Arthur Conti Makes His Captivating Film Debut

During the opening montage of Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, familiar names fill up the screen: Michael Keaton, who unforgettably originated the titular character in 1988; two-time Oscar nominee Winona Ryder; Emmy-winning comedy legend Catherine O’Hara. And then: Arthur Conti.

As film debuts go, this feels like a statement. “To be on a cast list with them would’ve been unthinkable to me two years ago,” the twenty-year-old newcomer says of his co-stars, who also include Willem Dafoe, Jenna Ortega, and Justin Theroux. Calling from his home in England just days after the movie opened last month, he was visibly, contagiously giddy about, well, everything.

With good reason: on its opening weekend, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice brought in $111 million in the United States, surpassing the entire theatrical run of its predecessor in just three days. Perhaps more importantly, fans are loving it. “There is always a little bit of a ‘what if’ with a sequel,” Conti admits—especially when the original is a cult favorite. “But once I saw the film, I was like, ‘Oh, okay, we’re good. We’ve done it. I haven’t ruined Beetlejuice,’” he laughs.

If this movie worked, even thirty-five years later, it’s because “it was in safe hands from the beginning,” he ventures. “Tim came back to do it, everyone came back to do it—people who love the first one and wouldn’t dream of going near it unless they really had a good idea.”

The result is an off-the-wall, wacky, brazen, and sweet movie that, against all odds, does recapture the idiosyncratic magic of the original. “I can’t imagine what it would have felt like to watch Beetlejuice in 1988. To this day, I don’t think there’s anything that comes close to that level of weirdness. It doesn’t follow any rules,” Conti points out. “The sequel doesn’t either. It’s similar to the first one in the best way, but it goes off in its own direction as well and finds new ways to be weird and quirky and interesting.”

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice introduces the next generation of the Deetz family, led by Ortega’s Astrid, daughter of the now-grown Lydia (Ryder). Conti plays Jeremy, a love interest with something to hide. “[Jeremy] is such a treat to play because there’s so much to him and his storyline is really exciting,” the actor says. “When I read the script, I wanted so badly to be the guy to do it.” It’s easy to see why he was: on screen, Conti is a natural, bringing to Jeremy an affable charm that never wavers but grows darker as his motives come to light. “I thought it would be more interesting to keep his sweet-seeming side a constant throughout the whole thing. I felt it would be more unsettling that way, so I generally tried to say lines as I as Arthur would do.” He adds, “Minus the American accent, which I seem to have gotten away with.”

Even though the film was shot over a year ago, he lights up when discussing his time on set. “[Shooting in] the Afterlife was like being in an amusement park every day,” he recounts. “You look around and you’re like, ‘Oh my god, where am I?’ There are all these zombies and dead people walking around, all these slanted, weird sets. It was just so much fun.” Of Burton’s direction, he says, “It’s structured while still feeling relaxed. I’m not sure how he achieves that, but Tim creates this environment that’s free for experimenting while still being very efficient and regimented, which is an amazing accomplishment.”

Conti particularly loved watching how his fellow performers used the space they were given. “People were improvising a lot. Michael certainly was. He actually came up with the line [in my final scene],” he says of a signature Beetlejuice quip. “We’re allowed one PG-13 f-word, and that’s the one they chose.”

As for what surprised him most about shooting for the legendary director, he reveals: “Tim won’t do any more takes than is strictly necessary. He has such a clear image of the movie in his head that when he sees a take that he likes, he’s like, ‘Okay, we’re done there.’ I’d be like, ‘Really?’ because we’d only done, like, two takes. That was kind of freaky to get used to, but then you see it and you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, there was no need to do another one.’”

Conti admits his pinch-me casting moment gave way to impostor syndrome once he met his co-stars in person at a costume fitting, and credits Winona Ryder, his “favorite person in the world,” for helping him through it. “Right from the beginning, she was very sweet to me and I'd hear from others that she’d been nice about me to them as well. It was just really nice to have that kind of endorsement from her early on. That helped me be less intimidated by the whole thing.”

With Beetlejuice Beetlejuice under his belt, Conti, who comes from a long lineage of actors, is excited to think about the future. “I want to prove that I’m a good actor. I’ve had a big film, but I think the work really begins now.” He hopes to balance film and stage projects in the years to come and points to the late Philip Seymour Hoffman as a north star for his work ethic and creative integrity. Dreaming ahead, he names Kenneth Lonergan’s This Is Our Youth as a play in which he’d love to take part. As for movies, “I’ve got a whole list of directors that I would love to work with. I’d love to go in a more experimental sort of direction at some point. I love Ari Aster, I love Ruben Östlund—Charlie Kaufman as well,” he lists, pointing to Adaptation as one of the movies that blew his mind open and expanded his understanding of what filmmaking could be when he first saw it as a young teenager.

Yet, even as we’re plotting his dream career, he is careful not to close himself off to what might be. “Truthfully I’m not sure what I’d like to be known for, because I don’t know what’s going to happen yet.” He pauses. “I want to do everything. I really do.”

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is now available on digital.