Beetlejuice Beetlejuice star explains how his mom's ex-boyfriends inspired his new "cringey" character: "He's sort of a shake bag of people I know"

Justin Theroux as Rory and Winona Ryder as Lydia in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice — (Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, and Michael Keaton are back in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, 36 years after Tim Burton's beloved original was released. With so much time having passed, there's a bunch of new people in Lydia and Delia's life, including the former's daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) and her producer-turned-partner Rory.

In a new interview with GamesRadar+ and Inside Total Film, Justin Theroux, who plays Rory, explained how he combatted his initial on-set nerves and revealed the unlikely inspiration behind the character, too, citing his mother's exes as influences.

"He's sort of a shake bag of people I know, some people that we've all met. It's so fun to play someone who is so codependent. I would often think about my mom, who was a single mom, so occasionally she would bring back a boyfriend that would be a little bit too, like, familiar in the house, you know?" he laughs.

"That kind of thing is just cringey. So I was really trying to capture a little bit of that, and then stuff that just made me and Tim laugh, like the stupid ponytail and the bad haircut; how he's so quick to tears and too emotional. All those little elements just made us giggle."

When we first meet Rory in the film, he's coaxing Lydia from the sidelines as she hosts a new episode of her paranormal reality show. Think Most Haunted and Ghost Hunters... After seeing an apparition of Beetlejuice in the audience, Lydia freaks out and pops a pill in the studio bathroom that, we can only assume from Rory's reaction, blocks her clairvoyant capabilities.

Winona Ryder as Lydia and Justin Theroux as Rory in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice — (Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)

Giving his gothy girlfriend a pep talk, Rory chucks the pills away, but soon finds himself frantically fishing through the trash, sweaty fringe falling in his face, when he realizes how flustered Lydia is.

Did Theroux find joining the Tim Burton-directed sequel a similarly flap-worthy experience? "I didn't really even think about the outside noise, because the script was really good; the sets were really good, the costumes were really good, and Tim is really fucking good at what he does," he tells us. "In a weird way, 95% of the work is done for you, and then all you have to do is remember your lines and try to make them funny and play them with intention.

"I got less nervous the more I was on set, because I felt like I was in such good hands. We were really giggling a lot. Sometimes when you go to work, you're like, 'Long day ahead. We've gotta shoot a lot of stuff.' This was the opposite, where you were giddy to get to set, and then at the end of the day you were like, 'Oh man, I've gotta go back to my hotel and wait until tomorrow.'"

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice releases on September 6. In the meantime, check out our guide to the most exciting upcoming movies heading our way.

Listen out for more of our chat with Theroux on the upcoming episode of the Inside Total Film podcast, which is available on Apple, Audioboom, Spotify, and more.

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I am an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things TV and film across our Total Film and SFX sections. Elsewhere, my words have been published by the likes of Digital Spy, SciFiNow, PinkNews, FANDOM, Radio Times, and Total Film magazine.