Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. This is Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week with Carol Messer and Tim Stenebeck on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: You're saying that someone.
Speaker 2: Called Beetle Joe say his name. If you say his
Speaker 2: name three times, he will appear.
Speaker 1: I know this is a big step for you, but
Speaker 1: in the words of doctor Clickman, I'm gonna give you
Speaker 1: the push you need. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetle Juice, Beetle.
Speaker 3: Beetle Juice, beetle Juice, beetle j Wait.
Speaker 4: It turns out saying it three times isn't all that
Speaker 4: bad though, guys.
Speaker 5: Relax, Okay, here's why Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, a sequel to the
Speaker 5: nineteen eighty eight spooky comedy hit movie, brought in one
Speaker 5: hundred and eleven million dollars in ticket sales in its
Speaker 5: domestic opening over last weekend. Our team report this on Monday.
Speaker 5: It drew in younger filmmakers or film goers, I should say,
Speaker 5: as well as those nostalgic about the original picture.
Speaker 3: Thirty six years ago.
Speaker 4: Amazing, the Warner Brothers Discovery film exceeded the company's expectations.
Speaker 4: It had forecast ninety million in box office receipts going
Speaker 4: into the weekend. So delighted to have with us Al Goff.
Speaker 4: He's Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice screenwriter. He's joining us from Los Angeles.
Speaker 4: Also with us here in studio is our own Mark Lydorf.
Speaker 4: He reviewed the movie. So we just want to kind
Speaker 4: of have a round table. First of all, Al, thank you,
Speaker 4: thank you, thank you so much for joining.
Speaker 3: Us nineteen eighty eight. I had to think.
Speaker 4: Back kind of where I was the first Beetlejuice movie,
Speaker 4: thirty six years.
Speaker 3: Why did it take so long?
Speaker 4: Or why are we now getting a sequel after thirty
Speaker 4: six years.
Speaker 2: Well, I can't answer why it took so long, But
Speaker 2: about three years ago Tim approached us on the set
Speaker 2: of season one, and when Temburg and tim burgk thank
Speaker 2: you and sorry and and asked us to write the sequel.
Speaker 2: He had been thinking about it for a long time.
Speaker 2: He'd been having conversations with Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder
Speaker 2: and he said it's the movie that he's asked most about,
Speaker 2: and people have been begging for a sequel for years,
Speaker 2: and he I think he was ready to do it.
Speaker 2: We met with him. We kind of went through all
Speaker 2: of his ideas what he wanted in the movie, and
Speaker 2: we went off and wrote an outline and pitched it
Speaker 2: to him. He really liked it. We wrote the script.
Speaker 2: I mean, Miles Miller, my my writing partner, and I've
Speaker 2: been partners for thirty years, and this is probably the
Speaker 2: smoothest and fastest movie we've ever had. From from you know,
Speaker 2: from you would you guys write the script? Two three
Speaker 2: years later, here we are the movies out in theater,
Speaker 2: so you know, it's been an incredible thrilling experience for us.
Speaker 6: Now you and Miles. This is Mark led Or, who
Speaker 6: I had the pleasure of seeing the movie in Mexico City.
Speaker 6: I wanted to see this movie so bad. I asked
Speaker 6: them if I could review it on vacation. And I'll
Speaker 6: tell you, the kids in this industry's greening were all
Speaker 6: in their twenties, and I know you and I are
Speaker 6: about the same age, I think, But so I thought
Speaker 6: assumed you'd be writing it for my generation kids who
Speaker 6: loved it in the eighties, and the folks in Mexico
Speaker 6: just ate it up. And they were all a lot
Speaker 6: younger than me. So congratulation and mister Miller are no
Speaker 6: strangers to success. Of course, you also created Wednesday, which
Speaker 6: I think I read is the most viewed Netflix series
Speaker 6: in English. Is that correct?
Speaker 2: It's the that is correct.
Speaker 6: That's kind of increasing.
Speaker 2: By the way, it is incredible. We can't believe it ourselves.
