Delia Deetz'sBeetlejuice BeetlejuiceCostume Has Easter Egg for 1988 Film: Did You Catch It? (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Catherine O’Hara in ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’.Photo:Warner Bros. Entertainment

Warner Bros. Entertainment

When Colleen Atwood stepped in to do the costumes forBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, she knew right away that she was going to keep the iconic pieces true to the original 1988 film and make the rest her own.That meant keeping the characters true to who the audiences met in 1988, just 36 years later. And while fans might be searching for Easter eggs to the original film, they aren’t going to be finding a lot in terms of costumes.There are, of course, callbacks to the original film. You can’t really avoid those when you have the same characters with a similar story. But Atwood tells PEOPLE that her “main nods” in costuming were Beetlejuice’s suit, of course, and a couple familiar outfits that audiences will recognize.“The rest of it walked away and I did my thing,” she says of harkening back to the original.There’s just one true Easter egg, she says, inBeetlejuice Beetlejuicecostumes — and it’s in a Catherine O’Hara Delia Deetz look.If you haven’t yet seen the movie, there’s a spoiler ahead!Catherine O’Hara as Delia Deetz, Jenna Ortega as Astrid Deetz, Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz, and Justin Theroux as Rory in ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’.Parisa Taghizadeh/Warner Bros. PicturesInBeetlejuice Beetlejuice,Jeffrey Jones' Charles Deetz dies on a bird-watching expedition(the actor does not appear in the movie), and his family is left to mourn him. Of course, his death requires a funeral — and that’s where eagle-eyed fans may find one familiar wardrobe piece.“The one real Easter egg in the film from the last movie is that Catherine at the funeral wears a top hat that she wore in the first movie that she kept,” Atwood reveals to PEOPLE. “She brought that in and we go, ‘Let’s use it for the funeral. It’ll be perfect.'“In the original movie, Delia wears the hat in the latter half of the movie, though the older iteration sees it tied with red and black tulle. She wears it with a gray outfit (the red adding a very appropriate pop of color) for the scenes leading into what becomes the climax where her daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder) has to marry Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton).Catherine O’Hara in 1998 ‘Beetlejuice’.MAXNever miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up to date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.There’s another hat inBeetlejuice Beetlejuicethat looks strikingly familiar, and that’s one that Ryder wears at the very end of the movie, in a dream sequence where she and Astrid (Jenna Ortega) are at Dracula’s castle. In a close-up shot, she’s wearing a wide-brim black hat that could easily pass as the same hat a teenage Lydia wears inBeetlejuice.Winona Ryder in ‘Beetlejuice’.MAXThe PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!In this instance, Atwood tells PEOPLE it’s not even a coincidence — it’s that Ryder truly embodies Lydia, because the hat she’s wearing in the scene is one of her own. Atwood didn’t even provide it for her.“What’s really funny is that hat, that weird visor thing she wears [in the scene], Winona wears that around to keep sun off,” Atwood shares. “It was a sunny day miraculously in England, and we were shooting outside and we’re like, ‘We really need a hat for her.’ We’d done the round one. We had done an homage to that early look, and then I think the scene we were going to use never happened. It was actually her personal visor, but we put it on her for that scene. It was touristy and funny. That’s how that came to be. It was a serendipitous thing.“Beetlejuice Beetlejuiceis in theaters now.

When Colleen Atwood stepped in to do the costumes forBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, she knew right away that she was going to keep the iconic pieces true to the original 1988 film and make the rest her own.

That meant keeping the characters true to who the audiences met in 1988, just 36 years later. And while fans might be searching for Easter eggs to the original film, they aren’t going to be finding a lot in terms of costumes.

There are, of course, callbacks to the original film. You can’t really avoid those when you have the same characters with a similar story. But Atwood tells PEOPLE that her “main nods” in costuming were Beetlejuice’s suit, of course, and a couple familiar outfits that audiences will recognize.

“The rest of it walked away and I did my thing,” she says of harkening back to the original.

There’s just one true Easter egg, she says, inBeetlejuice Beetlejuicecostumes — and it’s in a Catherine O’Hara Delia Deetz look.

If you haven’t yet seen the movie, there’s a spoiler ahead!

Catherine O’Hara as Delia Deetz, Jenna Ortega as Astrid Deetz, Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz, and Justin Theroux as Rory in ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’.Parisa Taghizadeh/Warner Bros. Pictures

Parisa Taghizadeh/Warner Bros. Pictures

InBeetlejuice Beetlejuice,Jeffrey Jones’ Charles Deetz dies on a bird-watching expedition(the actor does not appear in the movie), and his family is left to mourn him. Of course, his death requires a funeral — and that’s where eagle-eyed fans may find one familiar wardrobe piece.

“The one real Easter egg in the film from the last movie is that Catherine at the funeral wears a top hat that she wore in the first movie that she kept,” Atwood reveals to PEOPLE. “She brought that in and we go, ‘Let’s use it for the funeral. It’ll be perfect.'”

In the original movie, Delia wears the hat in the latter half of the movie, though the older iteration sees it tied with red and black tulle. She wears it with a gray outfit (the red adding a very appropriate pop of color) for the scenes leading into what becomes the climax where her daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder) has to marry Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton).

Catherine O’Hara in 1998 ‘Beetlejuice’.MAX

MAX

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up to date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

There’s another hat inBeetlejuice Beetlejuicethat looks strikingly familiar, and that’s one that Ryder wears at the very end of the movie, in a dream sequence where she and Astrid (Jenna Ortega) are at Dracula’s castle. In a close-up shot, she’s wearing a wide-brim black hat that could easily pass as the same hat a teenage Lydia wears inBeetlejuice.

Winona Ryder in ‘Beetlejuice’.MAX

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

In this instance, Atwood tells PEOPLE it’s not even a coincidence — it’s that Ryder truly embodies Lydia, because the hat she’s wearing in the scene is one of her own. Atwood didn’t even provide it for her.

“What’s really funny is that hat, that weird visor thing she wears [in the scene], Winona wears that around to keep sun off,” Atwood shares. “It was a sunny day miraculously in England, and we were shooting outside and we’re like, ‘We really need a hat for her.’ We’d done the round one. We had done an homage to that early look, and then I think the scene we were going to use never happened. It was actually her personal visor, but we put it on her for that scene. It was touristy and funny. That’s how that came to be. It was a serendipitous thing.”

Beetlejuice Beetlejuiceis in theaters now.

source: people.com