Practical Magic

Infobox Film
name = Practical Magic


image_size =
caption = Promotional one-sheet poster
director = Griffin Dunne
producer = Denise Di Novi
writer = Alice Hoffman (novel)
Robin Swicord
Adam Brooks
starring = Sandra Bullock
Nicole Kidman
Stockard Channing
Dianne Wiest
music = Alan Silvestri
cinematography = Andrew Dunn
editing = Elizabeth King
distributor = Warner Bros.
released = October 16, 1998 (USA)
runtime = 103 min.
country = USA
language = English
budget = $60,000,000
gross = $46,683,377 [ [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=practicalmagic.htm Practical Magic at boxofficemojo.com] ] (domestic)
website = http://practicalmagic.warnerbros.com
amg_id = 1:173557
imdb_id = 0120791

"Practical Magic" is a 1998 family fantasy film directed by Griffin Dunne and starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as witches who carry on a family legacy of witchcraft and tragedy. The film is based on a book of the same name by Alice Hoffman. The original music score was composed by Alan Silvestri. The rejected score by Michael Nyman also enjoys popularity.

Synopsis

The film begins with Maria Owens being hanged for being a witch. Through an opening monologue it is explained that for 200 years since, all her descendants (the "Owens women") have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in the town that they live.

The Owens women are indeed witches, for the Craft has been passed down through every generation to to sisters Frances (Stockard Channing) and Jet (Dianne Wiest), their nieces, Gillian (Nicole Kidman) and Sally (Sandra Bullock). The Owens family is cursed: any man who falls in love with an Owens woman will die tragically. The women of the town are apprehensive of the Owens women and their lifestyle, viewing them as abnormal and connected to the Devil.

As a child, Sally casts a spell that was supposed to protect her from falling in love, hoping to avoid the family curse. She chooses near impossible traits, confident she would never meet anyone who would meet them perfectly. However, when she reaches adulthood, her aunts, wanting her to be happy, cast a spell that helps her fall in love with a man named Michael. Sally marries Michael and has two daughters, Kylie (Evan Rachel Wood) and Antonia (Alexandra Artrip). When Michael falls victim to the curse and dies, Sally becomes disillusioned with magic. She and her daughters return to the Owens home to live with her aunts.

Gillian, however, is impatient with small town life and runs away. She meets Jimmy (Goran Višnjić), who turns abusive. Gillian calls Sally for help and when Sally arrives, Jimmy kidnaps them both. Sally puts belladonna, a poison, into Jimmy's tequila to knock him out, but uses too much and accidentally kills him. The panicked sisters attempt to resurrect him using a forbidden spell from their aunts' book of magic. The spell works, but when Jimmy is revived, Sally is forced to kill him a second time to stop him from hurting them both. The sisters bury him in the Owens home garden, but his spirit begins to haunt them.

A Federal officer named Gary Hallett (Aidan Quinn) arrives in town looking for Jimmy, as Jimmy is the main suspect in the disappearance of his last girlfriend. Sally and Gary are attracted to each other, and when Sally discovers that he meets one of the conditions of her childhood spell ("one green eye and one blue") she confesses that she cast a spell on him. Hallett returns to Arizona.

One night, Jimmy possesses Gillian. The aunts decide that in order to dispel Jimmy, a coven needs to be formed (nine women, "twelve would be better"). Sally is forced to ask the aid of townswomen who had feared and excluded her. The women come out of curiosity and a desire to help. The exorcism is a success due to the bond between the two sisters; Jimmy's spirit is dispelled and the 200-year-old curse of the Owens women is ended.

Sally receives a letter from Hallett that she and her sister are cleared of any suspicion or wrongdoing in Jimmy's case. Hallett eventually returns to the island to be with Sally.

In a closing scene, the Owens women, daughters and all celebrate All Hallows Eve dressed up in stereotypical witch costumes, but they are embraced and welcomed by the townsfolk.

