Griffin Dunne has revealed that a witchcraft consultant hired for Practically Magic ended up placing a supposed curse on the film, leaving filming mired in strange events.
In modern cinema, many studios turn to specialist consultants to ensure that their visions are captured on the big screen with the greatest possible verisimilitude.
And of course, in the film Pracção Mágica (1998), the production team had no better idea. I had to hire a witchcraft expert so that the rituals shown in the film were as realistic as possible.
Starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, the film was not a huge success upon its release, but over time it became an interesting film, mainly due to its focus on magical rituals.
The director Griffin Dunne revealed years later that the team had hired a consulting firm specializing in witchcraft to ensure the magical ceremonies were authentic.
In an interview with Vanity Fair in 2023, Dunne explained that the studio wanted the rituals to have a realistic feel: “We got along very well; she was very professional and Warner paid her generously,” said the director.
The relationship was so good that they decided to invite her to Los Angeles to meet Bullock and Kidman, who were eager to meet her. But this invitation was, ironically, what triggered the conflict.
According to Dunne, The consultant felt offended by the offer, as she did not want to “buy” herself with a trip or a hotel. Instead, he demanded a percentage of the film’s profits and the publishing rights to a cookbook inspired by the film.
When the studio rejected her requests, the woman responded with a threat and, according to the director, cursed that she had left it recorded on her answering machine, “in a strange language”. He just said, “It was scary,” Dunne confessed.
The message ended up in the hands of Warner’s legal department, who preferred to pay him a check rather than continue listening to the complete recording.
From that moment on, rumors began. Tensions rose when, shortly before filming began, the father of a crew member died, leading many to believe that the “witch” had made good on her threat.
During the intense days of filming the final exorcism, the atmosphere became “electric,” according to Dunne, who described the energy on set as “otherworldly”:
“It felt like we were conjuring something real,” he said.
Although the supposed curse was never confirmed, practically magical was marked by a story as mysterious as the one told in the film itself.
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