Screenwriters Alfred Gough & Miles Millar Talk “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”

Beetlejuice was a playful foray into horror comedy in 1998 depicting the gentrification of family neighborhood Winter River with left-field visionary director Tim Burton at the helm. A follow up film was discussed for over three decades since Michael Keaton first exclaimed “It’s Showtime” as his iconic Betelgeuse character.

After the stunning success of The Addams Family spinoff Wednesday, co-creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar recognized that the audience appetite for kooky, spooky horror had returned. Tim Burton, who directed on the show agreed. So, they discarded most intermediate drafts of a potential Beetlejuice sequel and went to work on a new story.

Gough and Millar spoke with Creative Screenwriting Magazine about bring Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to the screen after so many years. To begin, they started with a clean slate. Tim Burton advised them not to read any of the old versions many of which he confessed, he hadn’t read himself.

“After thirty plus, years, Burton was ‘kind of ready to do it,’” recalls Gough. They met Burton to discuss his vision for the movie. Three years later (relatively short in screenwriting terms) Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was ready.

Miles Millar adds that the they re-watched the original film three or four times, had ongoing discussions with Tim Burton, and eventually developed a storyline.

The screenwriters wrote an outline of around fifteen pages which formed the “architectural framework” of the film.

“The script evolved very organically. The arcs, the characters, and the structural pillars were all there in the first draft. Then it was about mixing things up,” says Millar. He also notes that they didn’t receive too many notes from the studio or the producers.

What Does Beetlejuice Mean To Alfred Gough and Miles Millar?

“I think for us, the original Beetlejuice is that there’s a timeless quality to it, but it’s also completely of its time,” declares Gough.

“It’s a story which was told a lot in the 80s about yuppies moving into the country and trying to gentrify and turn it into a mini version of the city.”

“On the surface, Beetlejuice is about this quaint couple who are dead, who don’t want their house defiled by these humans, and called Beetlejuice to scare them away.”

“What’s the kind of story you want to tell that feels modern and also is emotional? And for us, it was really the mother-daughter story between Lydia (Winona Ryder) and Astrid (Jenna Ortega). It’s really a movie about loss and grief and how the Deetz family is going through it after the death of Charles.”

Teen Stories

Writing grounded stories about teenage angst is a feature of the Gough-Millar wheelhouse.

“We gravitate towards stories of teenagers who are grappling with bad situations, whether it be Clark Kent, Wednesday Adams, and in this case, Astrid, who’s grappling with a mother (Lydia) who’s famous and she considers to be a fraud, and the loss of her father,” notes Millar. The beating heart of the story is Astrid’s ultimate connection with her mother.

Adding the ghost story of Betelgeuse and the underworld added an interesting twist to this premise. There’s also the additional irony in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice because Astrid, who doesn’t believe in ghosts, falls in love with a boy ghost called Jeremy (Arthur Conti). “This works as a structural girder that can support the rest of the movie,” adds Miles.

Three Generations Of Women

Although the Lydia-Astrid helix is integral to the storyline, so is Lydia’s stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara). Over the course of three decades, their relationship dynamics have evolved into a softer kind of antagonism. Delia still considers Lydia to be a sellout by monetizing her ability to speak to the dead via Ghost House, her television show.

“Like most adults, you come to have a different relationship with your parents or step-parents,” says Gough. Especially, if the patriarch Charles dies. “There is that bonding between Delia and Lydia.”

“It’s two of them coming together and realizing that life is the path life takes and isn’t necessarily the destination you expect,” states Millar.

Working With Tim Burton

Tim Burton has a sharply distinctive style blending the macabre with eccentricity. Miles Millar and Alfred Gough have established a short hand with Burton with whom they’ve been working for around five years. Millar describes it as  “a lot is on the page and a lot isn’t.”

“I think we’re very visual writers and that if you read our scripts, you hopefully see the movie in the writing. This movie is full of visual gags and delights.” There are many instances where these moments start on the page and evolve from there. There’s an army of creature designers led by Neil Scanlon who help facilitate the process. There are countless other designers who understand the world and also contribute to the movie’s aesthetic.

Modernizing Beetlejuice

Alfred Gough and Miles Millar didn’t consciously set out to “update” Beetlejuice. Audiences know exactly who he is. The writers want to capture the passage of time and illustrate where the characters are now in Winter River. However, the story needed to feel fresh with some new characters brought into the fold including Rory (Justin Theroux), Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe) who replaced the Juno (Sylvia Sidney) the law enforcement character in the original, Dolores (Monica Bellucci) Betelgeuse’s ex-wife who wants to suck out his soul, and Astrid who is the “eyes and ears of the movie.”

“Then there’s television producer Rory who weaponizes all the therapy speak, and uses it to his own ends. That’s the social satire aspect of it.”

The creative team also considered what they could explore in the afterlife that wasn’t in the first Beetlejuice film. They also added some striking set pieces – such as the Soul Train platform. Gough and Millar knew they needed a musical interlude and it was organically woven into their screenplay. “It became this wonderful burst of energy and dance in the middle of the movie.” It was set against a backdrop of real danger where Astrid and Lydia need to intercept Charles before he boarded the train to the beyond.

The Writing Process

After completing a robust outline, the screenwriting process was relatively straightforward. Alfred Gough and Miles Millar wrote in Los Angeles and sent their drafts to Tim Burton, who is based in London, Burton read them and sent feedback while they slept. They delivered the shooting draft four hours before the WGA strike was called after completing the hospital birth scene.

“We probably wrote four or five full drafts over a matter of months. In between we did a bunch of scene work and work on character arcs.”

Then Tim Burton would enter with his story “tuning fork” with his feedback on what was and wasn’t working. “As the actors came on, we made sure they felt distinct.”

Alfred and Miles’ collaborative process has evolved over the years, but it still centers on them writing in the same room – except when they’re working in different countries.

Their writing process works as long there’s a solid outline that contain solid scene breakdowns not just story beats.