Hocus Pocus 20th Anniversary- Complete Panel Discussion

• published: 25 Nov 2014
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This updated video is dedicated to all the fans who deserved to be at the 20th anniversary event. It was a pleasure trying to record the event for those who couldn't attend. This is the recording of the first panel discussion. The panelists are: Kathy Najimy, David Kirschner, Thora Birch, Doug Jones, Vinessa Shaw, Omri Katz, John Debney, and Tony Gardner! Unfortunately, due to my camera running out of memory, I was unable to record any mentions of Hocus Pocus 2 by creator David Kirschner whom recently pitched a sequel treatment to Disney which they bought. Here is the rundown of that missing footage: After Kathy had joked about a sequel, David Kirschner mentioned that he had recently pitched a sequel to Disney and that they purchased it. All of the cast members were really surprised when he said that, and Thora joked that if true, she would sign the contract right then and there. David continued the discussion by encouraging all fans to tweet @DisneyD23 and ask them to put the sequel into production. Finally, Kathy stated that she was only joking about a sequel, and never thought it could actually be possible. Sadly, I did not attend the second panel discussion, but I have confirmation that it was almost the same as the first. The second panel discussion included these panelists: Kathy Najimy, Doug Jones, Thora Birch, Vinessa Shaw, Tony Gardner, and William Sandell. Here is the rundown of the second panel discussion: As the discussion began, the panelists reminisced about some of their favorite days of filming, including a visit to Salem that just happened to fall on the 300th anniversary of the witch trials. According to the group, the filmmakers wanted the cast to get a sense of the location's history and how it all played in the film. "Kenny actually took us to the Salem museum where they had a commemorative event about the hangings," said Birch. Thora also revealed a fun filming fact: "Bette had two people running around behind her with dictionaries of old curse words." Later, Birch said she loved seeing how everything went from first appearing in the script to the scene actually being filmed and how, during breaks in filming, she'd go into the Sanderson Sister's house and explore by opening drawers and seeing what she could find. Also, the production designer, William Sandell, spoke about the costume designs; especially, the witches and Thora's costumes. All of the female panelists agreed with him when he mentioned that Larry Bagby (ICE), who lived in Burbank at the time, was the nicest kid on the set and that he had hit it big when he starred as Marshall Grant in Walk the Line (the Johny Cash Bio Pic). William mainly spoke about his scenography work for the film. He talked about the many months he spent researching houses until finally coming up with an amalgam of houses that culminated into the amazing Sanderson house we all know and love today. According to William, he researched the era of 1693 Massachusetts in order to achieve the perfect sense of reality amidst all the fantasy. He mentioned how much fun he had working every day and that it's still his favorite set of all the stuff he's done. Actually, this was the sentiment most shared by the panelists. As Thora mentioned, "out of all the work we've all done, this is the one people have always brought up." Shaw agreed, referencing a time she was filming another film in an actual family's home when the mother stopped her in the hallway to tell her that Hocus Pocus meant a great deal to her relationship with her daughter. As the discussion segued, Najimy revealed that she and her nephew and her aunt all watch the film together every year on August 15. "It's an event," she said. Sandell continued the discussion by talking about how he and his crew built all of the houses as authentically possible by imitating techniques used by Salem settlers 300 years ago. Lastly, he spoke about how sentimental the event was for all of the panelists, who after twenty years, returned to the lot where they filmed many of the scenes for the film. Also, make up and special effects artist, Tony Gardner, spoke about the issues with the makeup effects and how they had to tone it down as it was deemed too scary by Disney. Finally at the end of the discussion, there was a chance for one of the guests in the audience to ask a question. The question was to ask each actor and actress to go into their character and share their favorite line from the movie. Below are the lines the panelists recited: Kathy: I smell children. Doug: Witch! Trollop! You buck-toothed, mop riding firefly from hell! Thora: A virgin lit the black flame candle. Vinessa: Trick or treat.