Prepare a Midnight Margarita and Enjoy These 25 Secrets About Practical Magic

"There's a little witch in all of us."

Twenty-five years later, fans still can't get enough of Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman in Practical Magic. Based on Alice Hoffman's novel of the same name, the 1998 movie starred the Oscar winners as witchy sisters Sally and Gilly Owens. But, despite the A-list line-up—which also included Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest as their delightfully wacky and brownies-for-breakfast-promoting aunts—critics failed to fall under Practical Magic's spell. 

Perhaps it was because it was a hard movie to pin down. Was it a romantic comedy centering on Sally's blossoming romance with the honorable officer Gary Hallett (Aiden Quinn)? But it could also be classified as horror because of Gilly's toxic relationship with "cowboy Dracula" Jimmy (Goran Višnjić), who haunts her even after she and Sally accidentally kill him. And then it's also a family drama about inherited generational trauma thanks to a curse that befalls any man who falls in love with an Owens witch.

Even director Griffin Dunne acknowledged he threw everything and more into the cauldron. 

"I remember Bob Daly, who was co-CEO of Warner Brothers—at our premiere, he sat one row in front [of me]," Dunne told Vanity Fair. "After a very lighthearted scene with girls giggling and being hilarious, [we were] having them dig up a body from a rose bush and stick needles in its eyes. He turned to the person next to him and went, 'I wish the kid would just pick a tone.'"

The real charm, however, was that Practical Magic was all of those things, which is why audiences are still bewitched by the movie, especially during spooky season, and its weird mix of humor, horror and, especially, the heart in the bond between Sally and Gilly.

To celebrate the movie's 25th anniversary, we're revealing behind the scenes facts about its production, which was cursed by an actual witch, that infamous midnight margaritas scene and the star who asked to buy the Owens' swoonworthy home. 

So, cue up Faith Hill's "This Kiss" and try not to dance naked under the full moon until after we reveal these mystifying secrets about Practical Magic: 

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Practical Magic is streaming on Hulu. 

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