Speaker 6: But that also was a Tim Burton project. And my
Speaker 6: first question for you would be, what is it like
Speaker 6: writing for an O tour like that, someone with such
Speaker 6: a specific esthetic and kind of quirky sensibility. Is it
Speaker 6: harder or is it easier?
Speaker 2: Well, the two things. What's interesting is we had written
Speaker 2: the first episode of the pilot episode of Wednesday, and
Speaker 2: we sent it to Tim, and because he was our
Speaker 2: first choice to direct it, which by the way, is
Speaker 2: like is like shooting a satellite into space and hoping,
Speaker 2: you know, you get an answer, right, So, and because
Speaker 2: you know he'd never done TV, we didn't know. But
Speaker 2: you know, you know, my first jobs were all in sales,
Speaker 2: and if you don't ask the answers, no, So we
Speaker 2: sent it to Tim and literally four days later we
Speaker 2: got a text from his agent saying Tim read the script,
Speaker 2: he loved it, he wants to FaceTime with you guys,
Speaker 2: and so again it's one of those like dream scenarios
Speaker 2: for us. And we FaceTime with Tim. He said he
Speaker 2: loved the script. He'd always he'd circled the Adams family,
Speaker 2: you know, several times in his career, but never had
Speaker 2: found a way in, and he loved it. He Wednesday
Speaker 2: was his favorite character in the Adams family. He said
Speaker 2: he would have dated in high school and and then,
Speaker 2: which by the way, felt very on Brands.
Speaker 5: I was going to say, it's not surprising to hear that,
Speaker 5: and so.
Speaker 2: That's that's really how it how it started. But I
Speaker 2: think when you when you look at Tim's movies, what's
Speaker 2: what's really incredible is the majority of them are family
Speaker 2: dramas with his unique perspective on the world which is
Speaker 2: so incredibly unique and specific but somehow is incredibly universal.
Speaker 2: And that is something I think he is singular in
Speaker 2: as a filmmaker in that respect. So so I think
Speaker 2: I think for us it was, you know, Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice
Speaker 2: to us is really the most joyful movie you'll see
Speaker 2: this year about death and grief.
Speaker 4: Well, can I just say from someone you guys all know,
Speaker 4: our audience knows. I'm from a large family, one of
Speaker 4: seven kids. I mean, every family has its love, its quirkiness.
Speaker 4: It stresses you know, Tim, you're from you know, you've
Speaker 4: got a bunch of sipls.
Speaker 5: To three siblings.
Speaker 3: We can relate to this, right, you can relate to this.
Speaker 5: I'm curious about what Tim Burton's role is, as you
Speaker 5: guys are the screenwriters. Where does he get involved and
Speaker 5: where do you kind of where do you? Where are
Speaker 5: you involved?
Speaker 4: Now we have about a minute and then we'll come
Speaker 4: back and do some more conversation.
Speaker 2: Sure, well, the quick answer with this one, because it's
Speaker 2: so personal. He gave us his ideas. We came back,
Speaker 2: we broke the story, we wrote the script, and then
Speaker 2: we spend a year, you know, going through drafts. And
Speaker 2: I think what Tim does is it's like a tuning
Speaker 2: for it. He could read something. There might be a
Speaker 2: section of a script where he's like, something isn't feeling
Speaker 2: right here, you know, I think let's focus on this area.
Speaker 2: He'd have some ideas. So it was incredibly collaborative that
Speaker 2: way with him. So and I think because we've gone
Speaker 2: through and done Wednesday with him, we could we could
Speaker 2: speak Burton a little more fluently, So it helped a.
Speaker 4: Lot, Burtans, I mean to a language learning app near you. Listen,
Speaker 4: we gotta do a little bit of news, and we're
Speaker 4: going to come back and talk some more because I
Speaker 4: am curious about you know. The first call was it
Speaker 4: also to Michael Keaton or second call to Michael Keaton,
Speaker 4: like would you do this with us?
Speaker 3: So don't answer. We're going to come back.
