Bette Midler Reveals Hilarious Reason She Turned Down Sister Act

By Nicole Drum

It's hard to imagine anyone else but Whoopi Goldberg as Deloris Van Cartier/Sister Mary Clarence in the classic 1992 comedy Sister Act, but it turns out that the role was almost played by another iconic performer — Bette Midler. In a recent interview with Variety, Midler revealed that she turned down the role and her reason why. According to Midler, she turned down the role because of the costume.

"They came to me with Sister Act, and I said, 'My fans don't want to see me in a wimple,'" Midler said. "Can you believe that? How off the wall is that? How crazy is that? Jeffrey Katzenberg called me every day, 'Please, please.' I stood my ground because I really was afraid of the costume. Isn't that amazing? I can wear anything but a nun's habit?"

Midler went on to praise Goldberg's performance in the film, noting that she was perfect for the role. She also revealed that she turned down another notable role: Misery, which ended up starring Kathy Bates.

"Whoopi wore it all the way to the bank," she said. "So, God bless her. And she was perfect for it. And then there was Misery. I just couldn't. It was too violent. The character was so not funny, so without any qualities of redemption. She cut off his foot. Come on. Who does that?"

Would Bette Midler return for a third Hocus Pocus?

Last fall, Midler reprised her role as Winifred Sanderson in Hocus Pocus 2 and, at the time, Midler indicated that she'd be open to coming back again for a third film should the opportunity arise.

"I'm envious of other actors who have franchises, and I was hoping for a sequel to First Wives Club, but we never got that. After 30 years with no sequel to Hocus Pocus, I've always been envious of people who get to do their favorite character more than once. The fact that we got to do this finally, after 30 years of promoting the idea, I'm glad we got to do it. I'd love to have a franchise -- especially a character I love playing," Midler said. "If there was a third one, of course I'd sign on, but I don't know how. I can't imagine what the story would be, but I love Winifred, Sarah, Mary, and our relationship. It's good for women. We stick together through hell and high water, but we do cause mayhem, and not many women cause that much mayhem!"

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Sister Act 3 is in the works.

Tim Federle, creator of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, will direct Sister Act 3, working from a script by Madhuri Shekar. Tyler Perry is also attached to produce the project along with Goldberg. Currently, there's no official window for its release.

"For a long time, they kept saying no one wanted to see it. And then quite recently, it turns out, that that may not be true," Goldberg previously said about the threequel. "People may want to see it. So, we're working diligently to try to figure out how to get the gang together and come back."  

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