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September 26, 2024 46 mins
Don't say it three times! Shauna details her recent encounter with a celebrity. Who was it? You'll have to listen to find out, but he's super cool, has gorgeous eyes, and is a great tipper. Olivia had an encounter with...Utah, thanks to The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, a Hulu series about one of the naughtiest Mormon momfluencers on television now. Then the Junkies segue into a look at Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, a sequel 36 years in the making. Fans of this podcast know we covered the first Beetlejuice in our Winona 101 series, but Olivia wasn't part of the show back then, so the Junkies take a look back again, but with some exciting new info. Then Shauna and Olivia give their slightly spoilery takes on the sequel, and if it lived up to or exceeded the original...and answer the question of whether there will be a sequel to the sequel, forcing everyone to say Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetle...no. We can't take that chance. 

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
♪ Entertain me, Entertain me right now! ♪

(00:04):
- Hello and welcome to the one and only
Pop Culture Junkie podcast.
We trademarked that name, bitches.
- That's right.
- That's right.
- We are litigious.
- Litigious.
- We are litigious.
- I like that.
- Yes, yeah.
- Not really.
- Who are you?
- My name is Olivia.
- My name is Shauna.
- Yeah, and it's so good to be back with you guys.

(00:25):
If it's your first time with us, welcome.
We're so excited to have you.
And if you're a returning listener,
we're ready to get into it.
So Shauna, since I've been gone,
I've heard that you actually had quite the encounter.
- I did.
Okay, so I have two jobs.
I don't know how it happened.
Whoops.

(00:45):
- The Academy.
- Technically three.
- Oh god, this is a job too.
- Yeah.
- Shit, I need to do it.
- Good bad.
This is my last episode.
(laughing)
So I bartend at a place in Phoenix.
And it was a chill Sunday night in this guy walks in
and he had a mask on like a COVID style mask

(01:07):
and just has on a baby blue like New York Yankees hat
with the stickers still on,
believe fucking belt.
- Okay.
- And these clean Jordans.
- Okay.
- And it's like, can I buy something so I can charge my cell phone
and I said, well, yeah, of course, you're on a beard.
So he sits at the bar,
his plugs in his cell phone and I was like,

(01:27):
what do you usually like to drink?
- Bud light.
- Well, we don't have any Bud light
'cause we're a craft beer bar.
But here let me pour you like a light beer or something similar.
So I put it down in front of him and it came out to like
$6 and he puts down a 20.
I give him his change and he just leaves the change sitting there.
And after a couple of minutes, he's like, this is your tip.
- Yeah.
- Like, okay.

(01:47):
Interesting.
- He leaves the mask on and he's sitting there talking
to a guy at the bar and they're talking about kid cutie
and Kanye, like old Kanye versus New Kanye.
- And I thought this was the most interesting part.
So they're going into this discussion of music.
- How Kanye has really started to go downhill, right?

(02:11):
- He said that he does not like,
I haven't even said who this is.
- Yeah, no, but that's a point.
- Okay.
So he is talking about how new Kanye's music's weird.
He has some song, I guess I didn't listen to it
'cause fuck Kanye, where he repeats the same term,
like 23 times.
And he was like, seriously, you think that's cool
to the next guy?
- Yeah.
- Like they were joking, riffing,
'cause he's like, oh, I think Kanye is a matte,

(02:31):
a matte, a matte.
- I don't know, I still like him.
And he's like, he thought that was cool.
- He thought that was good.
- He said that's what he was talking to.
- He thought that was good.
- And I'm looking at him and I can see his eyes.
And I said, you look a lot like Lil Nas X.
And he's like, yeah, I get that a lot.
At this point, he still is not taking a single sip
of his peer.
- Yeah, 'cause he doesn't want to take the mask off.

(02:52):
- He doesn't want to take the mask off.
- And so I start putting like this together.
I'm like, why did he tip us so much for single beer
that he hasn't even drank?
Hasn't taken his mask off,
'cause he doesn't want us to see his face.
So he's there for a while.
He ends up buying like a can to go.
He only takes off his mask when he goes to the back
of the restaurant.
We're no one can see him.

(03:13):
And I see him dancing to the music like this.
(laughing)
And I was like, and I texted my coworker
and I said, dog, I'm pretty sure that's Lil Nas X.
Like I think that is him.
- Yeah.
- So he's paying, closing out on the,
he pays for the to go beer.
And again, tips another like 10 bucks, 20 bucks.
And I was like, you have to tell us

(03:35):
if you're secretly a little Nas X, okay.
And he just goes, oh, you caught me all jokingly.
A black sedan pulls up in the middle of the street
outside with tinted windows.
He walks up, gets in the back seat and drives away.
And I go Lil Nas X's Instagram page.
- Yeah.
- He's in Arizona.
- Oh wow.
- And he posted the same hat that he was wearing.

(03:55):
So it was 100% Lil Nas X.
- I love it, but he's like, oh, I'll pay for something.
It's like, you could have just been like,
can I trust my phone?
- He could have been like, I'm Lil Nas X.
Can I trust my phone?
- Yes.
- I would have probably had a lot more questions.
Like what, what's going on?
- Why am I here?
- He walked in through like the weird side entrance
on the street.

(04:16):
- Oh, maybe he has like a hook up.
- That's for the week.
The rest of the night was just,
all the customers, he came and all the regulars were like,
Lil Nas X was just here.
- Yeah, it's for the real T of it all is the opinion on Kanye.
- It's the correct opinion.
- It's a correct opinion.
- It's much better on you, God yeah.
- Yeah.
- And then he was very nice.
He was so delightful.

