Winona Ryder admits Beetlejuice’s Lydia Deetz was ‘hard to imagine’ as an adult

26 August 2024

Winona Ryder thinks her ‘Beetlejuice’ role Lydia Deetz was “hard to imagine” as an adult.

Winona Ryder thinks her Beeltejuice role Lydia Deetz was 'hard to imagine' as an adult

After playing the death-obsessed teen in the 1988 flick, the 52-year-old actress is reprising the part for the upcoming legacy sequel ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ - which sees the character become a mother - though Ryder has now admitted she initially struggled to see the character move beyond her gothic phase and become a parent.

She told Slash Film: “I think certainly, I never pictured Lydia either having children or in any type of relationship.

“I just always thought she was just probably in her own world as she got older. Just sort of in the attic and happy, but alone.”

The ‘Stranger Things’ actress added that as soon as she started working with Jenna Ortega and Justin Theroux - who play Lydia’s daughter Astrid and boyfriend respectively - on the project, she was able to get a better grasp of this new version of the character.

She explained: “I think once we got there and once Jenna and I bonded and once Justin came on board … I mean, I think everyone who’s as old as I am now, we’ve all been in those things where you’re just like, ‘What was I thinking, in terms of the relationship I have?’

“But I don’t know with young Lydia, I don’t think she would ever have expected to be in front of a camera.”

As well as Ryder, the upcoming movie sees Michael Keaton reprise his role as Beetlejuice, though the actor previously admitted he was somewhat apprehensive about returning as the foul-mouthed ghost before ultimately realising director Tim Burton had a definitive vision for the sequel.

Speaking to Collider, he said: “With filmmaking, you’ve got to keep up a level of energy and pace and focus, and I didn't know what the vibe was gonna be or the process was gonna be. We shot in this little studio down at Culver City, a cool, legendary kind of place. I think they made some silent movies on some of these stages.

“But when I went over there, you don't know how it's gonna work or what the pace of things is gonna be. I didn't know.

“So, I just went in saying, ‘Well, I'm just gonna do what we did the first time as close as I can.’ Tim had already seen it; it was just totally clear in his head.”