Sure you can call the Ghostbusters if you want to get rid of any ghosts that are getting in your way, but what if your problem deals with people that are alive? If that's the case, then you want to do a bio-exorcism, and the best undead dude to do so would be the one and only Beetlejuice! Sure you can do it yourself if you have a copy of the Handbook for the Recently Deceased, or you can speak to your afterlife caseworker, but who's got time for that? You want the Ghost With The Most, and if you want to make his millennium, all you have to do is say his name three times! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Be careful what you wish for, because he can certainly be a handful!
If you think about it, 1988 was a great year for movies. Not only did Beetlejuice premiere, so did Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Coming to America and Willow. A year later, Michael Keaton and director Tim Burton would extend their relationship and make the 1989 blockbuster Batman! Before Keaton haunted criminals as the Dark Knight, he haunted the Deetz family with his co-stars Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin. Do we know all there is to know about Beetlejuice? How did he perish in the first place? How did Pee Wee Herman help Michael Keaton say yes to the role? Which Rat Pack member was supposed to originally play Beetlejuice? Let's take a look at 20 odd facts only true Tim Burton fanatics know about Beetlejuice!
20 HE SAID WHAT?
The character Beetlejuice looked weird and acted weird, but the things that came out of his mouth were downright hilarious. Beetlejuice's claims of having attended Juilliard and Harvard Business School as well as having seen The Exorcist 167 times are some of the more memorable Michael Keaton moments.
The script had rewrites done by Warren Skaaren, who would also work with Tim Burton on the 1989 Batman. However, without any surprise, Michael Keaton ad-libbed most of Beetlejuice's lines. Beetlejuice is a character that doesn't filter what he says, and Michael Keaton was well up for that task! Not bad for someone that initially didn't think he could play the role!
19 BEETLEJUICE'S BIG ADVENTURE
When Michael Keaton was first approached to play the role, he wasn't sure about signing on. Beetlejuice was a visually exciting and eclectic movie, but imagine having it explained to you! Keaton just wasn't sure how the script was going to be made into a movie, but he liked Tim Burton a lot and wanted to work with him.
After multiple meetings, he decided to give the role a try, but one of the main factors in his decision was seeing Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. The 1985 film had a sense of wonder and childlike innocence t0 it that wound up making Keaton take on the role. The relationship with Burton was so good he also signed on to be in Burton's 1989 Batman!
18 EMPEROR OF ROME
Otho Fenlock was the interior designer for the Deetz family. Eventually he gets ahold of the Handbook for the Recently Deceased and tries to conjure the ghosts of Barbara and Adam Maitland, but almost destroys them in the process. Oddly enough, he was named after someone of weird historical importance.
Have you heard of Otho the Roman Emperor? Probably not, because the man was only ruler for three whole months during what was known as the Year of the Four Emperors. His reign was short, but not as short as Pertinax, who was ruler for a total of just 86 days!
17 DON'T TOUCH BEETLEJUICE
Raise your hand if you were a fan of the Beetlejuice animated series that ran from 1989 to 1991! The show was so popular it aired on ABC on Saturday mornings and during the week on FOX. The cartoon gave viewers the chance to learn more about Beetlejuice, and a lot of those facts were gross!
Beetlejuice has been around for hundreds of years, and during that time he's caught every disease and sickness known to man. He walks around carrying tons of germs and is so riddled with ailments that he literally gave a computer a virus while in cyberspace. Pretty nasty!
16 A NETFLIX FIRST
Netflix first launched in 1997 and as of April 2018 has 125 million worldwide subscribers. Netflix produces a variety of award-winning shows such as Orange is the New Black and House of Cards. It's hard to remember a time when all it did was distribute non-original content on DVDs.
Netflix used to ship DVDs in colorful red envelopes in the mail. There were no late fees and if you wanted a new DVD, all you had to do was return the one you had in exchange for a new one. What was the first DVD to ship from Netflix? Yup, it was Beetlejuice!
