Geena Daviswas one of the biggest absentees inBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, but one major twist near the end of the movie perfectly honored her horror legacy with a reference to a 38-year-old movie. Joining the trend of long-awaited sequels isBeetlejuice, which finally got a continuation over 30 years after the first movie was released. Simply titledBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, the sequel has Tim Burton back as director, with Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, and Catherine O’Hara reprising their roles as Lydia, Beetlejuice, and Delia, respectively, and they are joined by new characters.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuicesees Delia, Lydia, and the latter’s daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) returning to Winter River afterCharles Deetz’s death. However, when Astrid is tricked into crossing into the Neitherworld, Lydia has no choice but to summon Beetlejuice for help. Beetlejuice agrees under the condition that Lydia finally marries him, which will not only break his curse but also keep him away from his vengeful ex-wife, Delores (Monica Bellucci).By the time of these events, Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara Maitland (Davis) had already moved on, butBeetlejuice 2still found a way to honor Geena Davis.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s Birth Scene Referenced Geena Davis In The Fly
Geena Davis Went Through A Similar Nightmare In The Fly
Geena Davis wasn’t a newcomer by the time she was cast inBeetlejuice, and her most notable project at the time was the 1986 sci-fi body horror movieThe Fly. Directed by David Cronenberg and based on the 1957 short story of the same name by George Langelaan,The Flytells the story of Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum), an eccentric scientistworking on a machine that will allow instantaneous teleportation between two pods. Seth meets Ronnie Quaife (Davis), a science journalist who helps Seth keep a record of his new invention. Soon, Seth and Ronnie begin a relationship.
However, when Seth tries to teleport himself, unaware that a housefly is inside the pod with him,he accidentally fuses himself with the fly at the molecular-genetic level. This causes him to gradually turn into a fly monster creature, and though Ronnie initially can’t bring herself to kill him, the Seth/fly creature silently begs her to end his suffering. To make it all more tragic,Ronnie is pregnant with Seth’s child, and before she tries to get an abortion, she has a nightmare about their child.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuicedoesn’t have Geena Davis back, but one scene near the end of the movie references Ronnie’s nightmare inThe Fly.
In it,Ronnie gives birth to a giant maggot, much to her, the doctors’, and her ex-boyfriend’s horror.Beetlejuice Beetlejuicedoesn’t have Geena Davis back, but one scene near the end of the movie references Ronnie’s nightmare inThe Fly. Atthe end ofBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, Lydia travels to Dracula’s Castle with Astrid, where the latter meets a young man named Vlad.
Astrid and Vlad get married andAstrid gives birth to her first child… who turns out to bethe monstrous Beetlejuice babyfrom earlier. The sequence is revealed to be Lydia’s nightmare, and it’s reminiscent of Ronnie’s maggot one – except Astrid is happy when she sees her strange child.
Why Geena Davis Wasn’t In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Geena Davis & Alec Baldwin Were Beetlejuice 2’s Biggest Absentees
BeforeBeetlejuice Beetlejuicewas released, there was a lot of speculation about why Davis and Baldwin didn’t return as Barbara and Adam Maitland. From a practical point of view, the Maitlands weren’t supposed to age, so bringing Davis and Baldwin back would have required de-aging them somehow. However,Tim Burton’s reasons for not including the Maitlands inBeetlejuice Beetlejuicewere more about the story.
Speaking toPeople,Burton explainedthat he didn’t want to simply “tick boxes”, and though the Maitlands were a key part ofBeetlejuice, the focus of the sequel was on something else.Burton shared that the core ofBeetlejuice Beetlejuiceis the three generations of Deetz women, so there wasn’t a place for the Maitlands anymore.
How Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Honors The Maitlands
Beetlejuice 2 Didn’t Forget About The Maitlands
The Maitlands don’t appear inBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, but the movie doesn’t forget about them.Lydia explains that they found a loopholein the clause that forced them to stay in their house for 125 years and finally moved on, but Adam’s town model is still in the attic.Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s opening scene has a subtle Easter eggto honor de Maitlands, as the camera flies through the model of the town and Adam and Barbara’s figures can be seen in it with a model of their car in the river.
This also confirmed that the Maitlands stayed with the Deetzes for a while, andtheir relationship with Lydia was key to her building her career as a mediumand host of her own supernatural talk show. As beloved as the Maitlands were,Beetlejuice Beetlejuicedidn’t need them, and they were given a good ending.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the sequel to the original Tim Burton classic that starred Michael Keaton and Wynona Rider in a horror-comedy that involved ghosts trying to scare off new homebuyers from taking their house. The sequel brings back Michael Keaton as the hilarious and sleazy ghost with selfish intentions, now joined by Jenna Ortega in a new role.
