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WhenPractical Magicwasreleased in 1998,it opened at No.
1 at the box office.
She was pregnant (!
), conjuring a man who doesnt exist with whom she can fall in love.
Their mother eventually dies of a broken heart sure!
Everyone in town thinks the aunts are weird as hell, but who cares?
(This is not super-relevant, but you should know that Margo Martindale plays one of their neighbor-frenemies.)
Where am I finding you?
Where are you riding out the pandemic?Im living in London.
Ive been here since December.
Did you move because of the pandemic?
Okay, so lets talk aboutPractical Magic.I hear that this is one that people really love.
Its a favorite for a lot of people.
Yes, my sister and I watched it together growing up.
We revisited this VHS tape more than once.Over the years, its interesting, I hear that a lot.
Especially from women, which, I dont really know why that is, but its great.
It was a very happy time.
The next evening, he rang, and I said, I want to do it.
Had you read a script?
Or was it just this party conversation where you were like, Sure, sounds great!
?It was a lot of conversation.
Id seen a script.
It did happen extremely quickly, for whatever reason.
I think what I remember most about preparing for it was the look of these witches.
The wonderful Judianna Makovsky did the clothes.
Shed doneSix Degrees of Separation, and shes just miraculous.
Youre playing somebody who is hundreds of years old.
I remember a makeup and hair test that didnt work out because I wasnt wearing much makeup.
This enormous amount of black lipstick, this, that, and the other.
She wasnt young or old.
She wasnt unattractive she was quite attractive at times.
But the more eccentric it was, the more it worked.
Were you consciously trying to reference any witches from pop culture?No, not at all!
That was one of the interesting things about it.
Or maybe it did?
But he worked so well with the eccentricity of the looks, so it became otherworldly.
Did it remind you of anyone?
Lots of beads and jewelry.
Not as mobile as Stevie Nicks, probably.
But that same sense of timelessness.
That was Griffins focus.
We werent playing witches; it was more like we were playing the relationships.
What was it like meeting the rest of the cast?
Had you worked with any of them before?It was a very, very congenial situation, playful.
Both Nic and Sandy were enormously warm.
Sandy is very, very funny and smart, and Nic was just lovely.
It was a very, very congenial time, and all that coven-y thing of running around.
But its hard work!That scene where Nic was on the floorwrithing around, it went on fordays.
And she was incredible about it.
Where were you shooting?
Were you in a real house?It was out in Friday Harbor, off Seattle.
Those were the exteriors.
It was this gorgeous house.
Ive read that for the midnight margaritas scene, you were all actually drunk.
I think one of the hardest things to do is a fun, raucous party scene.
By take 28, it is very hard to keep that up.
I think it worked.
I also read that it wasNicole Kidman who provided the tequila.I dont remember.
I dont think any of us had any objections, Ill put it that way.
It was otherwise just the usual challenges of getting a scene right, choreographing it and so on.
She just went for it every time, even when she wasnt on camera.
I [also] remember the green-screen flying around wearing a harness.
The people who do those movies all the time have my admiration.
What do you remember about working with the child actors?
They were really beautiful children in every way.
They both turned out very well.
I wasnt a child actor, and I wonder how it comes around to happen like that.
So I immediately, being ridiculous, said, I can speak French.
Mainly becauseI felt like going to Paris.
One of the stupidest things Ive ever done in my entire life.
I really did want to shoot myself.
At the end, she said that I basically had a Bulgarian accent.
Somewhere in the world or not!
there is a copy of me dubbed in French inPractical Magic.
Im sure the minute I left, they hired someone else to do it right.
But I made a real horses ass of myself, I will tell you that.
Did you have a sense of the movies reception when it came out?
Do you read reviews as a general rule?No, I dont.
I think it was difficult to market, honestly, because its not a totally spooky-horror-magic film.
The tone is a little all over the place.Its very unusual.
I couldnt tell you if it made money; I wouldnt be aware of that at all.
So its lived on, which is interesting.
And I dont know why that would be.
It certainly is a very unusual film.
I think maybe they use the wordchick flick, which would hopefully be politically incorrect these days.
But whatever it was what do you think?
The men in this movie are more like plot devices.
I would totally agree with you.
And God love the VHS and all the technology.
People stayed home and watched it.
Otherwise, youd have togo to themovies.
Thats what Ive heard when people have mentioned it to me over the years.
I think its uniqueness, probably.
And its very beautiful to look at.
Its well made, and the performances are wonderful.
When was the last time you saw the movie?Maybe at the premiere.
But I wont see anything Im in.
I attempt to avoid myself!
Probably it would come up people stop you in the street and say they love the movie.
Of all your work, is this something you hear about a lot?Its up there being mentioned.
Mainly by women, definitely.
Do you believe in any of the magic in the movie?Like do I believe in real magic?
Otherwise, we could all plot and plan and there wouldnt be any surprises.
I think de facto we have to believe in it.
Thats the stuff we cant control even if we would like to.
Thats what makes things magical.
Whether you like it or not, its there.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