15 BALDWIN'S TAKE
Michael Keaton had an absolute blast as Beetlejuice, and in interviews he says that the Ghost With The Most and Batman were his two favorite roles to play of all time. He would later collaborate with director Tim Burton on the 2019 live action Dumbo remake.
Keaton had previously acted with Geena Davis in the 1994 film Speechless. If there was a sequel to Beetlejuice, Davis might return, but don't expect to see Alec Baldwin reprise his role as Adam Maitland. Baldwin has said in the past that he didn't like his performance in the film and probably wouldn't return for Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian, the proposed sequel.
14 R.I.P. BEETLEJUICE
Barbara and Adam Maitland, after they pass away, meet with their caseworker, a woman named Juno. She tells the Maitlands to avoid Beetlejuice, her former assistant who is now a freelance bio-exorcist. This is one of the few bits of information we get about Beetlejuice's past. What else do we know?
We know that ghosts at one point were actual people before something happened to them. Who was Beetlejuice when he was a human being? That we don't know, but we do know what made him a ghost. We don't know his name when he was a person, but whomever that guy was, he hanged himself.
13 TEXAS CHAINSAW BEETLEJUICE
When presented with the idea of playing Beetlejuice, Michael Keaton didn't really know what to do. It took multiple meetings with the director Tim Burton before Keaton would sign up to play the main character. It was Keaton's idea to have the wild hair, the rotting teeth, and the weird growth around his mouth.
Keaton also contributed to the strange and eclectic wardrobe choices for his character. The strangest choice was basing Beetlejuice partially on the character of Chop Top from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. When you look at the above image, you can kind of see the resemblance, no?
12 NOT A LOT OF TIME
Sometimes it's quality over quantity! In Silence of the Lambs, which was over two hours long, Hannibal Lecter is in the film for less than 16 minutes! Dame Judy Dench won an Oscar for her role in Shakespeare In Love but only had around eight minutes of screen time.
What about Beetlejuice? It certainly wasn't wall to wall Michael Keaton, even though the film is named after his character. Beetlejuice is in the film for less than 20 minutes worth of screen time, and to top it all off, he doesn't even appear for the first 25 minutes of the movie!
11 THE BLUES BROTHERS
In the waiting room of the afterlife, the Maitlands see a variety of people, including a magician's assistant who was sawed in half and a hunter with a shrunken head. If you're observant, you also saw in the background a guy dressed in a black suit with sunglasses.
The character was supposed to be one of the Blues Brothers! If you're thinking the implication was they died, that's not the case since the sequel Blues Brothers 2000 was made in 1998. It was meant to be just an homage to John Belushi's character, Jake Blues.
10 SAMMY DAVIS, JR.
Michael Keaton gave a memorable performance as Beetlejuice, but was he the first choice of director Tim Burton? Keaton turned it down multiple times, but before the offer was even given to him, Burton had someone else in mind: 63 year old performer Sammy Davis, Jr.!
Tim Burton described Beetlejuice as having lived in every time period but also no time period as well, so perhaps it makes sense that Burton would want to cast a member of the iconic and timeless Rat Pack. Burton was a fan of Sammy from when he was a little kid, but the studio executives didn't think it would be a good fit.
9 CHEERS!
Indiana Jones was initially going to be played by Tom Selleck, but he could not take on the iconic role due to being contractually obligated to play Thomas Magnum on the television show Magnum, P.I. Pierce Brosnan was unable to play James Bond because he was playing the lead male role in the show Remington Steele.
Geena Davis played Barbara Maitland in the 1988 film Beetlejuice, and the same year won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in The Accidental Tourist. Who was cast before Davis? Kirstie Alley, but she was unable to take the role due to her obligations on the NBC sitcom Cheers!
8 GOING HAWAIIAN
Whether it's the scene where the Maitlands use their ghost powers to make the Deetz family and their guests dance to Harry Belafonte's "Banana Boat Song," or when Otho conducts the seance by reading from the Handbook for the Recently Deceased, every Beetlejuice fan has their favorite moment, but do you remember that there was a planned sequel?
Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian was written by Jonathan Gems, who also wrote the films 1984, White Mischief and Mars Attacks! The sequel centered around the Deetz family, who now lived in Hawaii and build a resort on top of an ancient burial ground. Hijinks occur and Beetlejuice would arrive to help Lydia and her family.
7 OH, THE HORRORS
Tim Burton has a unique style to his filmmaking. Sleepy Hollow could be his goriest film to date, but he also made some softer horror such as Corpse Bride, Edward Scissorhands and Mars Attacks! Beetlejuice is more comedy than horror, but early drafts of the film were quite the opposite.
The original script downplayed the laughter and was considered more of a horror film. Instead of being a prankster, Beetlejuice was a reptillian demon with wings. Instead of Tim Burton at the helm, famous horror filmmaker Wes Craven was going to direct! When Beetlejuice came out in 1988, Craven had directed a film entitled The Serpent and the Rainbow.
6 BODY PARTS
In Beetlejuice, Michael Keaton's character seems virtually unstoppable, being able to transform his body as well as the world around him into whatever he wanted. The only way to curb his antics was by saying his name three times. Given how powerful Beetlejuice is, was there any other way to stop him? The answer can be found in the popular animated series.
In the Beetlejuice cartoon, it's revealed that you can do serious damage to him if you separate his body parts and keep them separated before sunset. If you didn't put him back together by that time, he would melt away for good! Good luck trying to do that!
5 JUICE! JUICE! JUICE!
It took director Tim Burton a few tries to get Michael Keaton to play Beetlejuice. After the third meeting with Burton, Keaton contacted the wardrobe department to send him costume pieces from different time periods and the makeup department to create the rotten teeth and moldy mouth that would eventually be a part of Beetlejuice's iconic look.
Tim Burton didn't see what Keaton had in mind until he showed up to set in the costume. Keaton didn't know if Burton would love or hate the look he created. Burton loved it and so did the crew. When Keaton arrived as Beetlejuice everyone on the soundstage shouted "Juice! Juice! Juice!"
4 WHO COULD HAVE PLAYED LYDIA?
Winona Ryder's portrayal of Lydia Deetz was dark yet comedic and accessible. When Christina Ricci played Wednesday Addams in the film Addams Family, she said she made efforts to evoke Ryder's character from Beetlejuice. Incidentally, Ryder and Ricci worked together in the 1990 film Mermaids. But did you know that Lydia could have been played by someone else?
The role during auditions came down to two actresses: Winona Ryder and Alyssa Milano! Eventually the part would go to Ryder, and Milano would continue to play the character of Samantha Micelli until 1992 on the hit television series Who's the Boss?
3 HOW MANY TIMES?
There are a number of scary ghosts that will appear if you say their name multiple times. If you look into a mirror and say the name Candyman five times, the character played by Tony Todd from the 1992 movie will appear. A similar thing would occur in the film Bloody Mary, but you would only have to say her name three times.
Beetlejuice can be summoned (as well as dismissed) by saying his name three times, but how many times was his name ultimately said in the film? Although people like Juno actively avoided saying his name in the movie, Beetlejuice was uttered a total of 15 times throughout the film.
2 WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?
After the Maitlands pass away, Barbara and Adam find themselves dealing with the new owners of their home. They go speak to their caseworker, Juno, who tries to help them adjust to the afterlife. There's a lot of bureaucracy to deal with after you die, but who are all of the people helping out the recently deceased?
If you look at the woman working the front desk as well as the other caseworkers, you might be able to see a pattern into their demise. It turns out that all of the civil servant ghosts consist of people who have taken their own lives.
1 FLIGHT 409
The Maitlands follow the steps of the Handbook for the Recently Deceased and wind up entering the waiting room for the undead to meet their caseworker. As they follow the flattened lawyer to make their way to meet Juno, there is an announcement over the intercom announcing the arrival of flight 409 at gate 4.
It turns out this wasn't a throwaway line. In 1995, flight 409 departed from New York headed towards Denver, Colorado. Due to unknown reasons, the flight crashed, but some theorize it was due to extreme turbulence. At the time it was considered the deadliest airplane crash in aviation history.