Willem Dafoe Is Playing a Dead ‘B-Movie Action Star’ in ‘Beetlejuice 2’

Willem Dafoe is teasing the details of upcoming undead dark comedy “Beetlejuice 2.”

The long-awaited sequel to Tim Burton’s 1988 film starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara adds in new characters portrayed by Dafoe, Justin Theroux, and Jenna Ortega, who plays Ryder’s onscreen daughter and O’Hara’s granddaughter.

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Dafoe told Variety that his role has a meta nod to old school Hollywood horror, with his character being a dead “B-movie action star” who finds a new calling in the afterlife.

“I play a police officer in the afterlife, so I’m a dead person,” Dafoe said. “And in life I was a B-movie action star, but I had an accident and that’s what sent me to the other side. But because of my skills, I became a detective character in the afterlife. So that’s my job. But it’s colored by the fact of who I was [when I was alive]: a B movie action star.”

The “Poor Things” actor added, “I haven’t seen any footage yet, but it was fun to do.”

Returning star Keaton, who plays the title Beetlejuice, previously told Empire magazine that the film was the “most fucking fun” to work on, mainly because production followed suit of the original.

“‘Beetlejuice’ is the most fucking fun you can have working. It’s so fun, it’s so great,” Keaton said, citing the practical effects. “And you know what it is? We’re doing it exactly like we did the first movie. There’s a woman in the great waiting room for the afterlife literally with a fishing line – I want people to know this because I love it – tugging on the tail of a cat to make it move.”

Keaton continued of the long-awaited sequel, “[Director Tim Burton] and I were talking about it years and years ago, never telling anybody. I said, ‘If it happens, first of all, we’ve both said we’re doing it many times.’ We both agreed, if it happens, it has to be done as close to the way we made it the first time. Making stuff up, making stuff happen, improvising and riffing, but literally handmade stuff like people creating things with their hands and building something. Fucking great. It’s the most fun I’ve had working on a movie in I can’t tell you how long.”

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