Beetlejuice - Production

Production

The financial success of Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) meant that Tim Burton was now considered a "bankable" director, and Burton began working on a script for Batman with Sam Hamm. While Warner Bros. was willing to pay for the script's development, they were less willing to green-light Batman. Meanwhile, Burton had begun reading the offered scripts that had been sent his way, and was becoming disheartened by their lack of imagination and originality, one of them being Hot to Trot. David Geffen handed Burton the script for Beetlejuice, written by Michael McDowell (who wrote the script of The Jar, an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents directed by Burton).

Larry Wilson was brought on board to continue rewriting work with McDowell, though Burton replaced McDowell and Wilson with Warren Skaaren due to creative differences. Burton's original choice for Betelgeuse was Sammy Davis, Jr., but Geffen suggested Michael Keaton. Burton was unfamiliar with Keaton's work, but was quickly convinced. Burton cast Winona Ryder upon seeing her in Lucas. Catherine O'Hara quickly signed on, while Burton claimed it took a lot of time to convince other cast members to sign, as "they didn't know what to think of the weird script."

Beetlejuice's budget was $15 million, with just $1 million given over to visual effects work. Considering the scale and scope of the effects, which included stop motion, replacement animation, prosthetic makeup, puppetry and blue screen, it was always Burton's intention to make the style similar to the B movies he grew up with as a child. "I wanted to make them look cheap and purposely fake-looking," Burton remarked. Burton had wanted to hire Anton Furst as production designer after being impressed with his work on The Company of Wolves (1984) and Full Metal Jacket (1987), though Furst was committed on High Spirits, a choice he later regretted. He hired Bo Welch, his future collaborator on Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Batman Returns (1992). The test screenings were met with positive feedback and prompted Burton to film an epilogue featuring Betelgeuse foolishly angering a witch doctor. Warner Bros. disliked the title Beetlejuice and wanted to call the film House Ghosts. As a joke, Burton suggested the name Scared Sheetless and was horrified when the studio actually considered using it.