(04:37):
And then I found a lot,
'cause I was searching Reddit.
I was in a Lil Nas X Reddit holder.
- Yeah.
- And I found a lot of pictures of him wearing those shoes,
wearing the belt with the hat.
- So you really went in and there are a lot of things.
- Yeah, I love that.
- He was so thoughtful.
- He was so thoughtful.
- The one time I'm gone, I was like, damn it.
- Literally.
And I took that ship from another bartender

(04:58):
that she came in later to like drink.
And she's like, the one night I'm not working,
you get to meet Lil Nas X.
After I told him, but he looked like Lil Nas X,
I was like, that's a compliment by the way,
because I love him.
- Yeah.
- And I really do.
I love him.
- Yeah.
- So it's so meta.
- It's amazing.
- That is true.
Like I bet you celebrities really look at COVID

(05:20):
so differently because they did get anonymity
that they didn't normally have.
And like I think Lil Nas X has very distinct eyes,
but even that's how I thought he's pretty nice.
- Oh geez.
- No, like who that person is.
And like, you know, like someone like a Harry Styles.
- Yeah.
- Who would normally get like stalked.
Like people figured out what his mass face looked like.

(05:43):
- Yeah.
- But for like a period of time, like they were able
to kind of go out and I exist.
So it's probably like a weird juxtaposition for them of like,
oh yeah, I can just look like it.
- Kind of lay in the--
- Someone who's like a germaphogue.
- Yeah.
And like when he first walked in,
that's what I just kind of assumed.
I can no offense to anyone who still looks mask.
Like I mean deficient to people.
- Do you need it?
- But then it became clear that he's not even drinking the beer.

(06:06):
He never took a single sip of the beer.
- Yeah.
- I guess you would have to go like up.
- Yeah.
- And like, yeah.
- And then I saw one picture of him recently
and he had like grills and stuff.
- And I, then you would have really, really, yeah.
So I could just man with a diamonds in his teeth
and from a big, his diamond earrings too.
Like longer.
- I looked at him, I was like, this is a wealthy person.
(laughing)

(06:28):
I have my shea and earrings on.
I'm like, this is like rich person.
- I love that so much.
Well, while you were meeting Little Nons' ex,
I was actually watching the sequel, "Lives of Mormon Wise,"
which, to a very, very, very different--
- Speaking of Little Nons' ex.
- Oh, so, you know, the, so they were,
well, Taylor Frankie Paul, who's like the main character

(06:50):
on the show, is known for the soft swinging Mormon.
- Okay, wait, real quick clarifying question.
Is this a reality show or a scripted show?
- It's a reality show.
- Okay, what's it on?
- It's on Hulu now, but it started with these TikTokers.
And so basically like a couple of years ago,
the soft swinging Mormon scandal came out.

(07:12):
- It's the soft swinging.
But like, actually having sex.
- So so. - So then get that far into it.
But they were like swapping, they were like,
swapping husbands, and doing all the stuff.
- Would they do all the stuff?
- And stuff?
- The side sex.
Like, they weren't doing sex.
- Yeah, yeah.
They weren't doing sex, but they're doing everything but.
And so it comes out, but like, it comes out on Reddit.

(07:35):
And so this girl, Taylor Frankie Paul,
decides to just be like, you know what, screw it.
No one's taking my story.
I'm gonna go tell it.
- How it?
- It's on the internet and starts telling this whole story.
And you know, the Hulu producers were like,
we gotta get on with this.
- More Mormons.
- And so they start shooting this pilot
with this woman, Taylor Frankie Paul.

(07:57):
As this happens, she starts stating another guy,
while they're filming the pilot,
she gets arrested for domestic violence.
- Oh my God.
- And it is called the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
And it's all about this Mormon mom talk like,
is it like Utah, like they are very Mormon?
- Even more Mormon.
- Some of them are very Mormon.

(08:17):
Some of them are not very Mormon on the show.
- Is there they like fundamentalist?
- Yeah, I mean, most Mormon Utah's are very, very strict.
Just because they've grown up in that culture.
So it's, this is how the world got introduced to them.
And then you come in and it's the first episode
I will not lie, it's a little hard to get through.
But after it looked me.

(08:37):
- In turn.
- Oh my God, it's so good.
I never followed them before, but now I'm just like,
it's so sucked in on all their drama.
There's a bunch of after-cash drama.
- What?
- This one male-ciffin of world.
- I'm really in reality shows most of the time.
- She wants to play the victim so bad,
but in turn she made herself the biggest villain
in the whole show.
And it's so good.

(08:58):
And I'm just so excited for her season too.
So a very opposite size of the spectrum.
But we were having fun.
I was, I was in a hotel in San Francisco,
learned about Utah, but two very different places.
Let's say that, you know.
- So funny that like the things that we've watched
when we were in a hotel room,
pretty true amount of time, like you end up

(09:19):
rewatching old Adam Sandler movies.
They're always on.
Happy Gilmore is always on.
- Yeah.
- Or you find some E or was Bravo or something
and you're like, whatever.
- Yeah, I got all the sex in the city.
- It's always all sex in the city.
And I watch that in every hotel room.
But yeah, it's like you gotta find something
to kill those evenings.
- Kill those evenings.
- Kill those evenings.

(09:39):
- Awesome.
Well, that sounds amazing.
- Yeah.
- Speaking of what might happen to us in the afterlife,
we're gonna talk about a movie sequel
that recently came out that was 40 years in the making.
(dramatic music)
The biggest movie news this past year or so, probably.

(10:00):
Was the announcement of a sequel to Beetlejuice
some 49 years since the first one.
I'm just kidding, it was 36.
- You made me feel pretty old then.
- What?
- What?
- What?
- How did that work?
- How did that work?
Tim Burton made a sequel to the first movie
and it just came out.
We're gonna talk about that and have a slightly
spoilery discussion.

