“This time I did”: Winona Ryder Teases Her Character’s Bombshell Arc in Beetlejuice 2 as She Gets to Do One Thing That the First Movie Kept From Her
- Winona Ryder was excited to go to Afterlife in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
- The Stranger Things actress notes the franchise was probably waiting for Jenna Ortega to grow up so that they could make the second installment.
- Winona Ryder states Jenna Ortega is a younger version of her.
Directed by Tim Burton, the highly awaited fantasy comedy horror movie Beetlejuice Beetlejuice starring Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Michael Keaton, Jenna Ortega, and more, is ready to premiere at the 81st Venice International Film Festival. The second installment follows the strained relationship between mother-daughter who return to Winter River six years after the events of the first installment.
Beetlejuice was released in 1988, and upon its release, it was a critical and commercial success, earning an Academy Award for Best Makeup. The performances of the actors in the movie were highly lauded at the time. Ahead of the release of Beetlejuice 2, Winona Ryder shares how the second installment allowed her to do something she couldn’t do in the original movie.
Winona Ryder expresses excitement over being able to go to Afterlife in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Actress Winona Ryder, who plays Lydia Deetz in the movie, spoke to Collider recently ahead of the movie’s release. The actress, during her interview, expressed her excitement over being able to do one thing that she wasn’t able to do in 1988’s Beetlejuice: go into the Afterlife. She explained,
I didn’t really get to go into the Afterlife and this time I did, and it was incredible. I mean mind-blowing, and just to know that there are people under all of those you know, it’s a dream. I mean, like everything these days is CGI, and then with AI, so to see that this can happen and it works and it can look so beautiful and miraculous and like weird and unique.
Ryder recalled that in the first part, she was able to float and was in the harness, but it was the Afterlife she wanted to go to. The actress further acknowledged that they have used practical effects in the movie, which were the work of incredibly talented puppeteers.
The actress explained that everything that the audience will see is real like it is human hands. During the interview, the actress was also asked about what, according to her, was the reason the second installment took such a long time in the making. Ryder, who plays Jenna Ortega’s mother in the movie, mentioned that she feels like they were waiting for Ortega to be born and grow up, as the young actress feels like a perfect puzzle piece that was missing.
Ryder mentions that Ortega completes their puzzle by stating that she is just an incredible person to work with. The actress praised the young actress by commenting that she is not trying to just replicate what’s been told to her, but she puts in a lot of thought into it, which is beautiful to watch.
Winona Ryder states Jenna Ortega is a ‘younger version’ of her
The incredible actress who returns to play Lydia Deetz, but this time with her daughter Astrid, built a special bond on and off screen. In their interview with ScreenRant, Ryder acknowledged that she sees a younger version of herself in Jenna Ortega. She said,
I don’t think I’ve ever bonded with someone like I did with Jenna. It was insane. And it did feel a lot like I was talking to a younger version of myself, but she’s just like a thousand times cooler. We both have the same almost religious reverence for film. She is a cinephile, and we just can talk movies for years. We just bonded so intensely, and that was incredibly helpful.
Winona Ryder also mentioned that she was blown away by Ortega’s performance as Astrid Deetz in the movie. The young actress, known for her work in the Scream franchise and Wednesday, mentioned during the interview that it was easy for her to get along with Ryder given that they are very similar.
Ortega shared with the publication that the connection she managed to build with Winona Ryder is meaningful and so wonderful and sweet to hear her talk about their connection because it’s true, it happened almost instantly. The Wednesday actress detailed that sometimes you just look at the person and you just know.
She concluded that she could have never anticipated that she’d be working with Winona Ryder, getting to know her, and loving her. Jenna Ortega says Winona Ryder is very easy to love.
The mother-daughter duo with another cast of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice arrives on September 6, 2024, in cinemas.