Speaker 4: We're going to continue with Al Goff, screenwriter at Beetlejuice
Speaker 4: Beetle Juice, joining us from LA and of course with
Speaker 4: us in studios, our own Bloomberg business Week reviewer of films,
Speaker 4: Mark Lydorff. We've got lots more conversations to come. You're
Speaker 4: listening and watching Bloomberg Business Week on this Friday, Carol
Speaker 4: Messer along with Tim Steadabek.
Speaker 3: We'll come back in just a moment, all right, everybody,
Speaker 3: we want to get right to it.
Speaker 4: Al Goff still with us, Beetle Juice, Beetle Juice, screenwriter
Speaker 4: joining us from Los Angeles, and also here in studio
Speaker 4: Bloomberg business Week film reviewer Mark Lydorf.
Speaker 3: And of course I'm here with Carol. I'm Carol today you.
Speaker 4: Are It's Friday, the thirteenth, like crazy things happen.
Speaker 3: Just adcophobia there we have it.
Speaker 4: Hey, al So, Mike, Michael Keaton, I'm just curious what
Speaker 4: that phone call was like, was he in from the
Speaker 4: get go? Did he said yep, sure, yes, know what
Speaker 4: like what happened?
Speaker 2: We know it's it's Tim was talking to Michael. So
Speaker 2: when we wrote the script, we were like, we really
Speaker 2: have an audience of two. It's Tim and Michael. So
Speaker 2: I think once we had the script and we'd gone
Speaker 2: through a couple of rounds with Tim and he had
Speaker 2: a draft he felt really good about, he sent it
Speaker 2: to Michael and.
Speaker 3: You guys wrote it before even Michael was on board.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, Tim, Like I said, Tim had been having
Speaker 2: conversations with him, but he hadn't read the script and
Speaker 2: he could have said no, And you know he he was,
Speaker 2: you know, very complimentary of the script and you know,
Speaker 2: really liked it. And you know, we got a lovely
Speaker 2: email from him. So we were like, you know, there's
Speaker 2: three emotions in show business, depression, surprise, and relief, and
Speaker 2: we were relieved. So yeah, we were we were relieved.
Speaker 6: Well, speaking of Michael Keaton, I wondered watching the film.
Speaker 6: You know, he seems to be improvising a lot. I
Speaker 6: suspect he's not. And I just wonder if there is
Speaker 6: room with an actor like that, a character like that,
Speaker 6: if there is room for improvisation, and how you write
Speaker 6: around that.
Speaker 2: The answer is there is room for improvisation. We wrote
Speaker 2: it in because the character he created with Tim in
Speaker 2: the first movie, which, by the way, we went back
Speaker 2: and read the Beetlejuice shooting script and that character in
Speaker 2: terms of there's a Beetlejuice in it, obviously, but that
Speaker 2: voice was really something that Michael and Tim and you know,
Speaker 2: created on set, the whole look and the thing. So
Speaker 2: the good news is it was he's such a classic
Speaker 2: specific characters, we were able to write to that voice.
Speaker 2: And we always treated Beetlejuice as an agent of chaos,
Speaker 2: which is what he is in the movie. So and
Speaker 2: the thing that we were all cognizant of Michael probably
Speaker 2: the most, was you don't want him into much of
Speaker 2: the movie. A little Beetlejuice can go a long way.
Speaker 2: You don't want it to, you know, so, and I
Speaker 2: think because of that, when he's on screen, he's that
Speaker 2: much more impactful.
Speaker 6: Right, Well, he's not, Actually he's not actually the main
Speaker 6: character of the film, of either film, he's sort of
Speaker 6: the hardest working supporting character. I would say, Yeah, I'm
Speaker 6: wondering if there are specific jokes. Not to spoil anything
Speaker 6: too much, but are there specific visual gags or jokes
Speaker 6: that you wish could have made it to the final edit,
Speaker 6: you know, like things that things that you wrote into
Speaker 6: the script that sadly got lost gooy goofy stuff.
Speaker 2: You know, it's funny. I'm I'm sure there are and
Speaker 2: I can't remember any at the moment.
Speaker 1: Well, there's a lot.
Speaker 2: There's a lot, Yeah, I mean, you know, and and
Speaker 2: what and what. You know, we're really sort of thrilled
Speaker 2: with how the movie, you know, how the movie turned out,
Speaker 2: and you know, we haven't you know, destroyed people's childhood memories.