(10:21):
But let's first revisit the reason for the sequel,
1988 Beetlejuice.
- Yes.
And so like we mentioned,
we're gonna talk a little bit about Beetlejuice.
It came out 36 years ago.
So we are gonna spoil that a little bit for you.
- When we were in "Spoil This Movie"
that came out in the '80s.
- Yeah, absolutely.
- Yes, yes, yes.
Once we get into the newest movie that came out,

(10:44):
"Beatlejuice Beetlejuice," we will kind of let you know
when the spoilers are so you can pause it,
come back after you've seen the movie.
- Mm-hmm.
- But you know, really earlier today,
I wanted to actually go in and rewatch Beetlejuice.
You know, you guys had done an episode on Beetlejuice
in the past, the trailer.
- And I was pre-elever.
- Before I had joined.
So I wanted to kind of quickly give out my

(11:06):
rendition of my Beetlejuice thoughts
and really ultimately what I thought of the movie.
The first note that I have for you guys is,
how did I forget "Alic Baldwin" used to be so hot?
- He was so handsome in this movie.
- Yeah, oh my God.
- And she and Davis is gorgeous.
- Yeah, I think it's all the evil inside of "Alic Baldwin"

(11:28):
that made me forget it.
And then it has made him just like rapidly lose it.
- He just gets like saggy or
- Yeah. - And they're more cranky.
- Yeah, all the hateful and - Yeah, all the hateful.
- All the hateful. - All the hateful.
- All the hateful. - All the hateful.
- And all those things.
But really,
the rapid succession of my note is,
what would you realistically do if your neighbor

(11:48):
was putting your house on the market without your consent?
- What?
- Can you imagine?
- Like she just comes in and it's like,
this house is much too big for you.
I've actually put it on the off,
or I put it up and I'm already getting offers for this.
- How dare you live here?
- Yeah, first of all.
- Because you don't have children.
- And it's like, like what a crazy concept.
Just your neighbor actually putting her house

(12:11):
on the market without her consent.
- She's hustling.
- She's a real estate. - She's a real estate.
- She's a real estate. - She's a real estate.
- She has some work.
- It's chill.
- I love these just random notes.
- Yeah, the next one is,
that dog had murder in its soul.
- I forgot there was a dog.
- The dog murders them.
A lot of murders.
- I was like runs in front of the con.
- Yeah, runs in front of the con.
- That's her. - And then they actually

(12:32):
like fall into the water.
- That's her, okay.
- I do have some semantics of it
because the windows were open.
So realistically,
how could we not get out of the car?
- Maybe they just gave up.
- Yeah, they just said, you know what, screw it.
- I mean, at some point you just kind of go,
"It had to take me."
- When I was actually-- - She just
- She just took the wheel.
- When I was researching this though,

(12:52):
the original script for this film
had a much much darker turn.
- Like that thing. - That they were gonna do.
Where it was these people from within this city
of wherever they are in Connecticut
is chasing them, like kind of like pitchfork style.
- Or what?
- And ultimately they're trying to avoid them

(13:12):
and they drown.
- So they died like the 1600s or something.
- Yeah, they drown.
- Like horrifically, like while these people
were chasing them and they ended up cutting it out
of the story to make it more of like a horror comedy.
- Yeah.
- Ultimately I think it was a good choice,
but the original-- - A dog
- Reading out in front of your car
and you fall off the bridge.
- Yeah, it's pretty.

(13:33):
- It's pretty like, oh, yeah.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Oh, I'm in my dream house, my staycation,
and then they end up getting there.
My next no was ultimately,
if there are six in the afterlife,
does that mean that there's weed?
I'm asking the really important question,
fear. - I live in order to know
before she goes. (laughs)
If she can bring her Rick and Morty Bong.

(13:54):
- Yeah, it's a fair question.
- It's my Rick and Morty coming with me.
He better, me seeks, me seeks, you know.
- And you name your Bong, Mr. Meessing.
- Yeah, because it helps me with so many things, you know.
Me seek.
- Me seek.
- Yeah, and then my final no in this one was
Keaton must have had so much fun being this character,

(14:15):
and he's recently said in interviews
that this is actually his favorite character,
he's played all time, so.
- He just gets to be so silly in goofy,
and he gets that one F-bomb per movie.
- Yeah, I wonder if he was like,
channeling a specific person,
like, you know how Patrick Bateman is inspired
by Tom Cruise.
- Jumping up and down the couch.
- Yeah, I really are just the psychopaths.
- Just the best thing.

(14:36):
- That Tom Cruise is is like,
who do you think Keaton was like channeling?
Like, in my mind, the first thing I thought of
was like Harvey Weinstein.
- Oh my God.
- 'Cause Beetlejuice is a fucking creep, okay.
- Beetlejuice really is.
- He's a been the first movie.
- In the first movie, he's a predator.
- He's very, very touchy.
- He's like, roping.
- He's roping.
- He's roping.
- Real quick, we've already kind of covered it,

(14:57):
but Beetlejuice was directed by Tim Burton,
Michael McDowell, Warren Scar and Larry Wilson,
got writing credits.
Alec Baldwin and Gina Davis were in it,
famously Michael Keaton that we mentioned
and our fave here at the podcast, Winona writer.
The obnoxious Beetlejuice played by Michael Keaton
was kind of a predator.
He wants to marry Lydia, who is a teenager.

(15:21):
- She's strange.
- Yeah.
- And unusual.
- She's so weird.
- I quote Beetlejuice all the time, Andrew.
Whenever I, like,
in a depressive episode or because I'm quote,
"Gotha, Jason."
- Yeah.
- My whole life is a dark room.
One, dark room.
(laughs)
- He's like, are you doing okay?

(15:42):
- No.
- No.
- Have I ever?
- I do think it's kind of interesting.
So like the way that Tim Burton displays purgatory,
really ultimately is like the civil servant government office.
- Is it a shot?
- Like even after you die,
you still have to have a shot.
- Are you kidding me?
That's my health.
- Well, that's like the joke in the first one.

(16:03):
She's like, I wouldn't have had my little accident.
If I knew this was gonna happen.
So like Tim Burton's portrayal of purgatory,
which is where you go in religion.
If you, you know, live yourself is civil servant.
(laughs)
- It's kind of weird, like, if you think about Tim Burton's,
I don't know, concept of the afterlife, like you're saying.

