Witchy Women
What was it like for Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy to return as high-flying sorceress sisters in Hocus Pocus 2? They tell all.
You believe in magic, right? Because there’s no other way to explain the scene in Providence, R.I., last November as Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy showed up for the first day of production on Hocus Pocus 2, the followup to their 1993 comedy classic about three witches resurrected 300 years after their deaths on Halloween.
“It was like we just had gone out to lunch,” says Midler. “We went right back with our characters in such a silly way.”
The movie magic at work was the seamless reunion of three actresses who first cast their spell over moviegoers nearly 30 years ago. And with HP2 launching Sept. 30 on Disney+, fans can finally see the comedically diabolical Sanderson sisters—Winifred (Midler), Sarah (Parker) and Mary (Najimy)—wreak more hilarious havoc in their haunted hometown of Salem, Mass. “We’re very much keeping in the tone and spirit of the first,” Parker says. “It’s ridiculous and not too scary.”
As for the plot, three new witchy young women (played by Lilia Buckingham, Belissa Escobedo and Whitney Peak) are standing in the sisters’ way of domination. “We really want to get rid of them,” Midler says. As in the 1993 original, the Sandersons—joined by a new cursed black cat—let the insults (and broomsticks) fly. There also will be music with all the magical mayhem, and they once again will break into song. Many songs.
This all should be music to the ears of the generations of viewers who consider the fun-for-all-ages romp a spooky staple. “There is definitely a cult following,” Najimy says. “It’s surprising but delightful.”
The Three Stooges . . . in Skirts
The actresses think they know why the movie has become so enduringly popular. Parker, 57, likes the “sophistication” in its mix of humor and supernatural hijinks. Najimy, 65, notes that goofy
Halloween-themed movies are few and far between. And Midler, 76, recalls her epiphany upon rewatching
Hocus Pocus some 15 years ago. “I always thought I was the star of the picture,” she says jokingly. “And then I saw what the other two girls were doing. They were so funny! I realized, ‘Oh, my gosh, it’s all about the trio! We’re like the Three Stooges in skirts!’ ”
There’s also something about watching witches in action. After all, great witch stories like Hocus Pocus (or TV series such as Charmed or
American Horror Story: Coven) are driven by powerful women who refuse to conform to the norm; this often conjures up a mighty super(natural) experience. Najimy can recite witch lore dating back to the 1600s. “Women have always tried to lift themselves up, but I don’t know how the ugly warts on the nose started,” she says. “There’s just confusion about what women really are and why we don’t suffer fools,” Midler says. “Men didn’t used to burn them at the stake for nothing! We’ve come a long way since then.”
The New York City–based actresses have stayed tight over the decades. Midler and Najimy and their respective husbands, performance artist Martin von Haselberg and singer Dan Finnerty, enjoy get-togethers with mutual friend Gloria Steinem; Parker and Midler, Broadway vets who both appeared in The First Wives Club (1996), get together socially and share mutual pals.