Tim Burton didn't make “Beetlejuice 2” for the money or because he wanted to prepare for it beforehand

During the press conference for Beetlejuice at the Venice Film Festival, Tim Burton said that he wasn't interested in making the sequel “for the money.” In fact, he didn't even watch the original again before starting filming the sequel.

Speaking about filming a sequel 35 years after the 1988 cult original, Burton revealed: “And I didn't even watch it before I made it!”

“I didn't want to do a big sequel just for the money or anything, I wanted to do it for very personal reasons,” Burton continued. “Like I said, I didn't watch the first film to prepare for it. I remembered the spirit and everyone here.”

Burton sat on the press conference panel alongside returning stars Michael Keaton, Catherine O'Hara and Winona Ryder, as well as newcomers Jenna Ortega, Monica Bellucci, Justin Theroux and Willem Dafoe.

Echoing the views expressed in a recent interview with Diversity, Burton said he had become “disillusioned with the film industry” in recent years and realized that if he wanted to make another film, he would have to “do it from the heart.”

“As you get older, sometimes life takes a turn and I lost myself a little bit,” he said. “So for me, this film was kind of a revival, a kind of return to the things I like to do, the way I like to do them and with the people I like to do them with.”

Although the Beetlejuice sequel has been in the works for more than three decades, Burton said the project was “reinvigorated” by the production of his hit Netflix series Wednesday (where he first worked with Ortega). “Wednesday was something we wanted to do as a TV series, but within a theatrical schedule, which was fun in a weird way, so I thought about it beforehand. But then of course it was so important for me to meet Jenna.”

Burton seemed to laugh off the fact that another “Beetlejuice” is in the works. “Let's do the math… it took 35 years to make this, so I'll be over 100 years old,” he said. “But I think with the advancement of science, it's possible these days, but I don't think so.”

“Beetlejuice” opens the Venice Film Festival tonight as the opening film. In the film, the Deetz family returns to their old family home, this time with Ryder's rebellious teenage daughter, who discovers the model of the city in the attic, opens the portal to the afterlife and releases Keaton's Betelgeuse once again.

After its premiere in Venice, “Beetlejuice” will be released in US cinemas on September 6th.