(16:25):
So there's a heaven and a hell, it seems like.
And then in this area where beetle juiced
in the waiting room exists is kind of your waiting room.
So when you first die, no matter how good you are on earth,
you have to go here.
- Yep.
- And then they decide whether or not you go to the great beyond
or you burn and hell, I kind of.
- So the way that I thought of it more was Burton's idea was,

(16:50):
you are within the place that you died.
And if you want to try to go somewhere else or change that,
like you go into that civil servanthood,
but I don't know if the lore behind it
has really been broken down, or meant to be.
- I mean, I guess we can't hurt someone
- It's much smarter than us has done it.
- Right, I guess we'll get a little into it
when we talk about the sequel.
'Cause they have different levels of kind of the afterlife

(17:14):
than the ATES.
So we'll retouch that there.
But I would hate to think that I was like a good person,
my whole life, and then I'd die.
And I'd just like,
- Sean, you have to work at the DMV now.
Are you kidding me?
- Yeah, I like, no, wait, why?
- I should have sent more.
- I don't know if I know it.
I was just gonna be at the DMV no matter what.
I would have done a lot more for that.

(17:35):
- I would have had a lot more fun.
I would have had a lot more fun.
- Well, what's really interesting about the first
Beetlejuice movie, and I think a lot of people forget this
is this is actually Tim Burton's second movie
than he ever did.
- I didn't know that.
- What was the first one?
- Peewee's big adventure.
- Oh my God, I always forget that he did.
- Yeah, so he was very like fun and kind of silly and goofy.

(17:55):
And that's how people saw him.
And a lot of the people who took this all thought
that their careers were gonna be ended
by teaming this on.
- Interesting.
- But they believed in it as like an independent film
and something that was worth saying.
And most people don't know this,
but the studio at the last minute
wanted to rename it from Beetlejuice to House of Ghost,

(18:17):
which are you talking?
- House of Ghost.
- House of Ghost, what?
- That's dumb.
- The dumbest thing I've ever heard.
- Don't lie.
- And in sarcasm, Tim Burton said,
"We should just call it scared sheetless."
And the producers didn't take it as a joke
and it was almost called scared sheetless.
(laughing)
- Which I actually didn't hate it

(18:37):
because they do have the sheets over them
and the first movie.
And it's a little bit of tongue and cheek within it,
but I think ultimately like for it to not be Beetlejuice
would just be like there is a alternate universe
where that exists and who knows?
- The burn cut.
- Yeah, right.
- Yeah, scared sheetless.
- I love the practical effects in the original Beetlejuice

(18:59):
and they bring that a lot back for the second one
how it's kind of the practical,
- The practical, - The practical,
- and practical.
- I love that style that Tim Burton brings us up.
- So the first movie out of all the budget,
they only dedicated $1 million to CGI
in the original movie.
And at the time CGI was not what it is today.
So that was ultimately like nothing in there

(19:21):
and he really wanted to keep that practical element
and he's really done that a lot throughout the movies
that he's been within.
Actually, one of the main negotiation points
that Tim Burton and Michael Keaton both had
with doing Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
was they did not want overproduction of CGI
and that they had to continue stop motion

(19:44):
in a lot of these real aspects of the movie.
- Yeah, and some interesting facts that I found
was researching for this is instead of the iconic
dayo song that we all know that is persistent
throughout the movie, it was actually almost
two different songs in stead.

(20:04):
And so it's, if I didn't care by the ink spots
would have been within the dinner scene.
- I know, familiar song from 1939.
- Okay.
- So don't play me if I'm not knowing it.
And then in the final scene where Lydia is with the,
like lifted up after she passed the elevetating.

(20:25):
- Yeah, it was going to be when a man loves a woman.
- Oh, that's kind of cute.
- Yeah.
- What did it end up being?
I don't remember.
- Jumping the line.
- Mm-hmm.
- Any of the football players and all that in there.
- Oh, that's right.
- Oh, man.
Oh my God, that scene at the dinner table
where they're singing dayo is so fun.
- Yeah, we really can't stop it.
- And then, the Capitol hair is amazing
because she puts her facial expressions

(20:46):
of just being confused, but also dancing.
- She's such a good physical comedy.
- You know, okay, I watched Beetlejuice
when we had our Beetlejuice episode three years ago, maybe.
I didn't see Beetlejuice until I was in my 20s.
- Really?
- Yeah.
- I have no idea why.
- I think I was like nine.

(21:06):
- And that's a most people, like most millennials.
- It just escaped me.
I don't know why.
- And I also used to be very sensitive.
I had a sensitive disposition as a child.
- To what?
- Things just scared me very easily.
- Oh, that's interesting.
- Yeah, and so if I saw something in a movie
or something that I thought was scary
or that might be scary, I was like,
I don't wanna watch that.

(21:26):
It looks scary.
- Really?
- And now I love horror movies, but,
and not a whole lot offends me unless it's gratuitous violence.
But, no, I think as a kid, I just thought,
oh, that looks like a scary movie.
I don't wanna watch that.
So it took me a long time,
but, I mean, now I love it.
I think it's amazing.
- That's interesting.
- Well, in the original script,
Larry Wilson, he's one of the producers,

(21:47):
actually talks about the original ending for Lydia,
was actually gonna be significantly darker.
- Ooh.
- And the film would have ended with Lydia dying in a fire
and joining her friends in the afterlife.
- Oh, no, that's off.
- They changed it, considering the message,
it would send to young people that death would be

(22:08):
a happy ending.
- Yeah.
- And she was dealing with suicidal ideations
throughout the movie.
- She's depressed the whole living room.
- So I think that it was good that they changed it.
- That reminds me of the finale
of chilling adventures of Sabrina.
She dies, and then her boyfriend ends up killing himself,
so he can be with her in the afterlife.

(22:28):
And I remember thinking that ruined the whole show.
- Yeah.
- Because she was like, so it's young people watching this stuff,
and they think, oh, I could just kill myself
to be with my friends again.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- The snow, the snow, the snow, the snow.
- And some original script things that were changed.
Beetlejuice, well, first Lydia wasn't gonna be
the main character.
Lydia had a sister who was gonna be the main character.

