Tim Burton opened up about his career in a new interview and revealed a time when he considered taking a step back and retiring.
The famed director has worked on multiple iconic projects over the years from Batman to Wednesday and Beetlejuice and it’s forthcoming sequel.
During a recent conversation, Tim reflected on coming to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice years after the original movie premiered. He also revealed if he had the desire to direct another superhero project and the movie that nearly could have been his final.
Keep reading to find out more…
Speaking to Variety, Tim explained that it took him a while to consider the Beetlejuice sequel.
“First of all, I had no idea to do a sequel — again, this is before the time where those things were talked about,” he said. “But to revisit it now was nice, because Lydia was a character that I always felt strongly about. What happens to people 35 years later? Where do they go? What’s their journey? And what happened to the Deetz family? This feeling about it was quite simple for me and emotional. That became the anchor of where it goes from there.”
He continued, saying, “And then with all these people I love working with — Michael Keaton and Catherine O’Hara and Winona Ryder — it was just very strange but beautiful. And with the new cast, it felt emotional but it also felt new. And I didn’t watch the original again, mostly because I never knew why it was successful to begin with. So I just treated it as something that I could not think about anything more than that. Just dive in and do it quickly — like we did in the past.”
Interestingly, Tim said that 2019′s Dumbo was nearly his final movie.
“Honestly, after Dumbo, I really didn’t know. I thought that could have been it, really. I could have retired, or become… well, I wouldn’t have become an animator again, that’s over,” he said.
Tim added that COVID marked a time of “flux” professionally. Things changed when Wednesday came along. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice also gave him a new jolt of creativity.
“But this did reenergize me. Oftentimes, when you get into Hollywood, you try to be responsible to what you’re doing with the budget and everything else but sometimes you might lose yourself a little bit. This reinforced the feeling for me that it’s important that I do what I want to do, because then everybody will benefit,” he said.
The director said that he’s not sure what’s next and is waiting to see how his new movie is received before considering new offers. However, fans should not expect him to do another superhero project.
“At the moment, I would say no. Like I said, I come at things from different points of view, so I would never say never to anything. But, at the moment, it’s not something I’d be interested in,” he admitted.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice arrives in theaters on September 6. Check out the trailer!
