Beetlejuice Beetlejuice star Jenna Ortega shared how she was able to avoid turning her character Astrid into another version of Lydia Deetz. This marks Ortega’s second collaboration with director Tim Burton, after first working together on Netflix’s hit Wednesday series, which is currently in production for its second season.

During a recent interview with GamesRadar+, Ortega opened up about the process she did to bring Astrid to life in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, without mimicking Winona Ryder’s performance as Lydia Deetz in the original 1988 movie. She revealed that during production Burton took a step back and gave her the freedom on how she would want to portray her character. “There actually weren’t a lot of conversations with other people, which I think is really exciting and [the thing that’s so] different about working with Tim, because usually you do have those conversations,” Ortega explained. “I love being able to share and collaborate on ideas for a character, but Tim just kind of takes a step back and lets you do what you need to do.”

In addition, Ortega also praised the writers for doing a “wonderful job” at establishing her character for her, which allowed her to have a better understanding of Astrid. She added, “If you have questions or if you have concerns, he’ll talk to you about them. But for the most part, we just kind of showed up and we did it. I didn’t want [Astrid] to be Lydia, so I just made sure she had similar characteristics, like just being very self-assured and opinionated and very aware of who she was. The writers also did a wonderful job of establishing that for me, then it was more so just working with Catherine and Winona a lot of the time, and they’re so great at what they do, and so nice and so comforting that I didn’t have to worry about chemistry too much, everything just kind of fell into place.”

I didn’t want [Astrid] to be Lydia, so I just made sure she had similar characteristics, like just being very self-assured and opinionated and very aware of who she was.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is once again directed by Burton from a screenplay written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, who initially worked with Burton on the Wednesday series. The long-awaited sequel features the return of Michael Keaton as Betelgeuse, Ryder as Lydia Deetz, and Catherine O’Hara as Delia Deetz. Joining them are new cast members Ortega as Lydia’s teen daughter Astrid, Monica Bellucci as Betelgeuse’s ex-wife, Willem Dafoe as afterlife detective Wolf Jackson, Justin Theroux as Lydia’s husband Rory, Burn Gorman as a reverend, Danny DeVito, and Arthur Conti. According to Burton, the cast did a lot of improv during production just like what they did in the first installment. “I tried to treat this movie like the spirit of the first movie where we had a script, but there was a lot of improv that went on,” he said.

Beetlejuice 2 on Track for Huge Opening Weekend

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is currently tracking to dominate the box office for its opening weekend, with a predicted domestic gross of between $100 million and $110 million. Following its world premiere at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, the film has also been receiving positive reviews from critics, with some praising the sequel as Burton’s “best – and funniest – film in years!” After its premiere, the cast earned a three-minute standing ovation from the audience. Ahead of its U.S. theatrical debut this Friday, Sept. 6, the film is currently Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a 77% rating, based on 128 reviews.

Source: GamesRadar+