Dead man’s chungs?
Buena Vista Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
1. The idea for Hocus Pocus came from David Kirschner, who was a producer and came up with the story. He created it as a bedtime story for his daughters.
2. Max Dennison (Omri Katz) was named after Kirschner, whose middle name is Max. He likes to think of the character as his alter ego.
3. Leonardo DiCaprio was offered "more money than [he] ever dreamed of" to play Max, but he instead decided to do What's Eating Gilbert Grape.
4. But seemingly, he has no regrets. "I don't know where the hell I got the nerve," he said recently. "You live in an environment where you're influenced by people telling you to make a lot of money and strike while the iron's hot. But if there's one thing I'm very proud of, it's being a young man who was sticking to my guns."
5. Rosie O'Donnell was offered the role of Mary Sanderson, but she felt "uneasy" about playing a character who kills children.
6. Before doing Hocus Pocus, Kathy Najimy, who won the role of Mary, was a huge fan of Bette Midler, who played Winnie Sanderson. She had snuck backstage at two of her concerts to try to meet her (once dressed as a bunny for a singing telegram).
Omri Katz as Max Dennison, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kathy Najimy as Mary Sanderson, Rosie O'Donnell
Buena Vista Pictures, Robin Marchant / Getty Images, Buena Vista Pictures, Jason Merritt / Getty Images
7. During filming, Midler had two people running around behind her with dictionaries of old curse words.
8. Choreographer Peggy Holmes had lessons with Midler, Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker — who played the third Sanderson sister, Sarah — to choreograph how they'd ride their brooms/vacuum.
9. Holmes would ride with them in their cars to see how they drove and then she incorporated that into their broom/vacuum-riding.
10. According to makeup artist Tony Gardner, they had to tone down some of the makeup after Disney deemed it too scary in early tests.
11. When Winnie takes the stage to sing "I Put A Spell On You," she says, "Hello, Salem! My name's Winifred. What's yours?" It's a reference to a line from Mama Rose in Gypsy: "Hello, world. My name is Rose. What's yours?" Midler played Mama Rose in a TV version of the musical in 1993.