Speaker 2: That was always the big fear.
Speaker 3: That's a good thing.
Speaker 4: Hey, what I wonder because how much of this must
Speaker 4: have felt like this ground and reunion right of bringing
Speaker 4: back so many people who had obviously worked on the original,
Speaker 4: Like what what it was like on the set.
Speaker 2: Well, we weren't on the set because unfortunately it was
Speaker 2: during the writer's strike, so we couldn't go so with which,
Speaker 2: by the way, sucked. Yeah, that's that sucks. But I
Speaker 2: think it was, you know, certainly for for Michael and
Speaker 2: Wenona and Catherine and Tim, I think it was it
Speaker 2: was like a family reunion. And you know, having having
Speaker 2: spoken to all of them obviously after you know, the
Speaker 2: shooting and during this whole process leading up to it,
Speaker 2: I mean they they you know, could not be nicer,
Speaker 2: could not be more thrilled. They're genuine, genuine love and
Speaker 2: affection for each other is really, you know, evident. And
Speaker 2: I think for Tim from what all accounts we heard
Speaker 2: is he he loved just being on set and making
Speaker 2: the movie. So and and again, I think the directors,
Speaker 2: especially with Tim, but in the that sort of director's
Speaker 2: DNA and his love of what he's doing is and
Speaker 2: his passion for it, I think it gets on the
Speaker 2: film somehow, not that there's film anymore, but you know
Speaker 2: what I mean.
Speaker 6: Speaking of Windona writer, my big question about the movie
Speaker 6: is Lydia eats and the few knocks I've heard on
Speaker 6: the movie is for people who you know, like me,
Speaker 6: love the original and thought, oh no, she's a disaster.
Speaker 6: She's not that confident, stylish, fabulous, fearless kid that she
Speaker 6: was and me personally, I loved that she's a basket case.
Speaker 6: I'm not ruining anything too much, and she's a basket case.
Speaker 6: She starts the movie popping pills. Her life is a mess.
Speaker 6: I'd like you to speak about that. Why was it
Speaker 6: important for you to have Lydia be so hobbled?
Speaker 2: Well, you know, part of it is we looked at her.
Speaker 2: It's like and you're right, like, she's this and it's
Speaker 2: the Winona we all remember from our youth. But I
Speaker 2: think it's it's you know, it's thirty six years and
Speaker 2: we're like, how would a person who sees ghosts every day?
Speaker 2: How would they be thirty six years on? Like, that's
Speaker 2: got to drive you crazy, and it makes you so
Speaker 2: when we meet her, you know she isn't in a
Speaker 2: great place. He's obviously, you know, monetizing her ability. She's
Speaker 2: in a she's in a terrible codependent relationship which everyone
Speaker 2: around her can see. And you know she's kind of
Speaker 2: lost that spark, you know that that we saw and
Speaker 2: then I and then she has this not great relationship
Speaker 2: with her daughter, and then I think through the course
Speaker 2: of the movie, you start to see her regain that
Speaker 2: confidence and find herself again. So I think I think
Speaker 2: for us it was like, yeah, let's like light hasn't
Speaker 2: been great. It's it's been hard for her, right, And
Speaker 2: I think for us it was just interesting.
Speaker 3: Real couick ten seconds?
Speaker 4: Is there going to be a Beatle Jeuice three?
Speaker 2: You can't say his name three times? You know what happened?
Speaker 2: That is all in the hands of Tim Burton, So
Speaker 2: I know I can't speak to that.
Speaker 6: Well, let's help listen.
Speaker 4: This was so much fun. Congratulations and have a great weekend.
Speaker 4: So appreciate it. Al GoF screenwriter a Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and
Speaker 4: of course our own Mark Light or Bloomberg BusinessWeek film reviewer.
Speaker 3: So appreciate it. Thank you so much, and just got
Speaker 3: to say shout out to our team. You guys know
Speaker 3: who you are. You're incredible. Thank you so much. Have
Speaker 3: a good weekend.
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