Disney Originally Rejected the Look of the Witches in ‘Hocus Pocus’

It’s hard to envision a version of the Sanderson Sister without the spooky makeup and costumes, but at one point Disney’s three witches could’ve looked very different.

Hocus Pocus has become a Halloween classic, in part because of the delightful designs of the characters played by Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker. As director Kenny Ortega told EW though, it took some convincing to get Disney on board with the actor’s vision.

“The ladies came in with idea for their characters,” Ortega said. “They came in with ideas for makeup and hair. Bette [Midler] threw on those buck teeth and had that crazy wild hairstyle and disappeared as we knew her. When Disney looked at the makeup test and the hair test, they came back and said, ‘You need to pull back on this, there’s no Bette Midler there.’”

That hesitancy only increased when Najimy showed up with her own crazy take. “Then Kathy [Najimy] came in with the sort of that bit of paralysis and Disney at first was really concerned that we had gone too far and that we were losing the women in the characterizations and makeup,” Ortega said. “But they stood strong. We managed to gain the support of the company and went forward.”

The movie would not have made as much of an impression without the over the top makeup and prosthetics, and luckily Disney came around to their point of view.

Ortega also shared a story from the set involving Doug Jones and his mouth that was sealed shut. Nowadays that scene would be handled by special effects, but back then they had to resort to more practical means.

“[Doug Jones] had a balloon inside of his mouth with dust in it. When he cut the stitches and opened his mouth, those were real things coming out of his mouth,” Ortega said. “Those weren’t visual effects like we would do simply today. That was all actually happening.”

The original Hocus Pocus debuted in 1993 and starred Midler, Parker, and Najimy as witches who wreaked havoc in Salem Massachusetts. They were eventually hanged for their villainy but ended up resurrected 300 years later, with the only thing stopping them from taking over once again being a few teenagers and an immortal cat.

There is currently a remake in production for the Disney Channel, but no released ate for it has been announced.