Michael Keaton on ‘Dumbo’: I was clueless

Los Angeles, Aug 29 – Hollywood star Michael Keaton has talked about his work relationship with filmmaker Tim Burton and his performance in “Dumbo”, which was released in 2019.

Keaton and Burton are teaming up for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” now and the actor said he was clueless in the live-action adaptation of the Disney classic, reports deadline.com.

“I love working with Tim so much, but I don’t think we ever really analyzed why we work pretty well together; we just do,” Keaton told The New York Times in an interview, which Burton was also part of.

“I think I let him down on one movie, but that’s just me, and it bugs me to this day. I was clueless on ‘Dumbo’.”

Burton added: “I don’t even know what you’re talking about. But whatever.”

Keaton and Burton’s work relationship dates back to the first “Beetlejuice” film 1988. The duo teamed up again for 1989’s “Batman” and in the 1992 sequel “Batman Returns”. It was until Dumbo that the director and actor worked together again, with Burton casting Keaton in the role of the villain V.A. Vandevere, the amusement park owner who exploits “Dumbo”.

Following the release of “Dumbo”, Burton has expressed the film would likely be his last one with Disney.

“My history is that I started out there. I was hired and fired several times throughout my career there,” Burton said in 2022.

“The thing about Dumbo, is that’s why I think my days with Disney are done, I realised that I was Dumbo, that I was working in this horrible big circus and I needed to escape. That movie is quite autobiographical at a certain level.”

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” follows the story of three generations of the Deetz family returning home to Winter River after a family tragedy. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia’s life is turned upside down when her teenage daughter, Astrid, accidentally opens the portal to the afterlife.