I first saw Michael Keaton in Ron Howard’s 1982 comedy “Night Shift,” playing the manic idea man, Billy “Blaze” Blazejowski, opposite Henry Winkler as the shy, quiet, diffident Chuck Lumley. In those pre-Batman days, we didn’t realize Keaton could be serious when the part required it, so when I saw a preview for the 1988 film “Beetlejuice,” I went and saw it. And I laughed my tail off. It was a classic Tim Burton horror spoof that allowed Keaton to bring all of his considerable energy to the part, and it’s still great fun today.
But considering that Alec Baldwin (yes, I know) and Geena Davis played primary characters as the Maitlands, the couple who hired Keaton’s Beetlejuice to get some unwanted living people out of their house, it was mildly surprising to see they won’t be reprising those roles…
