K.T Simpson
UPDATE : March 9 – The Hot Mic has confirmed the below rumor on Ortega’s possible Beetlejuice 2 gig. The Scream VI alum is in talks to play the daughter of Lydia Deetz, portrayed by Winona Ryder in the original film.
Jenna Ortega, a young actress whose star is shining brightly thanks to her well-publicized and tremendous turns in the likes of the latest Scream films and Netflix’s “Wednesday”, has reportedly signed to star alongside Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton in Warner’s Beetlejuice sequel. Producers had been looking at Ryder’s “Stranger Things” co-star Sadie Sink for the role of Lidia’s offspring in the daughter but her unavailability paved the way for the Scream VI star to nab the part.
Ortega, of course, works with Tim Burton, director of the Beetlejuice movies, on Netflix’s “Wednesday” series.
The rumor, which was floated by Daniel RPK and later other oft-reliable Twitter scoopers, suggests the long-gestating sequel – in the works for over two decades now – might finally be inching forward.
Ortega can be seen this week in Paramount and Spyglass’s Scream VI.
Previously…
With rumors a rife that the long-awaited Beetlejuice sequel is finally inching forward, no surprise to hear that preliminary casting may have kicked off.
The film, which will reportedly bring back Michael Keaton’s ‘Ghost with the Most’ and Winona Ryder’s Lydia Deetz, has been in development for the better part of three decades now. This most recent incarnation has Brad Pitt’s Plan B producing, and Tim Burton directing a script by David Katzenberg, Seth Grahame-Smith, and Mike Vukadinovich.
Latest casting talk has “Stranger Things” and The Whale’s Sadie Sink attached to play Ryder’s on-screen daughter in the film.
According to a couple of reliable online insiders, this is more than just talk and Sink is indeed close to signing on to star opposite her “Stranger Things” co-star and another returning player Catherine O’Hara in the pic.
This is solid news, considering there’d seemingly been no development on the film in eons. Even Michael Keaton hasn’t officially confirmed his involvement.
The thesp, who also reprises his role as the caped crusader in another WB property, The Flash shortly, said a couple of years ago that he’d never officially boarded any Beetlejuice sequel – despite rumors he’d been attached for years.
Despite years of rumours about the project, the Birdman actor said in 2017 that any Beetlejuice 2 talk was little more than a fanboy dream.
Speaking to Karl Quinn from The Sydney Morning-Herald, Keaton said that while he’s a huge fan of the original 1988 film, and while he might be interested in reprising the role, the project hasn’t moved an inch in the years it’s been discussed.
“I can go back 20 years, maybe longer, maybe I was the one who even brought it up. I maybe said, ‘If there’s one thing I’d like to remake it’s Beetlejuice’ – and that might be 20 years ago that I said it. Nobody paid attention, but all of a sudden people tell me, ‘I hear you’re doing it’, and I’m like ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about’. Wait a minute, am I crazy? Why are people still talking about this?
“This is a thing that’s come and gone like 10 times. People say, ‘Hey, it was announced today’, and I say ‘Really? Well I haven’t heard’. Then it goes away and then it comes back again. Then another four years pass.”
Keaton says if it was going to happen, it likely would’ve happened already.
“Whoever is in charge has had the opportunity to make it for many, many years,” he says. “They should have just pulled the trigger and done it. But they didn’t, and it had nothing to do with me or Tim.”
The original cult classic starred Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis as ghosts who haunt their old home. When a little girl (Winona Ryder) accidentally unleashes a mischievous ghost (Keaton), the ghosts try to drive the homeowners (Catherine O’Hara and Jeffrey Jones) out of the house.
