10 Iconic Movie Characters With Less Screen Time Than You Think

Beetlejuice, despite being the titular character in his own movie, only manages to wrack up 17 minutes on the screen. They aren’t even all that spread out either, as it takes over 75 minutes for him to even show up. Still, his late burst is so memorable, you forget he was absent for the first massive chunk.

Beetlejuice was only Tim Burton’s second movie, but considering his debut feature was Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, it’s the first one that was truly in his style.

He followed it up with Batman and Edward Scissorhands, but Michael Keaton’s brilliant mix of goofiness and creepiness in Beetlejuice played a massive part in him even getting his hands on those.

Keaton himself considers Beetlejuice to be his favourite role of this own, and having ad libbed the majority of his lines, that’s no surprise. He does a wonderful job in making a little bit of screen time feel like a massive role; there’s not a second wasted while he’s with us.

It’s strange to think about, but had Keaton not been so electrifying in his short appearance, Burton’s career might not have taken off as it did.