Danny Elfman On Release Of 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' Score, Tim ...

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"Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" original score composer Danny Elfman.

Score: Water Tower Music/Danny Elfman: Ambar Navarro

Famed composer Danny Elfman has been with legendary director Tim Burton since the very beginning, scoring the filmmaker’s first feature film Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure in 1995. Then, in 1988, Elfman created the iconic score to Beetlejuice and 36 years later, he took another cinematic adventure to Winter River, Connecticut, to create the music for Burton’s blockbuster sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

While Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was still in production, Burton said that it was like watching “demon possession” as Michael Keaton snapped back into the role more than three and a-half decades after the release of the classic supernatural comedy original.

Luckily for Elfman, his work on Beetlejuice Beetlejuice snapped into place much in the same way.

“You have to realize that with all of the films I’ve done with Tim, Batman is the only exception where there were two,” Elfman told me in a Zoom conversation this week. “There were like scores that I loved writing and it was such a great playground to be in—and then suddenly they’re gone. I then realize that I'm never going to be able to write this music again and I get sad.”

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As such, Elfman note, getting “the chance to jump back into the same playground” with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice after all these years was “a real treat.”

“It really took a quick second to get back into that mindset,” Elfman enthused. “So, I know exactly what Michael was feeling. It was like, ‘Oh yeah I'm back!’”

Elfman’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Score from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is new on digital on Friday, while the vinyl and CD versions will be released in early 2025. The Beetlejuice Beetlejuice original score includes Elfman’s 29 tracks from the movie including, of course, the Main Title Theme from Beetlejuice.

Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton in "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice."

Warner Bros. Pictures/Parisa Taghizadeh

While the Main Title Theme from Beetlejuice is no doubt perfection, Elfman said he couldn’t resist the idea of slightly reconfiguring it when it came to the sequel featuring the Ghost with the Most.

“I did mess with it a little bit. I got to get like a little crazier and of course when you have an end credits suite—that's where you really get to go nuts,” Elfman enthused. “I pulled in this pipe organ that a friend of mine has here in Los Angeles and wrote in some pipe organ stuff that was different than the original.”

Still, the spirit of composing and recording the score for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was the same as the original—with quite a bit more time to work on it, that is.

“There are things in it that I would have loved to do then, but I didn't have access to,” Elfman said. “The first Beetlejuice was a low-budget movie and just even getting in three days of recording with an orchestra—just even finishing the score—was a miracle.”

BURBANK, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 24: Danny Elfman and Tim Burton attend the 2023 Burbank ... [+] International Film Festival at The Marriott Burbank Convention Center on September 24, 2023 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)

Getty Images Elfman Indulged In His Love For Universal Monsters In The ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ Score

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice—which is playing in theaters and available on digital streaming—is mostly set in Winter River, Connecticut, where Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) and her stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara) return for the funeral of family patriarch Charles and once again encounter Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton).

Among the new characters joining Beetlejuice, Lydia and Delia for the sequel are Lydia’s teen daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), Lydia’s boyfriend, Rory (Justin Theroux), and Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe), who is a deceased actor in the Afterlife.

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Also key to the story is Beetlejuice’s vengeful ex-wife, Delores (Monica Bellucci). The inclusion of Delores in the narrative gave screenwriters Alfred Gough and Miles Millar an opportunity to explore Beetlejuice’s backstory.

As a bonus, the backstory sequence gave Tim Burton a chance to film a Beetlejuice Beetlejuice scene in black and white and Danny Elfman to score it in somewhat an homage to the classic movies in the Universal Monsters universe. Since both Burton and Elfman are Universal Monsters aficionados, the opportunity was a dream.

“Tim and I decided early on to do that. For example, we came up with a tone and a feel for Monica's nasty character and that became its own thing,” Elfman said. “So that's different than the original score, but the heart of the score still wraps itself around Beetlejuice.”

INDIO, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 23: Danny Elfman performs on the Outdoor Theatre stage during the 2022 ... [+] Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival on April 23, 2022 in Indio, California. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Coachella)

Getty Images for Coachella Elfman Is Preparing For His Last Two U.S. Concerts This Year

In addition to celebrating the release of the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice score (Water Tower Music), the iconic composer is getting ready to return to the concert stage for the last two shows he has scheduled in the U.S. this year, dubbed Danny Elfman: From Boingo to Batman to Big Mess and Beyond!

The concerts will feature Elfman’s rock band, an orchestra and a choir, akin to his acclaimed set at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in 2022.

Elfman said music from his Beetlejuice Beetlejuice score will naturally be included in the concerts, which are set for Saturday, November 2, at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and Sunday, November 3, at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California.

Getty Images for Coachella

As the title of the concerts suggest, the shows will include Elfman’s music from Oingo Boingo, his solo work including selections from his 2021 album Big Mess and selections from his prolific career as a composer for film and television.

“The show is divided in a crazy way,” Elfman said. “One-third of the show is early music going to back to Boingo and one-third of the show is new music that I'm doing now, plus a few world premieres that no one's heard.”

Plus, Elfman added, one-third of the show is film music which highlights the musician’s work with Tim Burton.

Together, of course, the director and composer have collaborated on such classic films as Alice in Wonderland, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, Frankenweenie, Sleepy Hollow, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Beetlejuice and its sequel and the Netflix series Wednesday.

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Elfman noted that there will be some non-Burton scores featured in Danny Elfman: From Boingo to Batman to Big Mess and Beyond! as well.

“Maybe there's a suite from The Simpsons. I can't say for sure,” Elfman teased with a smile. “Primarily, it’s eight suites of music and we have a full orchestra and choir on stage with us. It’s a really insane show and it’s almost impossible to tour with it. Can you imagine what kind of band tours with 65 people?”

Tickets for Elfman’s Hollywood Bowl and Shoreline Ampitheatre shows are available at Ticketmaster.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Score from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is available Friday on digital and will be released on vinyl and CD in early 2025.

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