Michael Keaton looked 'possessed by a demon' reprising Beetlejuice role

Tim Burton says it was like Michael Keaton was "possessed by a demon" when he reprised his role as Beetlejuice.

The 72-year-old Hollywood star is returning to the iconic role for the upcoming sequel to the 1988 horror comedy, 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice', and the director and his co-stars found it surreal how he jumped right back into his alter ego like it was yesterday after 36 years.

The 'Edward Scissorhands' filmmaker told Empire magazine: “It was like he was possessed by a demon, because he just went right back into it.

Catherine O’Hara (Delia Deetz) said: “It was insane. Insane.”

Jenna Ortega (Astrid Deetz) chimed in: “It was like an animal with a gun had just walked into the room. To watch him physically change and appear and Michael Keaton to be gone, and for me to be dealing with this Beetlejuice guy…It blew my mind.”

The 'Jack Frost' star explained how it was important to make sure he was playing the same version of the trickster ghost, which was difficult consider how much "merchandising" there has been of it since.

He explained: “There’s been so much merchandising of it, I had to drop back to where it started.

“I had to go, ‘What was my unusual imagination even thinking about when I was developing it in the first place?’ As opposed to seeing a coffee mug or a golf-club cover [adorned with Betelgeuse’s face].”

It was "off-putting" for him when he came to channel the mischievous spirit again.

Keaton added: “The ubiquity of Beetlejuice as a character in the culture created its own challenges. “

That was f****** weird.

“To be honest with you – I’m being very frank – it was off-putting, to look and go, ‘I don’t want to look like all these little things, f*** that – what was the thing that started this?’”