(22:49):
They ended up cutting her.
Beetlejuice was supposed to be a short Middle Eastern man,
who eventually turned into like a bat with wings thing.
And Tim Burton decided to change that.
And the original director on this project
was actually Wes Craven.
Before he left, and they gave it to Tim Burton.

(23:11):
- Interesting, so different would it have been?
- Yes, Wes Craven was willing to be the main character.
- I think the original script would have made sense
for Wes Craven, because the brutal murder from the town
is people-- - It would have been a lot darker
and maybe not like in tongue and cheek comedy.
- Yeah, and up the cold toss like it is today.
- But a fun fact that I know about Beetlejuice.
Beetlejuice is only on screen for 18 minutes

(23:33):
in the Forrestville. - Yes.
- So he makes such an impact in that first movie
with such little screen time,
and the whole thing's named after him.
- Yeah, but it's like you watch that movie
and you don't realize really he was only in it for 18 minutes
like I've just said.
- You know the part where he like kicks down the tree
and he's like, "What is that?"
And like grabs his nuts or whatever.

(23:54):
That is so gross. - That is so gross.
- It defends it.
- Yeah, that is actually an outtake of the set.
Actually wasn't supposed to do that.
And he kicks it and it falls down
and he was doing that at the set like a designer.
- Oh my God.
- And Timberlion decided to keep it in.
- That's hilarious. - And so there are
a lot of those little moments within it.
One of the really interesting things that I saw

(24:15):
from everyone within this project
and a lot of Timberlion projects is he lets people
lead with the character they want to go forward with.
- Like let it open around with it.
- Yeah, and Beetlejuice is such a bombastic character
that you have to let him kind of riff.
Like you have to, you throw Jim Carrey

(24:37):
or Robin Williams in a movie.
- You gotta let them just be playable then.
- You gotta let them just be down.
- Yeah, and everyone who's worked with him
and a lot of the people who do work with him
stick with him for a very long time
because he has such a specific directorial style
and lets artists be artists.
And I think Timberlion, this being his second film,
is so crazy because he's so influential

(24:59):
and really makes Winona Ryder so influential
after this moment.
- Johnny Depp, eventually with his career,
Edward Scissorhans.
- Yes, that's Timberlion.
- It's after.
- Yeah, and Winona again, Helen a bottom-carter
who is his wife and I think.
- Wife and Muse, yeah.
- I think probably on good terms from what I've seen.
- I think so, yeah.

(25:20):
Now he has a new muse which people are questioning.
But I think it's just people just love.
- Helen a bottom-carter and like knowns
we're gonna compete with her, she's so unique and like.
- Yeah, the word muse just reminds me of back in the day.
I'm his muse, I'm Cajem.
- I'm Cajem.
- I'm Cajem.
- I'm Cajem.
- You know, I was, yeah.
- I wanna be someone's muse.

(25:41):
- You know, Beetlejuice ultimately was a movie
with a $15 million budget that actually
ended up grossing a $75 million box office.
- Yeah.
- And I wanted to Oscar.
- I did for Best Makeup.
- I realized that.
- For Best Makeup.
- Yeah, the makeup is incredible.
And I mean, it's really good in the sequel as well.
Just again, the practical effects.

(26:03):
Like you can tell that Michael Keaton is just,
there's no CGI on him unless silly things are happening.
- Yeah, but it's like I'm popping out.
It's head spins around, but otherwise he's just
makeup and a wig and looks crazy, so.
- Yeah, and ultimately the first Beetlejuice,
there's a TV show.
I don't know if you knew that.
- I never watched it.
- Okay, so it's funny.

(26:23):
I had never seen the Beetlejuice movie as a kid,
but I watched the cart too.
- Okay.
- And that wasn't too scary for me.
- Yeah, 'cause it was Lydia and Beetlejuice like solving.
- They're under a world of crimes.
- And they're buds.
They're kind of more like the same age and they're,
I don't know, like Beetlejuice is a dead man,
but they make them like best friends.

(26:45):
Like she summons Beetlejuice in her bedroom
just to hang out with them and yeah, solve crimes.
And she's cute little Goth girl and she opens her
in boutique at one point, which is like my favorite episode.
And Beetlejuice, it's like,
failing 'cause it's a Goth boutique.
- Yeah.
- It's so heat.
Somehow hypnotizes the town folk,
to all go by her and become a girl.

(27:05):
Shop till you shriek at Lydia's boutique.
And they all, like zombies, look at their,
it's pretty cute.
- That's amazing.
- Yeah.
- Well, ultimately, you know,
the first Beetlejuice cannot be beat,
but we're here to talk about how the sequel
pairs up to the average.
- Yes.
- I think it pairs very well,
but we will take a little break and then talk about

(27:27):
our thoughts on Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice.
(dramatic music)
- So Tim Burton said he wouldn't make a sequel
unless Michael Keaton reprised his role as Beetlejuice
and that came true.
When owner Riders started working on stranger things
and she warned the Duffer Brothers,
if there's ever a chance to do a sequel to Beetlejuice,

(27:48):
you have to give me the time off for it.
'Cause this movie was teased for years.
There were so many fake posters on Facebook
of fan-made art where everyone would go,
"Oh my God, is it finally happening?"
No, not yet, not yet.
That it almost felt like a joke when it was finally.
- Yes, we were all like, are you serious?
No, no, that's fake.

