If you want to avoid Beetlejuice Beetlejuice spoilers, keep your distance from Michael Keaton—or at least don’t let him on any late-night shows.
In a recent interview with CinemaBlend, the Oscar-nominated actor—who will reprise his role as Betelgeuse in Tim Burton’s upcoming Beetlejuice sequel—learned that he accidentally spoiled Batman for millions of viewers when he guested on Late Night with David Letterman 35 years ago.
“Obviously, with a movie like Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, secrecy is key,” CinemaBlend’s Mike Reyes said to Keaton. “It’s funny, because when I was doing the prep, a reel came up of you spoiling Batman on Letterman.”
This was apparently news to Keaton. “Oh, really?” he said, shaking his head. “That is totally like me. So stupid. God, what did I say?”
While promoting Batman on Late Night in 1989, Keaton slipped up and revealed a major spoiler about his character’s backstory. “Batman, Bruce Wayne, witnesses the murder of his parents when he’s a kid,” he said. When Letterman asked if The Joker was responsible for the murder, Keaton replied, “Yeah, but he doesn’t know it till later… Oh, I’m kind of blowing the plot here.”
“Oh, f**k! Jeez!” Keaton cried out after watching the resurfaced clip. “But didn’t everybody know that?”
While The Joker’s role in Bruce Wayne’s backstory is common knowledge now, that wasn’t the case back in 1989. In the original comics, a mugger named Joe Chill was to blame for the death of Bruce’s parents.
Keaton isn’t the only superhero to ever spoil their own movie on late-night. Both Mark Ruffalo and Tom Holland have become notorious for letting slip key details about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But they clearly didn’t invent the sport.
During a 2012 appearance on Late Show, both Letterman and Anne Hathaway—who played Selina Kyle/Catwoman—spilled the beans on how The Dark Knight Rises ends.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice hits theaters on September 6, 2024.
