Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. Beetlejuice, Beetle Juice, Beetle Gerald. Wait,
Speaker 1: it turns out saying it three times isn't all that
Speaker 1: bad though, guys.
Speaker 2: Relax, Okay, here's why Beetlejuice Beetle Juice, a sequel to
Speaker 2: the nineteen eighty eight spooky comedy hit movie, brought in
Speaker 2: one hundred and eleven million dollars in ticket sales in
Speaker 2: its domestic opening over last weekend. Our team reported this
Speaker 2: on Monday. It drew in younger filmmakers or film goers,
Speaker 2: I should say, as well as those nostalgic about the
Speaker 2: original picture.
Speaker 1: Thirty six years ago. Amazing, the Warner Brothers Discovery film
Speaker 1: exceeded the company's expectations. It had forecast ninety million in
Speaker 1: box office receipts going into the weekend. So delighted to
Speaker 1: have with us Al Goff. He's Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice screenwriter. He's
Speaker 1: joining us from Los Angeles. Also with us here in
Speaker 1: studio is our own Mark Lydorf. He reviewed the movie.
Speaker 1: So we just want to kind of have a round table.
Speaker 1: First of all, Al, thank you, thank you, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for joining us nineteen eighty eight. I had
Speaker 1: to think back kind of where I was the first
Speaker 1: Beetlejuice movie thirty six years? Why did it take so long?
Speaker 1: Or why are we now getting a sequel after thirty
Speaker 1: six years?
Speaker 3: Well, I can't answer why it took so long. But
Speaker 3: about three years ago, Tim approached us on the set
Speaker 3: of season one of Wittemburg and Tim Burton and Sorry
Speaker 3: and asked us to write the sequel. He had been
Speaker 3: thinking about it for a long time. He'd been having
Speaker 3: conversations with Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, and he said,
Speaker 3: it's the movie that he's asked most about, and people
Speaker 3: have been begging for a sequel for years, and I
Speaker 3: think he was ready to do it. We met with him,
Speaker 3: We kind of went through all of his ideas what
Speaker 3: he wanted in the movie, and we went off and
Speaker 3: wrote an outline and pitched it to him. He really
Speaker 3: liked it. We wrote the script. I mean, Miles Miller,
Speaker 3: my writing partner, and I've been partners for thirty years,
Speaker 3: and this is probably the smoothest and fastest movie we've
Speaker 3: ever had. From from you know, from would you guys
Speaker 3: write the script? Two three years later, here we are
Speaker 3: the movies out in the theater, so you know, it's
Speaker 3: been an incredible thrilling experience for us.
Speaker 4: Now, you and Miles, this is Mark Lydorf, who I
Speaker 4: had the pleasure of seeing the movie in Mexico City.
Speaker 4: I wanted to see this movie so bad I asked
Speaker 4: them if I could review it on vacation. And I'll
Speaker 4: tell you, the kids in this industry's greening were all
Speaker 4: in their twenties, and I know you and I are
Speaker 4: about the same age, I think, But so I thought
Speaker 4: assumed you'd be writing it for my generation kids who
Speaker 4: loved it in the eighties, and the folks in Mexico
Speaker 4: just ate it up, and they were all a lot
Speaker 4: younger than me. So congratulation. You and mister Miller are
Speaker 4: no strangers to success. Of course, you also created Wednesday,
Speaker 4: which I think I read is the most viewed Netflix
Speaker 4: series in English. Is that correct?
Speaker 3: It's the that is correct. That's kind of increat it
Speaker 3: by the way, it is incredible. We can't believe it ourselves.
Speaker 4: But that also was a Tim Burton project. And my
Speaker 4: first question for you would be, what what is it
Speaker 4: like writing for an o tour like that? Someone with
Speaker 4: such a specific aesthetic and kind of quirky sensibility. Is
Speaker 4: it harder or is it easier?
Speaker 3: Well, the two things. What's interesting is we had written
Speaker 3: the first episode of the pilot episode of Wednesday, and
Speaker 3: we sent it to Tim and because he was our
Speaker 3: first choice to direct it, which by the way, is
Speaker 3: like is like shooting a satellite into space and hoping,
Speaker 3: you know, you get an answer, right. So, and because
Speaker 3: you know he'd never done TV, we didn't know. But
Speaker 3: you know, you know, my first jobs were all in sales,
Speaker 3: and if you don't ask the answers, no, So we
Speaker 3: sent it to Tim, and literally four days later we
Speaker 3: got a text from his agent saying Tim read the script,
Speaker 3: he loved it. He wants to FaceTime with you guys.