(28:08):
It's actually a real original sequel
that was supposed to be happening
was Beetlejuice goes to Hawaii.
- No!
- Yes, yes, yes.
- It's like Brady Bunch.
- Yeah, right.
- Where the Death family decides to open
A Bunch of Properties in Hawaii

(28:29):
and really go colonized like they love to.
- Isn't that the plot of the sequel to "We Can Do It"
"Bernies?"
I think they go to Hawaii.
- I don't know, maybe.
- Like, that's just a sequel.
- They said we know we're being a plotter.
- Yeah, and so ultimately that failed, which thank God.
- Thank God.
- And so I watched a lot of interviews

(28:49):
and a lot of press that these actors were doing.
Both the new cast and the older cast
and their biggest thing was leave it alone.
If you don't have something good,
like we really do not want to reprise this.
And we want to leave it as a standalone
and they had a history of saying that
where we're not going to just make a Beetlejuice
to make up for this.
- Just Beetlejuice.

(29:10):
- We want it to be really, really good.
And once Tim Burton met Jenner Antega,
he really like found that, you know, inspiration.
- She's so perfect.
So he thought he was done with movies,
but he directed four episodes of Wednesday,
which you can see his influence in so much.
- Yeah.
- Especially with that the main monster bad guy.

(29:32):
- Yeah.
- Like is a Tim Burton character.
- Yep.
- But yeah, like you said, he met Jenner Antega,
convinced him to reassess the potential
for the Beetlejuice sequel,
and she ended up playing Lydia's daughter Astrid.
Okay, so we're gonna get into some spoiler territory here.
- So spoilers, pause.
- We will see you after you see it.
- I'm back.
- I'll tell no thanks for joining us.
Okay, bye.

(29:53):
- Yeah, we love you.
- Anyway, spoiler time.
I loved this movie.
- I did as well.
I thought it was really, really well done.
I thought that they did fan fodder,
but not in such a way where it took away from the story.
- Exactly.
- There wasn't so much Easter egg
that the whole time you're like, oh yeah.
- Oh yeah.
- Call back, call back, call back.
- Yeah, call back.
- Cause those kind of sequels are just money grabs,

(30:15):
and just there's no story to tell.
- Yep.
- The zoo lander's sequel, right?
- Yes.
- I don't even remember that.
- Exactly.
- Cause they're a fierce watcher.
- Yeah.
- And the anchor man's sequel.
- Yeah.
- There's nothing new to cover.
- Yeah.
- This felt new, like they had the old cast
surprising their roles.

(30:35):
Catherine O'Hara, Michael Keaton,
Winona Ryder is back.
- Mm-hmm.
- The Gina Davis and Alec Baldwin are not back.
- Because Ghost Can't Eat.
- Because Ghost Can Eat,
which is a good point,
but also Alec Baldwin can't get work right now.
- Yeah.
- And they had some weird,
- Very insurable at this moment.
- Yeah, really.

(30:56):
- There's too many guns in fall,
to the set of Beetlejuice.
- It's not how they're not.
- No, it's not how they're not.
They did have a weird kind of explanation in this movie
for why they're not haunting the house.
Anymore, and Lydia and a throwaway line goes,
- We found a loophole.
- We found a loophole,
and they rolled a crossover,
and it was just like done.
- I don't know.
- I was like, I wanted a little more
of the like, give this something.
- Give me like some lore,

(31:17):
some building of your universe.
- Because they can just like,
they're the cost of it.
- Yeah.
- Because they did establish in this movie,
like we talked about earlier,
that there are different levels to the afterlife.
So you go to this purgatory waiting room,
and then you get your passport or your ticket stamped,
and then you go on the soul train,

(31:37):
which you're actually up every time.
- Yeah.
- It's literally like,
"I'll vote the soul train to sell this."
- It is.
- Yeah, to the great beyond.
- And you either go to the great beyond,
but then the other one said,
"The Fields of Elysium,"
which is what that priest was talking about earlier,
which is funny.
And then,
you would have cracked up at that part.
- There's this like creepy priest in it,

(31:58):
because so basically the reason for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
is the Deets father dies.
Can you remember his name?
It's not that important.
- Charles?
- Yeah, Charles Deets dies.
- Yeah.
- So they're all going back to Barry-Hem
within the Connecticut home,
where everything is happening.
- Yes.
- And so--
- The actor who played Charles, Jeffrey Jones,

(32:19):
was not invited back for this movie.
- He has some troubles.
- He's got some legal troubles.
- And we'll leave it at that.
- And so they made him die of very gruesome death.
- Where it's like half his body.
- He's essentially headless in die of movie,
but the practical effect is so gruesome.
We're just blood-assorted.
- And he goes to that old,

(32:40):
as every time he talks, like,
"Well, and then the scene that shows how he died
is Clay Nation like stop motion, which was really cute."
- Yeah.
- I do have to say though, Clay Nation gives me
uncanny valley, and it makes me really,
really, really, really uncomfortable.
- So you unpack that.
- No, it's like a human programming thing.
- Well, uncanny valley, yeah.

(33:01):
- Yeah.
- Clay Nation, you see that?
- Yeah, it's like we evolve to know
when things don't look that way.
- I mean, like the polar express movie gets me
on candy valley.
- That's mean, they're trying so hard to make them look human.
- Exactly, but they died and they just can't look.
- They don't look right.
- They don't look right.
- That's why, yeah, exactly.
- I think Clay Nation, I'm like,
this is so far removed from reality.
- We could do a whole episode on why I think

(33:23):
humans developed the ability to--
- Let's do an episode on uncanny valley.
- Yeah, uncanny valley.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
(laughing)
Quick, quick, quick.
(laughing)
- But, you know, I really, really love this movie.
Some of the things that I wanted to call back to
is Lydia's show is called Ghost House.
- Yeah.
- Which as I said in the beginning was what--

(33:43):
- The house of the ghost.
- Yeah, what the studio wanted to call
"Beetle Juice" in the beginning.
So they had some kind of funny, like,
- Yeah.
- Call that, it's like, if you know you know the deep history
of like "Beetle Juice" - That's cute.
- That you can start to see it.
- My known as Lydia was amazing in this movie.
She has like the same nuances as Lydia,
but she's not as depressed.

