www.indiewire.com: As a fan of “Beetlejuice” (1988), Tim Burton’s go-to costume designer Colleen Atwood initially found it daunting to jump into the “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” sequel and its kitschy world of crazies (originally designed by Aggie Guerard Rodgers). But having the sartorial freedom to add new characters (Jenna Ortega’s grungy Astrid) and expand the underworld (Monica Bellucci’s Victorian corpse bride Delores) made it a lot more enticing.
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After seeing 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice', I was extremely fascinated and inspired by the clear amount of work the production team did for the movie. From reading the article, I learned that not only is Colleen Atwood a phenomenal costume designer with many credits to her name, but she seems like a very, very lovely woman. This entire interview talks about how close she got with Michael Keaton, who plays Beetlejuice in the movie. She really takes into account the actor within the costume to make them comfortable. The way she designs the clothes can really help with how the actor fits into the role, not that this is Keaton’s first rodeo. I love that she loves to change things that seem within rules. With just a few details changed about his black and white suit, she tells stories within the costumes that the script doesn’t have to say.
What caught my attention with this article was the descriptions from Colleen Atwood about the conversations she had with Michael Keaton while in the process of making the costumes for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice as the evolution of this recreation into a new work is also happening for Michael Keaton as he is once again starring as Betelgeuse. Slight alterations in the stature and clothing choices of the character (having a larger belly, having the clothes be purposefully more worn to demonstrate his expertise) are delicately chosen and discussed between Keaton and Atwood based not only on what the wholistic artistic vision is, but also how Betelgeuse and Keaton have changed over the years. In doing so, there is an aim not only to maintain that which is loved about this character, but also to build and expand on this work to make it faithful to this new adaptation. Ultimately, it demonstrates a certain flexibility and collaboration even for something as iconic and recognizable as Beetlejuice.
Prior to reading this article, I had watched the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice film in movie theaters. Extremely excited, I managed to get some friends together and we saw it the day that it was released into movie theaters. When you get a bunch of theatrical designers together in a room to watch an iconic movie like Beetlejuice, a lot of the conversation revolves around design choices. Personally, I was drawn to Atwood’s costumes. They felt vintage, extremely reminiscent of the original film but also matured. This was clearly a new Beetlejuce, despite being the same character. His costumes reflected the same playful personality from the first film, but they also added a bit of depth and change to him overall. And while the deceased characters all felt out of place and had different levels of aging to their costumes, what I found extremely impressive and captivating was the fittings of the living characters. Winona Ryder was fitted in clothing that was extremely close to her outfits in the original movie, but they felt more mature to reflect that she was no longer a teenager but an adult. Her style was much the same, but elevated into a comfortable and adult version of itself. In contrast to the vintage looks of Ryder, Jenna Ortega was dressed in a reminiscent manner to her mother in the first film with muted colors and patterns, but her clothing was more modern and felt like a teenager in the 2020’s. Each character's clothing told its own story, and elevated the film from just another sequel to a true continuation of the original film that could hold as a movie on its own without relying on the 80s movie to make sense. Atwood’s work is marvelous in this film
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice seems like a very exciting (if not daunting) opportunity for a costume designer to add their spin to a classic. Colleen Atwood is no beginner—her credits include Edward Scissorhands Silence of the Lambs, Sleepy Hollow, Planet of the Apes, Chicago, Alice in Wonderland, Sweeney Todd, The Little Mermaid, and more—but she still faced a challenging task in approaching the sequel to an iconic movie. That being said, I think she did it in a way that was both respectful to the source and innovative. The original Beetlejuice is full of memorable costumes: Beetlejuice’s black-and-white pinstripe suit, for example. Instead of discarding these costumes and starting from scratch, she tweaked them in her own style. For the pinstripe suit specifically, which was originally done in a stiffer fabric, she had it reproduced in a silk so that it could be aged and distressed to show the passage of time between movies. She also kept Beetlejuice’s red wedding suit (and went through a similar process to distress it). Atwood did a great job of honoring the source while still adding her own aesthetic touch to the project.
I saw Beetlejuice Beetlejuice last weekend… and it was exactly what I expected. Aside from the distractingly bad and cheesy writing, the imagery was loud and bursting with color and life (ironically, cause most of the the characters are dead.) I wish this article included more photos of the costumes, but from what I remember, Astrid’s Halloween costume was by far my favorite look of the movie. I think she dressed as Marie Curie after being poisoned? The makeup was also very well done overall, with an unexpected Danny DeVito cameo covered in a dewy blue and vomiting some gross gooey stuff. Beetlejuice’s iconic makeup was also well done and gross, but I feel like he was barely in the film in comparison to Winona and Jenna. Colleen Atwood is a well respected and awarded costume designer, and it is really interesting that Tim Burton uses her time and time again to create and recreate iconic looks.
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