Speaker 3: And so again it's one of those like dream scenarios
Speaker 3: for us, and we FaceTime with Tim. He said he
Speaker 3: he loved the script. He'd always he'd circled the Adams family,
Speaker 3: you know, several times in his career, but never had
Speaker 3: found a way in. And he he loved it. He
Speaker 3: Wednesday was his favorite character in the Adams family. He
Speaker 3: said he would have dated Or in high school and then,
Speaker 3: which by the way, felt very on brands, and so
Speaker 3: that's that's really how it how it started. But I
Speaker 3: think when you when you look at Tim's movies, what's
Speaker 3: what's really incredible is the majority of them are family
Speaker 3: dramas with his unique perspective on the world which is
Speaker 3: so incredibly unique and specific but somehow is incredibly universal,
Speaker 3: and that is something I think he is singular as
Speaker 3: a filmmaker in that respect. So so I think I
Speaker 3: think for us it was you know, Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice to
Speaker 3: us is really the most joyful movie you'll see this
Speaker 3: year about death and grief.
Speaker 1: Well, can I just say from someone you guys all know,
Speaker 1: our audience knows. I'm from a large family, one of
Speaker 1: seven kids. I mean, every family has its love, its quirkiness,
Speaker 1: its stresses. You know, Tim, you're from you know you've
Speaker 1: got a bunch of siblings too, three siblings, Like we
Speaker 1: can relate to this, right, you can relate to this.
Speaker 2: I'm curious about what Tim Burton's role is, as you
Speaker 2: guys are the screenwriters. Where does he get involved and
Speaker 2: where do you kind of where do you where are
Speaker 2: you involved?
Speaker 1: Now we have about a minute and then we'll come
Speaker 1: back and do some more conversation.
Speaker 3: Sure, well the quick answer with this one, because it's
Speaker 3: so personal. He gave us his ideas. We came back,
Speaker 3: we broke the story, we wrote the script, and then
Speaker 3: we spend a year, you know, going through drafts. And
Speaker 3: I think what Tim does is it's like a tuning
Speaker 3: for it. He could read something. There might be a
Speaker 3: section of a script where he's like, something isn't feeling
Speaker 3: right here, you know, I think let's focus on this area.
Speaker 3: He'd have some ideas. So it was incredibly collaborative that
Speaker 3: way with him. So and I think because we've gone
Speaker 3: through and done Wednesday with him, we could we could
Speaker 3: speak Burton a little more fluently. So it helped a lot.
Speaker 1: Burtan ees coming to a language learning app near you. Hey,
Speaker 1: al So, Mike, Michael Keaton, I'm just curious what that
Speaker 1: phone call was like? Was he in from the get go?
Speaker 1: Did he said yep, sure, yes? Know what like what happened?
Speaker 3: It's Tim was talking to Michael. So when we wrote
Speaker 3: the script, we were like, we really have an audience
Speaker 3: of two. It's Tim and Michael. So I think once
Speaker 3: we had the script and we've gone through a couple
Speaker 3: of rounds with Tim and he had a draft he
Speaker 3: felt really good about. He sent it to Michael and
Speaker 3: so you guys.
Speaker 1: Wrote it before even Michael was on board.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, Tim, Like I said, Tim had been having
Speaker 3: conversations with him, but he hadn't read the script and
Speaker 3: he could have said no. And you know he he was,
Speaker 3: you know, very complimentary of the script and you know,
Speaker 3: really liked it, and you know, we got a lovely
Speaker 3: email from him. So we were like, you know, there's
Speaker 3: three emotions in show business, depression, surprise, and relief, and
Speaker 3: we were relieved. So yeah, we were relieved.
Speaker 4: Well, speaking of Michael Keaton, I wondered watching the film.
Speaker 4: You know, he seems to be improvising a lot. I
Speaker 4: suspect he's not, and I just wonder if there is
Speaker 4: room with an actor like that, a character like that,
Speaker 4: if there is room for improvisation, and how you write
Speaker 4: around that.
Speaker 3: The answer is there is room for improvisation. We wrote
Speaker 3: it in because the character he created with Tim in
Speaker 3: the first movie, which by the way, we went back
Speaker 3: and read the Beetlejuice shooting script and that character in
Speaker 3: terms of there's a Beetlejuice in it. Obviously, but that
Speaker 3: voice was really something that Michael and Tim and you know,
Speaker 3: created on set, the whole look and the thing. So
Speaker 3: the good news is it was he's such a classic
Speaker 3: specific character. Is we were able to write to that voice,
Speaker 3: and we always treated Beetlejuice as an agent of chaos,
Speaker 3: which is what he is in the movie. So, and
Speaker 3: the thing that we were all cognizant of, Michael probably
Speaker 3: the most, was you don't want him into much of
Speaker 3: the movie. A little Beetlejuice can go a long way.
Speaker 3: You don't want it to, you know, so, and I
Speaker 3: think because of that, when he's on screen, he's that
Speaker 3: much more impactful.