(34:05):
I mean, she's definitely going through
some "Beetle Juice" PTSD anytime she sees Black and White Stripes.
She's like, oh God, like,
and we, it's come to find out he's actually kind of like
stalking her somehow.
Like, yeah, this guy's got a heart on her.
- I'm from the day I, yeah.
- At least now she's a grown woman.
- Yes.
- So it's a little more appropriate,
but the picture is framed at his desk.

(34:27):
He's definitely of like a teenage girl.
Just that he's like, - Yeah.
- And a sweetie.
- He's like, oh yeah, I love this picture.
- Yeah.
- And so there are a lot of new characters that get introduced.
At the end of the first "Beetle Juice" movie,
whenever he's about to try to marry Lydia,
he pulls like a finger out of his pocket, right?
And there's a bring on it and he goes,

(34:48):
sorry, it shouldn't mean much to me.
Don't worry about her.
- I forgot that.
- And so that finger that he had in his pocket
ends up being the main villain within this.
- Yeah, she was the main villain,
but I don't think she was very necessary
to the plot.
- The movie would have been just as good without her,
but it's Monica Belucci,
yeah, she plays "Beetle Juice" his ex-wife.

(35:10):
The scene that describes kind of how "Beetle Juice"
died and how she died, hilarious.
- Yeah.
- And he's speaking Spanish for some reason.
- So we know he started in Spain.
- Yeah, he speaks Spanish at the end of the movie again too.
Like, "Beetle Juice" from Spain.
- All right, I'm gonna let go.
- He's like kind of described as like a timeless being.

(35:32):
So like, he still don't really know,
but it was funny, like the traditional ceremony
where we ate the chickens off of heads
and sacrificed the chickens off the heads.
- Yeah, there you go.
And the heads off the chickens.
And sacrificed to go drink each other's blood.
- But he's like, "Fuck, what I need you this for my wedding?"
- Yeah.
- Blue it on the renewals.
- Yes, I would tell you.

(35:52):
- There you go.
- It's all gonna be just,
all the cats got the codes in the air.
- Oh, I don't know.
I love goats.
- They're spoken for.
- They are just pretend.
- Okay.
- Well, you sort of those collapsible knives.
- Okay, there you go.
- There you go.
- Britney.
- Yeah.
- It's a fake knife.
Honey, no, it's not.
- We got it from Britney's prop store.
(laughing)
- House of Spears.

(36:12):
- I think that Genoa Ortega was delightful in this video.
She's different enough from Wednesday.
I mean, she's still kind of the dark moody burrows,
dead pain.
- Yeah.
- I felt so bad for her.
This reminded me of Wednesday a lot.
- Did you watch Wednesday?
- Yeah.
- So in Wednesday, Wednesday goes on her first date
and he ends up being evil.

(36:33):
- Yeah.
- And then in this one,
Astrid ends up going on her first date, spoiler,
he's evil.
- The dead guy too.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, and he's dead and he wants to murder Suede.
- His family.
- Yeah.
- And he wants to, that shook me.
- Yeah.
- Because I wasn't expecting.
- No, it was dark.
- Yeah.
- It was good.
And wants Astrid to come to the Astrid for life

(36:54):
so that he can steal her soul.
- Like trade a life.
- Like trade a life.
- And go back and be a little shit on Earth again.
So that leads to Lydia being like,
oh my God, I can't believe I have to do this,
but Beatle choose Beatle choose Beatle choose.
I need his help.
- Yeah.
- We also have Justin Thoreau who plays Lydia's
manager/boyfriend.
- Boyfriend.

(37:15):
- He is so greasy and comical.
- So cool.
- And this movie,
his little throw-a-line,
where he's like,
I just was helpfully getting boxes from the store.
- He's very,
and weaponizing therapy space.
- Yes.
- You guys we talk about all the time.
But he was really like the way that they costume
to sign to him and like gave him his hair.

(37:36):
- His slick back hair.
- His the creepy dude from Charlie's Angels,
the first one.
- He was sniffing holes.
- His hair.
- His hair.
Like that was the inspo,
that was all they needed.
It was exactly like copy-place that guy.
- He was hilarious.
He was creepy.
You could tell no one liked him.
I mean,
- Yeah.
- Catherine O'Harrot is.
- So funny.
- Jenner,

(37:57):
- Our Tegas character hates it all.
- They all hate him.
- And even Lydia's like,
- Oh, he loves me.
- He loves me.
- He loves me.
And I kinda need,
and I don't know.
I've been denying love.
And she got a divorce from Astrid's father who then died,
which adds a nice layer of Astrid's backstory
and what she is depressed as she is.

(38:17):
- Yeah.
- She gets to reunite with her down the afterlife,
which is so sad.
Oh my God,
he's got a little piranha.
- Yeah, he's stuck in him.
- That's a handsome man, no.
I don't know what that was.
He was a handsome man.
- Yeah, he was, yeah, he was very,
- Yeah.
- Yeah, I really, really liked it.
When I was a writer,
I kinda talked about how,
before she had really seen like the full script,
she'd always kinda seen Lydia as a person

(38:38):
who would never have a child or never get married
or never fall in love
and kinda just be stuck with these ghosts.
So I thought it was kind of like an interesting compromise
that they came to to have the husband already be dead
and Lydia,
as she says in the first 20 minutes of film,
sell out and become a touch of host,

(38:59):
medium and kind of betray them.
And I wish they had really brought that in more to
as soon as Adam and Barbara disappeared.
Like she felt like,
because they really became her parents
and they were parental figures and her friends.
Then she's just gone.
And I wish they had kind of delvened to that part bar.
- They couldn't have done it in Clayton Nation.

(39:19):
- I would have, yeah.
- They could have been in the business.
- And this is them after they were gone
and then I was never close with,
Delia, her and Delia have gotten closer over the years.
I think they could have shown this movie.
They have an understanding of each other,
like a respect, but they're not exactly close.
- Yeah, she's like, once I sold out in May and about
and she's like, "You like me?"
- Yeah, now that I'm loaded,
you started liking me, that's weird.

