“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” scribe on writing the 'MacArthur Park' scene, that cameo, and more

Screenwriter Alfred Gough walks EW through writing some of the sequel's big moments and characters.

Warning: This article contains spoilers from Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Netflix series Wednesday was formative for the creation of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice in more ways than just Jenna Ortega. Yes, Burton's work with the in-demand actress led to her casting in the crucial role of Astrid Deetz, the daughter of Winona Ryder's Lydia and granddaughter of Catherine O'Hara's Delia, but the filmmaker of the original cult hit also tapped his Wednesday scribes Alfred Gough and Miles Millar to pen the screenplay.

"We were flattered and honored and shocked," Gough tells Entertainment Weekly in an interview over Zoom. "He went through the things he wanted in the movie, and Miles and I went off and crafted a story and did a 10-page outline for him, which he really liked and responded to."

As Beetlejuice Beetlejuice begins its theatrical run this weekend, Gough walks EW through how they wrote some of the film's big moments, from the "MacArthur Park" musical ending to evolving Justin Theroux's Rory.

The new "MacArthur Park" number

Related: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice early draft featured Maitlands cameo — here's why it was cut (exclusive)

"Once we had the script down and everything was working, that's when you can go through and really iterate ideas and try to find the zag when you think it's going to zig," Gough says. Take the "MacArthur Park" musical ending. Once again, Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) tries to marry Lydia. The demon hijacks her Halloween church ceremony with Rory, traps all the guests inside their phones, and supernaturally forces his bride-to-be, Astrid, Delia, Rory, and the priest (Burn Gorman) to perform an interpretive dance while they all lip sync to "MacArthur Park."

"We all wanted a musical number," the scribe recalls. "We just didn't know what it was. It all felt like the movie was wrapping up too neatly. And then Tim called us." Burton has a jukebox in his home, and one of its tracks is "MacArthur Park," not the Donna Summers rendition that became more popular over the years, but the original 1968 version first recorded by Irish actor and singer Richard Harris. "We went and listened to it, and then we just wrote out a musical number based on that," Gough says. "And then we kept evolving it. We were like, 'Yes! That's the crazy, weird, insane thing you need at the end of this movie.'"

The challenge was not repeating the "Banana Boat (Day-O)" musical moment from the original film beat for beat — when the Maitlands' ghosts possess the bodies of the Deetz's dinner guests. "What's interesting is Beetlejuice doesn't actually do 'Day-O,'" Gough points out. "It's actually the Maitlands who do it to the Deetzes. So for this one, we were like, 'How do we make it where it could be Beetlejuice being the crazy ringleader of that whole situation?'"

Danny DeVito's cameo

Related: Beetlejuice 'Banana Boat (Day-O)' scene, a (mini) oral history with Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara

Danny DeVito reunites with both Burton and Keaton, after playing the Penguin in Batman Returns (1992) and Medici in Dumbo (2019). He has quite the small role as a ghostly janitor in the Afterlife, but his part is crucial in that he's present when Delores (Monica Bellucci) reconstitutes herself and makes him her first victim.

Gough says they didn't write that character with DeVito in mind. "Tim called Danny and Danny said yes in a minute and came and did it, which was great," he mentions. "It's such a fun surprise in the movie right at the beginning." Well, not too big of a surprise. Anyone who lives on the internet probably saw at least one story about DeVito's cameo, since eagle-eyed fans were able to pause the trailers in just the right spot to see his character. "That's beyond my sleuthing purview for trailers," Gough comments.

Justin Theroux's Rory was inspired by Glenn Shadix's Otho

Related: Jenna Ortega, Winona Ryder on shooting the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Sandworm scene (exclusive)

'Memba Otho? Delia's interior designer friend, played by Glenn Shadix, in the first Beetlejuice? That figure served as loose inspiration for Rory, Lydia's TV producer on Ghost House and her scheming boyfriend-turned-fiancé. "The Rory character was kind of in the first movie," Gough explains. "You had Otho, who was the guy you couldn't wait to see get his comeuppance. We liked the idea that Lydia was in this weird codependent relationship that everybody could see was codependent, and even she kind of knew it was."

Rory was the character that underwent the most evolution in the development of the script. "The fine line is you want to understand why Lydia's with him, but you also want the audience to know this guy's a schmuck," Gough says. "I don't mean this to sound pretentious, you want to find the humanity in that character. He can't just be a punchline." Once Theroux was cast for the part and the writers were able to connect with him over Zoom, "he had ideas that we were able to incorporate," Gough adds.

"The 600-year age gap"

Related: Michael Keaton calls Beetlejuice 2 'a big roll of the dice': 'Should we have left it alone?'

When Lydia once again thwarts Beetlejuice's marriage attempt, she makes a pointed but hilarious joke at his expense: "The 600-year age gap was a little much for me." The age gap between teen Lydia and Beetlejuice in the original film became a talking point among fans of the cult hit over the years, but Gough insists he and Millar did not pay attention to that discourse. "As you know, when you watch something again [that's] 30 years old, you're like, 'Wow! We were all okay with that in the '80s,'" he says. "You forget sometimes, even when you show these movies you love to your kids. You're like, 'Oh! That's a little questionable.' But I think it is fun to not do a couple of those things [in the sequel]."

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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is playing now in theaters. Learn more about the cut Maitlands cameo from an early draft of the script, as well as the Charles Deetz death scenario inspired by Burton's worst nightmare.

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