The "Beetlejuice" movies wouldn't be the same without these unscripted moments. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at instances from both “Beetlejuice” movies where the actors and crew went off script, not to mention off the wall.
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00:00We worked with the choreographer. In both movies it was the choreographer, but we were free to come up with our own ridiculous moves.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at instances from both Beetlejuice movies where the actors and crew went off script, not to mention off the wall.
00:14A little gasoline, blowtorch, no problem.
00:19Number 10. Beetlejuice's look. Beetlejuice.
00:22Aside from ad-libbing an estimated 90% of his dialogue, Michael Keaton helped devise everything from how Beetlejuice walks to his iconic appearance.
00:39Makeup artist V. Neal initially followed the character's original design.
00:43Tim Burton thought he looked too, quote, nasty, giving Neal freedom to whip up something original.
00:48Keaton contributed, feeling Beetlejuice's hair should look like he, quote, stuck his finger in an electrical socket,
00:54that he should be covered in mold since, quote, he lives under rocks, and that his nose should be broken.
01:05The crew improvised the latter with fake lips, putting them on both sides of Keaton's nose.
01:10Keaton also asked the wardrobe department to send him costumes from random time periods.
01:15When Keaton walked on stage, Burton knew they were on the right track.
01:24Number 9. Justin Theroux as Rory. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice.
01:28Returning to Beetlejuice 36 years later, Burton again gave the cast room to improvise.
01:33Justin Theroux took advantage of this as Rory, Lydia's sleazy boyfriend and producer.
01:46Speaking with Burton on how to play the character, Theroux developed Rory into an overly emotional narcissist
01:53who acts like he's the main character in a soap opera.
01:56At the same time, Rory is a people pleaser who desperately wants validation from Lydia and Astrid, albeit for his own selfish reasons.
02:04As over-the-top as Rory can be, Theroux and Burton wanted his codependent relationship with Lydia to feel believable.
02:10Beyond helping to mold the character's persona, Burton allowed Theroux to fill in the blanks that weren't on the print page,
02:17doing plenty of riffing on set.
02:33Number 8. Waiting Room Epilogue, Beetlejuice.
02:36Beetlejuice almost had a much darker ending with Lydia dying.
02:40The shooting script discarded this idea, ending with Lydia's levitating dance.
02:48There were still several differences between the two.
02:51Theroux's dancing style was a bit different from Lydia's,
02:54and the way he danced was a bit different from Lydia's.
02:57Work, work, work, Senora. Work your body line.
03:01There were still several differences, however.
03:04Instead of coexisting, Charles and Delia would have moved away, letting the Maitlands raise Lydia.
03:09Most notably, Beetlejuice's final scene in the waiting room wasn't in the script.
03:14One possible ending would have seen Beetlejuice running away from the sandworm, although this was seemingly never shot.
03:20The filmmakers decided that the titular ghost needed a proper exit.
03:24So they returned to the waiting room set where Beetlejuice tries to get ahead, but instead gets his head shrunk.
03:41In addition to ensuring Beetlejuice will live on in death,
03:44this 11th hour addition gave Keaton one last chance to get nuts.
03:49Number 7. A Schitt's Creek Nod, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
03:53Like Michael Keaton, Catherine O'Hara proved to be a master of improv in both films.
03:58Reprising her role as Delia Dietz, O'Hara came up with several touches, rewriting parts of her speech at Charles' grave.
04:08In one of the sequel's happiest accidents, O'Hara leapt at the chance to channel Moira Rose.
04:13At her art gallery, Delia is seen wearing black and white, waving her arms.
04:18Behind her is a projection of crows.
04:24Originally, different birds were to be used.
04:27When O'Hara realized the scene would feature crows though, she asked Burton if he wanted her to flap her arms like a bird.
04:33She isn't sure if Burton got the reference, but O'Hara knew Schitt's Creek fans would notice a parallel to the crows have eyes.
04:47Number 6. Save that guy for later, Beetlejuice.
04:50Michael Keaton was so unpredictable in Beetlejuice that Alec Baldwin had a hard time keeping it together whenever they shared the screen.
04:59One particular ad-lib nearly had Baldwin choking on his laughter.
05:03Seeking out a bio-exorcist, Adam and Barbara find themselves getting uncomfortably close to the ghost with the most.
05:09Between spouting several unscripted lines, Keaton spontaneously hawked a loogie into his jacket.
05:20To top this off, Keaton said that he was saving it for later.
05:29This is where Baldwin lost it, which is presumably why the film subsequently cuts to another shot.
05:35While Baldwin thought this movie might ruin his career at one point, there's no denying that he laughed a lot on set.