(39:41):
Delia is still an artist.
- Are you in the movies so funny?
- Yeah.
- The feudal performance of the whole house.
- Yes.
- The performance.
- I'm very glad she's hilarious.
- I really, really liked it.
I think it's one of those sequels,
but definitely worth a rewatch.
- Oh yeah.
- I walked out of it and was like,
"Man, I want to see that again."
Just sort of like pick up the things that,

(40:04):
you know, I'm just-- - The little minst.
- Yeah, and normally I'm an avid,
like I do not go see a second movie.
If I, like I never saw Ingramant too,
a girl would think it needed it.
And so normally I'm like an avid,
I don't go for a stupid sequel,
but I do really think that this was a great one.
It was with immense respect to the story

(40:25):
and ultimately it made it still campy and fun
and throwbacks to the original movie,
but not in a way where it really overdid it.
- I agree.
I think it was a good addition to the story
and of the next step of Lydia's life
and Delia's life and Beetlejuice looks amazing
and he's so funny.
In the end, again, we get to see

(40:47):
Lydia's red wedding dress come back
because Beetlejuice is still trying to marry her.
(silence)
- Shout out to this movie today
and she's looking like a fucking snack
and I am hungover and just like at a hat and just like,
oh god.
She was like, you look like my femme girlfriend.

(41:09):
- Yeah, I think we like a lesbian and a couple
and I'm like the butch one.
- Yeah, that looks fun.
- That's fun.
- They're gonna hear for it.
- You know, I really wanted to bring Belidia
and so far this movie has as of today grossed 264 million
globally, nearly 200 million domestically

(41:30):
and according to the New York Times,
there was a time during the film's development
when the studio tried to push it
as a max streaming exclusive.
- This needed to be in theaters.
- Yeah, come on.
- Yeah, it's worth it.
- It's worth it.
- I'm happy that they did it in that way.
- No, I love going to the movies.
I got the movies probably once a week.

(41:50):
- Yeah.
- I just love it.
- Yeah, I enjoy movie experience.
I do like the ability to pause and talk and chill
and chat. - And chat.
- Yeah.
- And, you know, do have my own stacks,
but if there's a good movie coming out,
what, you know, it's worth like putting your money
in art you care about.
- It's just like Nicole Kidman says,

(42:12):
glowing pictures,
glimmering pictures on a silver screen.
- Heartbreak feels good in a place like this.
(laughing)
- And, you know, ultimately, you know,
before we close this episode out,
do you think we get a third Beetlejuice
or Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice?
- I don't think so.
- Really?

(42:32):
- I don't think so.
I think it took so long to make this movie.
Burton had to drop the budget from $147 million
to $100 million to get the film even greenlit.
Keaton writer, O'Hara Ann Ortega,
all had to take pay cuts.
I mean, they still made a crap ton of money.
But I think it was just such a long time in the making
that I'm not sure if they need a third one.

(42:54):
I mean, there was like some Beetlejuice babies,
these, which were creepy.
- Yeah, that was so scary.
- But I think it kind of, I think it ran its course.
That's my opinion.
I don't, I think if there was a third one at that point,
it would feel kind of gratuitous.
- Yeah. - Cash grab.
- Yeah, I could see it with the main villain
coming back and really going after Lydia and those people.

(43:19):
But yeah, it still has to be really, really well done.
I don't think Catherine or her or any of them
are gonna come back again.
I don't think so.
- I think you would still get Winona
just because she's like in love with Tim Burton.
I'm gonna do anything for him.
- Michael Keaton's not getting it a younger too.
I mean, I mean, that Beetlejuice,
you got makeup covers.
- That make up covers it real well.
- It's all prosthetics, baby.
So he didn't have that problem.

(43:40):
- Yeah.
- I mean, the cast is all aging and as other projects.
So I think this was like a love letter to fans.
And I think it needs to be a fan.
- Yeah, and ultimately I think it was
for each of the actors, a love letter to their characters.
- Yeah, yeah.
- They all talk about them with such reverence
and respect for them.
And a lot of people have said Tim Burton was

(44:03):
one of the most influential directors in their careers
and taught them to speak up for themselves
and advocate for a character.
- Yeah, but he got in a block of fame star recently.
And when one of the writers said,
you kind of made it feel like it was okay
to be a weird creepy golf teenager
because we love me for who I was.
And yeah, I love that about Tim Burton.

(44:24):
- Yeah. - Bring out the weirdos
and all of us.
- Yes.
- I wonder what would happen if our listeners
said our names three times.
- Puckolder, drink a bottle of a candy.
- Yeah.
- No.
- It was an attempt.
- It was an attempt.
Well, if you want to summon us, you can try that
or you can find us on social media, Olivia,
where can the people find you?
- You can find me, Olivia, on Instagram,

(44:44):
@livimariez L-I-V-I-M-A-R-I-E-Z.
You can find me, Shauna, on Instagram,
@shaunatrinidad S-H-A-U-N-A-T-R-I-N-I-D-A-D.
Don't forget, you can manifest
the Pop Culture Junkie podcast, social media links
and more on our website, popculturejunkie.com.

(45:07):
From there, you can find our podcast on all platforms
where you can follow, subscribe, rate, review.
You can and you should do it all.
I mean, please do all of that, please.
- Honestly, if you can't join Patreon,
we're all living in an economic hardship.
Really anything helps, five star reveal,

(45:27):
likes, comments, follow, and Instagram.
- I need to feed my family.
- She's gonna have to take a fourth job.
- I need to take a fourth job.
- Oh my God, the minute you said I have three jobs,
my soul dropped out of my ass just a little.
It was so sucked by a beetlejuices, x, y.
(laughing)
You can also check out that budget-friendly tier
on Patreon.
Every subscription helps us to bring you

(45:50):
the best of Pop Culture every week.
Find us at patreon.com/popculturejunkiepodcast.
Sign up for our uncensored content
and we promise to love you forever.
Please come back next time for another hit of Pop Culture.
♪ Entertain me, entertain me right now ♪
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