Michael Keaton Promises Beetlejuice Character Won’t Be ‘Politically Correct’ In Sequel

Actor Michael Keaton discussed some details about the upcoming “Beetlejuice” sequel, insisting that the main character he plays didn’t change to accommodate the politically correct crowd.

The 72-year-old star said one of his stipulations for agreeing to participate in the sequel project 36 years later was not giving his titular character a lot of screen time, just like in the first film.

“The idea was, no, no, no, you can’t load it up with Beetlejuice, that’ll kill it,” Keaton told GQ during an interview published Monday. “I think the Beetlejuice character doesn’t drive the story as much as he did in the first one. He’s more part of the storyline in this one as opposed to the first one, which is a case of, this thing comes in and drives the movie a little bit.”

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In the 1988 fantasy horror film, Beetlejuice was only on screen for 17 minutes total. Keaton elaborated that Beetlejuice is an “it” but not because of society’s obsession with pronouns.

“He’s a thing. He’s more of a thing than a he or a she, he’s more of an it. And I’m not saying ‘it’ to be politically correct. I just viewed it as a force more than anything. I mean, there’s definitely strong male energy, like stupid male energy, which I love,” the actor explained. “You don’t want to touch that because it’s not like you go, ‘Well, it’s a new year and this thing would now act like that.’”

The “Batman” alum previously raved about reuniting with director Tim Burton for the project. “It’s the most fun I’ve had on a set in a long time. On one hand, you’d go, ‘Well, of course it’s the most fun. It looks like fun.’ As you know, it doesn’t always work like that,” he said in February, as The Daily Wire previously reported. 

Burton went on to discuss using older special effects methods instead of relying on computer-generated imagery (CGI).

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“The one thing that [Burton] and I decided on early, early, early on from the beginning, if we ever did it again, I was totally not interested in doing something where there was too much technology. It had to feel handmade. 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,” he added.

He told GQ of the effects, “For the most part, [with CGI] I think a lot of audiences subconsciously feel farther away from what’s actually going on on the screen or in the story. It’ll work, they’ll accept it. But I think for a lot of movies, it’s not quite as enjoyable.”

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” is scheduled to hit theaters on September 6.