“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” authors on “MacArthur Park” and “Tragedy”

[This story includes spoilers for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.]

The involuntary Calypso dance sequence in the original lasts just under two minutes Beetlejuicein which Catherine O'Hara's Delia Deetz leads her dinner guests to lip-sync Harry Belafonte's “Day-O” is probably the most famous scene from the 1988 film. An homage in the sequel was clear from the start.

But for Beetlejuice Beetlejuicedirector Tim Burton wanted to go even harder. The film's climax includes another dance number – this time to all seven minutes and 21 seconds of Richard Harris's wacky and much-covered “MacArthur Park.” (Donna Summer's disco version was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in the fall of 1978.) It's not just another pinprick. It practically drives the plot of the entire third act.

Screenwriters Alfred Gough and Miles Millar are no strangers to the Burton universe with their successful Netflix series Wednesdayspoke with The Hollywood Reporter about her inspirations behind making the now hit film, the different reasons for the deaths of two main characters and, yes, “MacArthur Park” and another important soundtrack piece that was in her script from the beginning.

This film has two exceptional, long musical sequences. I realize that writers don't always have a say in soundtracks, but both seem pretty tied to the script. How did you come up with the Richard Harris recording of “MacArthur Park” and the Bee Gees' “Tragedy”?

ALFRED GOUGH Well, we put “Tragedy” in the actual script. It's just one of those songs. I remember getting this album when I was 11 or 12. Of all the Bee Gees songs, that one was always a catchy one. So when we came up with this sequence, we tried to think of what could be played while Dolores [Monica Bellucci] putting her body back together and killing the janitor just felt right. I think that was in the first draft. We also wanted a big musical number in the style of “Day-O,” but how do you top “Day-O”? We were at the end of the movie, we had the wedding and all that stuff, but we wanted something more. And Tim was looking, too. He has a jukebox in his kitchen and he called and said, “I've been listening to 'MacArthur Park' and I can't get it out of my head. I think that's the song we should use.” Richard Harris' version is seven and a half minutes long and he wanted to use it in its entirety. So we built out the third act with that song and the weird movements in it to form the structure of that sequence.

It's such a good song, but it's also crazy.

MILES MILLAR Crazy. That's why it's perfect. We listened to it again and it's just so crazy and bizarre that it's the perfect song for a Beetlejuice Movie. There are all these twists and turns. There's this weird bridge with an orchestral number that works great when Willem Dafoe comes out of the crypt with the ghoul troupe. The song has all these different elements that Tim could use, but it was long. We tried to shorten it, and Tim was like, “No, I want it all.” And he was right.

This sequel probably comes with more pressure than most. What were your biggest fears when you took the job – and did they match Tim's?

GOUGH We've done a lot of things over the course of our career where we've ruined a lot of people's childhood memories. There's always that fear. You don't want to be one of those guys who messed it up. Beetlejuice. But you just have to put that part aside and figure out what story you can best tell. What story is worth telling, but also honors the legacy?

MILLAR The most important thing was that it had to be a film that we wanted to see – that it wasn't just about commerce. There had to be a story that was worth telling. And how can we expand the world of the afterlife? How can we revive the characters that people love, but revive them 30 years later and surprise people with where they are? I think when people see where Lydia [Winona Ryder] is in her life, it's surprising that she's now this sort of broken woman who's been persecuted for 30 years. You have to look at the characters and take the franchise element out of it.

I read that you had a version where Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis' characters, the Maitlands, had a cameo, but Tim turned it down – because those actors have aged a lot for their ghost roles. What was that like?

GOUGH It was a draft, just one day. We tried it and Tim said, “No.” We discussed beforehand not having them in the film for that reason. The ghosts should look like they did 35 years ago and they don't. And their story had already been told. We really wanted to focus on Deetzes. But we had an idea, we tried it in a draft and there really wasn't much more to it.

This movie is only an hour and 45 minutes long. First of all, thank you. And secondly, did that mean any favorites were killed off?

MILLAR Not really. Because the first film was only 90 minutes long, we really wanted to move things along. You can't linger too long. That's actually built into the DNA of the story. Tim was very conscious of that too. Originally it was maybe 107 pages, and he said, “Let's keep cutting.” We got it down to 97 pages without losing anything essential. It was just about making sure this film was light on its feet. For comedy in particular, that's just right. Audiences get tired of seeing a comedy that's too long – especially when it's this visual and just bizarre. I think that's obviously welcome.