05:41We wonder if Beetlejuice is still saving that loogie.
05:51Number 5. Jenna Ortega and Catherine O'Hara's dance moves.
05:57Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice naturally builds to a dance number, complete with lip-syncing.
06:03Although choreographer Corey Baker and associate choreographer Chris George Scott oversaw the grand finale, they wanted it to feel improvised.
06:21As such, they encouraged cast members like Catherine O'Hara and Jenna Ortega to play around.
06:26The Wednesday star is no stranger to improvised dancing.
06:30Although, she felt less self-conscious having others to collaborate with.
06:34Burton didn't always know what Ortega and O'Hara had in store.
06:43That is precisely why he wanted the cameras to keep rolling, letting them do whatever came to mind.
06:48While the finished scene is another instant classic, we're curious to see what dance moves might have been left on the cutting room floor.
07:00The blooper reel for this sequel must not be buried.
07:12Number 4. Take you with me, Beetlejuice.
07:15Catherine O'Hara ad-libbed arguably Delia's most memorable line from the first movie.
07:20Arriving at their new home in Winter River, Delia wastes no time redecorating.
07:31When Charles confronts her, Delia puts him in his place with her sharp tongue.
07:37Delia might be Charles' wife, but she is an artist first and foremost.
07:41Taking away her freedom of expression will send Delia on a one-way street to insanity.
07:46You had better believe that she will drag Charles along for the ride.
08:00Although the line itself is funny and relatable, the way O'Hara delivers it leaves us to wonder if Delia is already going insane.
08:07Originally, Delia was going to say, quote,
08:10the woman who lived here had the aesthetic instincts of Betty Crocker.
08:13Hence, why Barbara wanted to, quote,
08:29Number 3. Nice model, Beetlejuice.
08:31You gotta miss the good old days when a PG movie could get away with one F-bomb.
08:35Declining Beetlejuice's services, Barbara and Adam head home.
08:41The script then reads as follows.
08:44Beetlejuice walks to a tree and kicks it hard.
08:46The whole huge tree falls, kabloom.
08:49That's essentially how it plays out in the film.
08:51Although, Michael Keaton added one more line and gesture that left every parent questioning how family-friendly this film truly is.
09:00Within the context of the film, Beetlejuice is addressing Adam, who built the model.
09:12Behind the scenes, though, it's been rumored that Keaton was addressing the people who built the set.
09:17In any case, Burton was compelled to keep the profanity in, throwing in a honking sound effect for good measure.
09:23Number 2. Deo, Beetlejuice.
09:26It is impossible to imagine the dinner scene without Deo, but the banana boat song wasn't always going to be featured in the movie.
09:45In the screenplay, Delia, Charles, and their guest break out uncontrollably singing If I Didn't Care, an Inkspot song.
09:52When A Man Loves a Woman was suggested as an alternative, but Catherine O'Hara and Jeffrey Jones felt that Calypso music would be a better fit for the scene.
10:11The crew just so happened to have a cassette with the Harry Belafonte song, which reportedly wasn't expensive to license.
10:17Just as the musical choice was a late addition, the dancing was kept spontaneous.
10:22O'Hara told Entertainment Weekly,
10:33Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few other moments that weren't in the shooting script.
10:38Beetlejuice's introduction, Beetlejuice.
10:40The filmmakers scrapped the scripted intro with Beetlejuice puppeteering a corpse.
10:47Ghost with the most, Beetlejuice.
10:49Beetlejuice was going to call himself a high spirit.
10:57A little late to be neurotic, Beetlejuice.
10:59Delia's original line here was one of those shrimp dropped down by Kamali.
11:18Ringfinger, Beetlejuice.
11:20Funny how this came back in the sequel.
11:27It's Showtime, Beetlejuice.
11:29It was written as a direction, but not as a line.
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11:56Although it's become common knowledge among cinema fans,
11:59it's still surprising that Michael Keaton is only on screen for about 17 minutes.
12:05If they shot the script word for word, Beetlejuice might have had even less screen time.
12:11The scene where Beetlejuice officially meets the Maitlands goes by quickly in the screenplay.
12:16Keaton contributed an assortment of jokes and alternative lines.
12:29In Keaton's most extensive unscripted moment,
12:31he goes into Beetlejuice's backstory, claiming to be a student of Juilliard and Harvard.
12:36While we have a hard time believing that,
12:38the sequel would confirm he did indeed live through the Black Plague and it was a good time, for a while.
12:44Much like The Exorcist, this improvised monologue keeps getting funnier every time we see it.
12:56Do you have any behind-the-scenes trivia about the Beetlejuice movies?
12:59Let us know in the comments.
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