NEW YORK – If you’ve revisited the classic “Beetlejuice” in anticipation of the upcoming sequel, you’re in good company. Michael Keaton has done the same.

In Tim Burton’s horror-comedy sequel “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” Keaton reprises his role as the mischievous demon who loves chaos and will create havoc if his name is uttered thrice. This is the second legendary character Keaton has brought back after decades, the first being Batman in last year’s “The Flash.”

However, Beetlejuice holds a special place since he was created collaboratively by Keaton and Burton. This quirky antagonist is fixated on marrying a teenage Lydia Deetz (played by Winona Ryder) while stirring panic among the living and the dead. Despite his fantastic portrayal of “the ghost with the most” in the 1988 film, Keaton had concerns about recapturing that same energy.

“I’m really excited. But then I thought, ‘Wait a minute. Can I pull this off again?’” Keaton shared, mentioning how he decided to rewatch the original film. He noted, “I usually don’t do this. I don’t want to sound pretentious, but I dislike analyzing comedy too deeply. I prefer just to perform it.”

Despite not expecting much, Keaton rediscovered his love for the movie. “I found myself laughing as if I was just a fan. I even chuckled at my own performance, thinking ‘Oh, that’s genuinely funny.’”

When asked about his favorite scene, Keaton replied, “There are so many wild moments in that first one, it’s tough to choose. It’s like asking who your favorite band is. I’ll probably think of my favorite later, maybe at 3 in the morning on my drive home.”

A moment he particularly enjoys is when the recently deceased couple, Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara (Geena Davis), refuse Beetlejuice’s help, prompting him to angrily kick a plastic tree and yell, “Nice (expletive) model!” along with a risqué gesture. He also appreciated filming a fake TV advertisement where Beetlejuice dresses in Western attire, rides a pretend cow, and sings, “Come on down and I’ll chew on a dog!”

Keaton came up with the memorable line spontaneously during filming. It was inspired by the infamous commercials from Southern California car salesman Cal Worthington, whom he and Burton knew. “He’d wear a cowboy hat and say things like, ‘I’d eat a bug!’” Keaton recalled.

Revisiting the original movie definitely helped Keaton get back into character for the sequel: On the first day of filming, “he showed up and, I swear, it was like he was possessed by a demon. He just did it,” Burton reminisced. “It was a genuinely moving experience.”

“It was a bit unsettling. I mean, it was almost eerie how quickly and naturally he slipped back into the role.”

Catherine O’Hara, who co-starred in the original, expressed that being in Keaton’s presence that day, as he embodied his bizarre character, was incredible, “But it wasn’t fair since he hasn’t aged. He’s always been dead.”

Burton added, “He just got a bit moldier.”