“I guess I play what I aspire to.”
Sandra Bullock in Gravity
©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
Reentering the world of Practical Magic 28 years later was an eerie experience for Bullock, like returning to a land you never thought you’d see again. She and Kidman, both producers on the film, became obsessed with getting the details exactly right. “The authenticity of the tone—the tone that we got so much shit for—was the tone that we had to make sure was back,” Bullock says. “The cinematic aspect of it: the feel of the house, the glow of the light. We filmed the first one on film, and you’re filming the second on digital. So how do you make it resonate the same way?”
As much as they adored what director Griffin Dunne achieved with the original, Bullock, Kidman, and producer Denise Di Novi thought it was important to bring a female director in for the sequel. They landed on Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier, who’d worked with Kidman and Bullock in the past. Although Bier didn’t have any comedy experience, Bullock says, “We have it. So whenever guidance was needed, we were there. We were very hands on.”
She confesses that, like her character in the movie, she has control issues. “I’m incapable of not panicking over every detail. Susanne and I went at it a lot,” Bullock says, mentioning a few elements from the first Practical Magic that she thought needed to be echoed in the sequel. That includes a requisite Stevie Nicks needle drop and plenty of visual easter eggs for devotees. “If you haven’t seen the first film, it doesn’t matter. But if you did see the first film, there are nostalgic reminders that we’re still in the same place with the same people, and we’re bringing on two more magical baby witches.”