Tell me about the guidelines you set when writing the character Charles Deetz. Of course, his death is the catalyst for the entire narrative – but the actor from the original film, Jeffrey Jones, is persona non grata. [He is a registered sex offender.] The character is only seen as a corpse with the upper half bitten off by a shark, but you use his likeness in a photograph and in an animation sequence.

GOUGH The The animated story of Charles' death is Tim telling his worst nightmare of dying: he's in a plane crash, he survives, he almost drowns, he's just rescued and then he gets eaten by a shark. It's a great story. Because the first film is stop motion – remember when the sculptures come to life and those things – we wanted to have that in there. So it was about giving the backstory moments a twist. Like with Betelgeuse and the Italian film of his origin story. With Charles, it helps to show him without his head to reflect the real situation.

There are a lot of special effects in the film, one of which is the Betelgeuse baby. Did you originally intend to use that again as a subtitle at the end or is that a product of how funny it was the first time it appeared?

GOUGH We didn't want the film to feel like it was wrapped in a loop, so we had the idea of ​​Tim giving up Lydia's performance and her and Astrid [Jenna Ortega] go on this trip that she wanted to take with her father. It was Tim's idea to do that scene and make it seem like she's getting married and everything's going great – and then she has this Betelgeuse baby and you realize it's a dream. It was the surprise bang at the end of the movie to make you realize that nothing in this world is ever wrapped up with a bow.

MILLAR That was the last scene we wrote before the strike. We originally shot that scene in the hospital, hours before the strike was called. It was the last thing we ever wrote for the movie. It just felt crazy and inspired to make it feel like it was this nice, warm, fuzzy feeling and then the Betelgeuse baby comes back and it's too perfect.

Why did you decide to let Delia die?

Millar That was actually Catherine's idea. We were talking about her character and she said, “I think she should commit suicide because she's so in love with Charles. The best thing she can do is join him in the afterlife.” It's a great idea, but it seemed strange to me to have a main character in a comedy commit suicide towards the end of the film. What could be a more creative, bizarre death for her? That was an accidental death. That's how we came up with his idea of ​​the adders, which we really liked.

What about the second season of Wednesday – and did the reaction to the first season influence the direction you are going in now?

GOUGH We're in the middle of production. We're both in Dublin right now. Ideals obviously evolve as you see how the show comes out and how people react to it, but we're not going to take advantage of that. You definitely take it in, but we're doing what we wanted to do and how we saw the second season before anyone knew what the first season was going to be. It's crazy too. It's great that something has touched the culture so much.

MILLAR We just take one script at a time and forget what people think. Shooting on an island was a great bubble. We're oblivious to everything and just focus on making great episodes. That's something we've really dedicated ourselves to over the last three years.

Have you been asked whether you The Addams Family as a feature film? There hasn't been a live-action theatrical version of this genre since the early 1990s, which is quite surprising.

GOUGH We feel like we are exploring The Addams Family on this show until Wednesday. So that's the story. When we did that Smallvillepeople always asked us if we were going to do a Superman movie. But that was the story we were telling. I think that's how we feel here. There are a lot of stories to tell in this universe and we're excited about it.

Were you surprised by Jenna's comments about her? Wednesday Script notes? It almost seems like she has to bring that up every time she's pressed for something – and I realize that I'm basically doing the same thing when I ask you about it.

GOUGH That's difficult. We've done a few of these shows like Smallvillewhich was a huge success from the beginning. Suddenly these young stars are in the spotlight. They're going to make missteps. They're going to say things. I think you just have to show them grace and know that this is going to happen. It's never comfortable, but it's just part of it. I think we're at the point now where the internet is going to do what the internet is going to do. What you don't want to do is give these things oxygen.

MILLAR We work very closely with Jenna on the show. We have of course worked with her on Beetlejuice. It's always an incredibly collaborative and joyful experience. We couldn't be prouder of her work and have brought her on as a producer on the show this year. She's one of the hardest working, most talented young actors in the business and we're very lucky and very proud to have her working with us. So it is what it is. A show of this size and scale is always going to generate conversation. But it's not our reality or her reality.