filmreroll

Beetlejuice part 3

Added 2024-12-01 00:42:14 +0000 UTC

Well, I wasn’t expecting this. I had ideas, but really no clear direction with where we were going and if it would even include one infamous, juicy beetle. So I did what I was taught to do by an incredibly accomplished writer/director friend: when you don’t have the direction, put the question into the room and let your fellow artists show you. Repeat and repeat and repeat, just shaping as you go.

Now, there are definitely times when you want to throw in a hard line to tell the story you want to tell—early on, I knew they were going to die, it was just the dice deciding when; too much of this film (and Burton’s ethos) is about death, dying, loss, life, and purpose for me to not honor that piece of it in our retelling. And Adam and Barbara died together because of when the dice came up (box)cars. But then I thought, ok so they’re dead, they can’t die any further, so what’s the parameter that heightens the stakes? I asked the question while watching the film again and there, in the room, the other artists had the answer. So I did my research, filled in a few gaps, and then surrounded their world in this ominous starlight that was barely being held back, like a little cottage in the middle of the woods or a Hopper painting. The light and lawn only go so far, and then there’s the tangle of unknown, and if you venture too far… well, you’ll find out.

-joz