a list of everything that could have gone wrong with the sequel but
the original film somehow got everything right, especially Beetlejuice himself.
It's arguably Michael Keaton's best performance ever which is why you might be
surprised to find out how little he's actually in the movie.
You know how the shark is barely in Jaws?
Well, it's kind of the same deal here.
Beetlejuice doesn't even show up until we're past the 25 minute mark and
he has less than 18 minutes of screen time in the entire 92 minute film.
Keaton was able to shoot his entire role in just two weeks.
>> Good thing too.
I gotta do a photo shoot for GQ in about an hour and a half.
(Laugh) >> He was originally going to be even less
screen time for the ghost with the most, but test audiences liked the character so
much, the film makers went back to shoot this one extra scene for the ending,
with Beetle Juice in the waiting.
By the way, we have another thing about this very scene.
In fact, it's our next thing. >> (Sound)
You don't have an appointment,
do you? >> I'm sure you all remember
the magacian's assistant in the waiting room.
The old getting sawed in half trick obviously didn't work out in her favor.
But most people don't know that the lower half was played by Tim Burton's then
girlfriend which means that those are the director's girlfriend's legs that
Michael Keaton is feeling up in this seen all while Tim Burton watched quietly.
Not weird at all.
(Sound) Beetlejuice is one of the greats
movie-wise.
But its production history really does prove that it's kind of a miracle that we
get any good movies ever.
For one, Beetlejuice wasn't even supposed to be comedic.
Instead, he was going to be a winged demon.
And when he was in his human form, he was going to be a small Middle Eastern man.
The script was originally horror with the Maitland’s car crash being way more
graphic and with Beetlejuice being a straight up rapist and murderer.
After deciding that might not exactly be fun for the whole family,
they switched writers making the character and the overall film more lighthearted.
Beetlejuice became a pigeon-speaking, wisecracking ghost rather than
a bloodthirsty, demon sex offender. >> I’m not exposing that little girl
to that pervert down there. >> At one point Tim Burton had wanted
to pursue Sammy Davis Jr. for the role.
Sam Kinison and Dudley Moore were also on the short list but
producer David Geffen suggested Michael Keaton and the rest is history.
And that is bonus thing you didn't know.
(Sound) Remember when Beetlejuice turns
into the snake?
Well, you may not have known that this scene was actually shot
before they'd even cast Michael Keaton.
As a result, the animatronic snake they'd used originally didn't look like it.
Because, you know, they didn't know who Beetlejuice was yet.
Once Keaton had been cast they went back and
shot some stop motion animation with the snake we see here.
This way the filmmakers could be sure that the audience would understand that
Beetlejuice is the snake.
Otherwise it might have seemed like just some rando snake demon from
the netherworld was terrorizing the house,
and that would be bad. >> We've come for your daughter, Chuck.
(Sound) >> Delia's fashion choices are a memorable
undercurrent throughout the film.
There aren't too many characters you see wearing gloves as a headpiece.
>> I can't believe we're eating Cantonese.
Is there no Szechuan up here? >> Or turning a sweater into pants.
The pants Delia's wearing in this scene are actually Charles's sweater from
this scene earlier.
The sweater's just been turned upside down so the armholes are now legholes, and
then it's held up with suspenders.
Not too sure what she did about the neckhole-turned-crotchhole, though.
(Sound) Let's talk about a couple of inadvertent Easter eggs, or
maybe they were totally advertant.
Who can say?
Also advertant probably isnt a word.
Anyway, were talking where Beetlejuice is finally getting his chance to
his bioexorcism.
Hes got those little bat wings on his ears which weirdly foreshadowed
Michael Keaton's next big movie role, Batman.
As if that weren't enough, there's a very batman-esque ornament on the top of
Beetlejuice's carousel headpiece.
Then underneath that thing that totally isn't the Batman logo you can see there's
a skull that looks a hell of a lot like Jack Skellington.
And this was a good five years before The Nightmare Before Christmas,
making this the slowest of burns.
(Sound) You might be surprised to hear that
Beetlejuice is actually rated PG, especially with moments like this.
>> Nice (Bleep) model!
(Sound) >> The PG-13 rating had been created some
four years prior but
Beetlejuice somehow slipped by with a PG rating despite having an f bomb.
It would never happen again today but
this is just one of a select few movies that somehow got one past the MPAA.
And by one, I mean one (Bleep).
Conversely, since that just got censored,
we're not able to get one past the Cinefix overlords.
Last (Bleep) thing.
(Sound) Beetlejuice is named after the star,
you know, the one that's the second brightest star in the Orion constellation.
Yeah, that one.
And within the movie, as well as the end credits,
his name is spelled the same way as the star's.
So why is it spelled, you know, Beetle, space, Juice, on the title cards?
Because people are (Bleep) stupid.
Okay, that's not the official answer.
But hey, they even joke about not knowing how to pronounce Betelgeuse in the movie.
Beetleguyse.
Beetle- >> Beetleguy.
Beetle- >> Shh!
Don't even say his name. >> So
ultimately they spelled it the way they did in the film's title, one,
for easier marketing, and two, beause it's funnier that way.
As far as answering why there's a space in Beetlejuice on the movie's opening title
cards but not one on any of the Beetlejuice posters or DVD cases or
even IMDB, well, it's probably because someone somewhere screwed up and
now we're stuck with this weird discrepancy forever.
Even though we went all out and did a niner this week,
we have a couple more Beetlejuice things that we dug up, so who knows.
If we're hard up for
an idea down the line we might just bust them out for a part two.
Thanks for watching and be sure to subscribe for
more truish things about movies and sometimes with Michael Keaton feeling up
the director's girlfriend, right here on Things You Didn't Know.
(Sound)