Tim Burton Confirms Winona Ryder For ‘Beetlejuice 2’

After months of speculation, Tim Burton has finally confirmed a sequel to his cult classic hit “Beetlejuice” is official. In anMTV interview with the director on December 15, 2014, he confirmed he will return to direct, and he announced an important casting element: Winona Ryder will return as the character of Lydia Deetz in a statement of giddy minimalism: “Oh yeah, yeah yeah yeah. Oh yeah, oh yeah. Yeah yeah, oh yeah.”

Burton mentioned the two rekindled their working relationship on the set of a recent video for the Killers: “I hadn’t seen her in awhile… and she was so great…those kinds of elements mean something to me. Michael, and her… and that character, I just miss it, there’s some freedom about that character that I love.”

That Michael of course, would be Michael Keaton, who had expressed interest in returning to the character back in a interview with MTV in February: “I always said that’s the one thing I’d like to do again, if I ever did anything again. But it kind of required Tim to be involved some way or another.”

Keaton is currently riding high on the critical buzz of “Birdman”, and this would continue his presence in cinema after a protracted absence. Whether Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Catherine O’Hara or Jeffrey Jones will return is unknown, but given their equally low profiles as of late (Baldwin’s rants the exception), odd are good for that as well.

Burton is currently promoting his new film “Big Eyes” (the behind the scenes story of the Keane paintings) , which marks a return to the personal brand of filmmaking that marked past efforts like “Edward Scissorhands”, “Ed Wood” and “Big Fish.” Given the staleness of his more corporate fare in recent years (“Alice In Wonderland”, “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory”), it would be exciting to see him reclaim his quirky cinematic throne. The same could be said of Ryder, who after her infamous shoplifting arrest, has had a much more muted presence in Hollywood.