Speaker 4: Right, Well, he's not. Actually he's not actually the main
Speaker 4: character of the film, of either film. He's sort of
Speaker 4: the hardest working supporting character. I would say, Yeah, I'm
Speaker 4: wondering if there are specific jokes. Not to spoil anything
Speaker 4: too much, but are there specific visual gags or jokes
Speaker 4: that you wish could have made it to the final edit?
Speaker 4: You know, like things things that you wrote into the
Speaker 4: script that sadly got lost. Goofy goofy stuff.
Speaker 3: You know, it's funny. I'm I'm sure there aren't. I
Speaker 3: can't remember any at the moment.
Speaker 4: Because well, there's a lot, there's a lot, Yeah, I.
Speaker 3: Mean, you know, and and what and what you know,
Speaker 3: we're really sort of thrilled with how the movie, you know,
Speaker 3: how the movie turned out, and and you know, we
Speaker 3: we haven't you know, destroyed people's childhood memories. That was
Speaker 3: always a big fear.
Speaker 1: That's a good thing. Hey, what I wonder because how
Speaker 1: much of this must have felt like this grand reunion,
Speaker 1: right of bringing back so many people who had obviously
Speaker 1: worked on the original, Like what what it was like
Speaker 1: on the set?
Speaker 3: Well, we weren't on the set because unfortunately it was
Speaker 3: during the writers strike, so we couldn't go so with which,
Speaker 3: by the way, sucked.
Speaker 1: That's a bummer.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that sucks. But I think it was you know,
Speaker 3: certainly for for Michael and Wenona and Catherine and Tim,
Speaker 3: I think it was it was like a family reunion.
Speaker 3: And you know, having spoken to all of them obviously
Speaker 3: after you know, the shooting and during this whole process
Speaker 3: leading up to it, I mean, they you know, could
Speaker 3: not be nicer, could not be more thrilled. They're genuine
Speaker 3: genuine love and affection for each other is really you
Speaker 3: know evident. And I think for Tim from what all
Speaker 3: accounts we heard is he he loved just being on
Speaker 3: set and making the movie. So and again I think
Speaker 3: the directors, especially with Tim, but in that sort of
Speaker 3: director's DNA and his love of what he's doing is
Speaker 3: and his passion for it, I think it gets on
Speaker 3: the film somehow, not that there's film anymore.
Speaker 4: But you know what I mean, speaking of Winona writer,
Speaker 4: my big question about the movie is Lydia d eats
Speaker 4: and the few knots I've heard on the movie is
Speaker 4: for people who you know, like me, love the original
Speaker 4: and thought, oh no, she's a disaster. She's not that confident, stylish, fabulous,
Speaker 4: fearless kid that she was. And me personally, I loved that.
Speaker 4: She's a basket case. I'm not ruining anything too much.
Speaker 4: She's a basket case. She starts the movie popping pills.
Speaker 4: Her life is a mess. I'd like you to speak
Speaker 4: about that. Why was it important for you to have
Speaker 4: Lydia be so hobbled?
Speaker 3: Well, you know, part of it is we looked at her,
Speaker 3: it's like and you're right, like she's this and it's
Speaker 3: the Winona we all remember from our from our youth.
Speaker 3: And but but I think it's it's you know, it's
Speaker 3: thirty six years and we're like, how would a person
Speaker 3: who sees ghosts every day, how would they be thirty
Speaker 3: six years on? Like, that's got to drive you crazy
Speaker 3: and it makes you so when we meet her, you know,
Speaker 3: she isn't in a great place. She's obviously, you know,
Speaker 3: monetizing her her ability. She's a she's in a terrible
Speaker 3: codependent relationship which everyone around her can see. And you
Speaker 3: know she's kind of lost that spark, you know that
Speaker 3: that we saw and then I and then she has
Speaker 3: this not great relationship with her daughter, and then I
Speaker 3: think through the course of the movie you start to
Speaker 3: see her regain that confidence and find herself again. So
Speaker 3: I think I think for us it was like, yeah,
Speaker 3: let's light hasn't been great. It's it's been hard for her,
Speaker 3: And I think for us it was just interesting.
Speaker 1: Real quick ten seconds, is there going to be a beetlejuice?
Speaker 2: Three beetle?
Speaker 3: You can't say his name three times? So you know
Speaker 3: what happened? That is all in the hands of Tim Burton.
Speaker 3: So I know I can't speak to that.
Speaker 1: Well, let's hope listen, this was so much fun. Congratulations
Speaker 1: and have a great weekend. So appreciate it. Al GoF
Speaker 1: screenwriter A Beetlejuice Beetle Juice, and of course our own
Speaker 1: Mark ld Or Bloomberg Business Week Film reviewer. So appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much,