Winona Ryder Jokes One of Her 'Favorite Parts' ofBeetlejuice 2Was 'Getting to Stare into' Michael Keaton's Eyes Again

Mar. 15, 2025

Beetlejuice Beetlejuicehas finally materialized.

Tim Burton’s highly anticipated sequel to 1988’sBeetlejuicehad its world premiere at theVenice Film Festivalon Wednesday, Aug. 28, where several of its stars turned out in support. Among those in attendance included director Burton, 66, along with starsMichael Keaton,Winona Ryder,Jenna Ortega,Catherine O’Hara,Willem Dafoe,Monica BellucciandJustin Theroux.

Duringa press conferenceamid the movie’s premiere, Ryder, 52, joked to Keaton, 72, “One of my favorite parts was getting to stare into your eyes” again.

Calling making the sequel “a dream come true” 36 years after the original, theStranger Thingsactress said, “My love and trust for Tim runs so deep, and there’s a sense of playfulness where you can try things and you know that if it’s bad, he won’t use it.”

“You feel so safe in that sense, but you also feel just completely free,” Ryder added. “And I really appreciated being around that energy again. It was very similar to the first [movie]. I absolutely just feel so spoiledto work with all these people. It was one of the more special experiences of my life.”

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Beetlejuice Beetlejuicesees the return of several stars from the original film — namely, Keaton as the titular prank-prone poltergeist, as well as Ryder as an all-grown-up Lydia Deetz and O’Hara, 70, as Lydia’s stepmother Delia Deetz.

Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton at the 81st Venice Film Festival on Aug. 28, 2024.BiennaleChannel/YouTube

BiennaleChannel/YouTube

Thefirst full trailerarrived in May and showed Lydia warning Astrid to never say the name Beetlejuice. “When I was a teenager, a trickster demon terrorized our entire family and tried to force me to marry him. Don’t ever say that name,” she said.

In July, thesecond trailerrevealed a plot twist: Lydia asking Beetlejuice to save her daughter from the Afterlife.

From L: Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci, Justin Theroux, Catherine O’Hara, Winona Ryder, Tim Burton, Michael Keaton and Jenna Ortega at aBeetlejuice Beetlejuicephotocall during the 81st Venice Film Festival on Aug. 28, 2024.Alessandra Benedetti - Corbis/Corbis via Getty

Alessandra Benedetti - Corbis/Corbis via Getty

Keaton recently toldEmpiremagazine it was “surreal” to revisit his ghost-with-the-most character, more than three-and-a-half decades after the first movie.

He added of his approach this time around, “There’s been so much merchandising of [Beetlejuice], I had to drop back to where it started. I had to go, ‘What was my unusual imagination even thinking about when I was developing it in the first place?’ As opposed to seeing a coffee mug or a golf-club cover [adorned with the character].”

The Venice Film Festival runs from Aug. 28 to Sept. 7, whileBeetlejuice Beetlejuiceis in U.S. theaters Sept. 6.

source: people.com