BEETLEJUICE 2 Cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos Teases the Practical Effects Used in the Movie

Director Tim Burton has already made it clear that he went back to the basics when making Beetlejuice 2, previously saying, “I tried to strip everything and go back to the basics of working with good people and actors and puppets. It was kind of like going back to why I liked making movies.” Now his cinematographer for the film, Haris Zambarloukos, is teasing the same sentiment about the movie, telling Collider:

“Yes, we certainly are shooting things in-camera and for real. That's part of the charm. I mean, he’s a great filmmaker in that respect. He's both a visionary and a very classical filmmaker at the same time. We did a lot of that on Haunting in Venice as well. What you see in the film is very much in-camera. So, yes, I think I enjoyed that aspect of the filmmaking of these last two films I've made. I think I've enjoyed immensely that reliance on practical techniques. I think you get a very, very different kind of performance out of actors when things are done in-camera, and I think you get a very different audience reaction out of in-camera effects. Those things, for example, are far more important than whether something is digital or analog. It's the authenticity of the experience, I think, that is often kind of the most impactful aspect in filmmaking.”

I think it impacts the performances from the actors and the whole feel of the film. It will be so much fun to return to that world that we all love so much from the first movie, and it’s so cool that it will have so much of the same vibe.

The movie stars Michael Keaton, who is returning to play the Ghost with the Most, Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz, Jenna Ortega as her daughter, Catherine O'Hara as Delia Deetz, Justin Theroux (The Leftovers), and Monica Bellucci (Irreversible, Spectre, The Apartment) as Beetlejuice’s wife in the story. Willem Dafoe is also in the movie and plays a ghoulish law enforcement officer in the Neitherworld.

Beetlejuice 2 is set to hit theaters on September 6, 2024.