Cast

*Sandra Bullock as Sally Owens
*Nicole Kidman as Gillian Owens
*Stockard Channing as Aunt Frances Owens
*Dianne Wiest as Aunt Bridget 'Jet' Owens
*Goran Visnjic as James 'Jimmy' Angelov
*Aidan Quinn as Officer Gary Hallet
*Camilla Belle as young Sally Owens
*Evan Rachel Wood as Kylie Owens
*Alexandra Artrip as Antonia Owens
*Mark Feuerstein as Michael

Production

Was filmed on Whidbey Island. Coupeville, Washington

According to Sandra Bullock in the film commentary, in the scene where the Owens women are drunk and slinging insults, the actresses actually got drunk, for they were drinking some very bad tequila that Nicole Kidman brought.

Music

Infobox Album
Name = Practical Magic
Type = Soundtrack
Longtype =
Artist = Various Artists


Cover size = 200
Caption = photo by Suzanne Tenner
Released = October 6, 1998 (original pressing)
Recorded = August 15-16, 1998, Abbey Road Studios (Michael Nyman tracks)
Genre = Soundtrack, Pop, Minimalism, Orchestral
Length = 56:58 (Nyman pressing)
Language = English
Label = Reprise/WEA
Director =
Producer = Danny Bramson, Sandra Bullock
Reviews =
Compiler =
Chronology = Michael Nyman
Last album = Strong on Oaks, Strong on the Causes of Oaks
1998
This album = Practical Magic
1998
Next album = Ravenous
1999
Misc = Extra chronology 2
Artist = Alan Silvestri
Type = soundtrack
Last album = The Parent Trap
1998
This album = Practical Magic
1998
Next album = Stuart Little
1999

Composer Michael Nyman's score to the movie was abruptly replaced with music by Alan Silvestri for the theatrical release. This last minute change resulted in the release of two soundtracks, although as primarily a compilation album, only the two tracks of newly-created material were changed. A 50-track demo (the last two tracks being "Convening the Coven" and "Maria Owens") of Nyman's score has been circulating among fans as a bootleg. The complete Nyman score runs 62:30 and contains music that would later appear, in altered form, in "Ravenous" and "The Actors", as well as a bit of his stepwise chord progression theme from "Out of the Ruins"/"String Quartet No. 3"/"Carrington"/"The End of the Affair"/"The Claim". "Convening the Coven," though not "Maria Owens," was subsequently reissued on "", and music that uses material related to this piece has not been used elsewhere.

Singer Stevie Nicks headlined the soundtrack's published advertisements, promoting her singles "If You Ever Did Believe" and her remake of her song "Crystal" from the 1975 Fleetwood Mac white album on which she first appeared with the band.

Track listing

#If You Ever Did Believe - Stevie Nicks
#This Kiss - Faith Hill
#Got To Give It Up (Pt.1) - Marvin Gaye
#Is This Real? - lisahall
#Black Eyed Dog - Nick Drake
#A Case Of You - Joni Mitchell
#Nowhere And Everywhere - Michelle Lewis
#Always On My Mind - Elvis Presley
#Everywhere - Bran Van 3000
#Coconut - Harry Nilsson
#Crystal - Stevie Nicks
#Practical Magic - Alan Silvestri / Convening the Coven - The Michael Nyman Orchestra
#Amas Veritas - Alan Silvestri / Maria Owens - The Michael Nyman Orchestra

Depiction of witches

The film's fictional depiction of witchcraft features supernatural elements tied closely to biological lineage, as the Craft is handed down each generation of Owens women. Other modern depictions of witches have also used such an interpretation of magic being hereditary (such as "Charmed" and "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch"). The film's depiction also openly casts aside the idea of the Devil being associated with the Craft.

At the end of the film, once all the Owens women have "come out" to the village as witches, they dress up in black robes and red-and-white striped stockings, similar to those worn by the Wicked Witch of the East in "The Wizard of Oz".

Novel

The film differs from the original novel in several ways, including the flowers growing over Jimmy's grave (lilacs), the birth order of Sally's daughters (Antonia is the older daughter and in the book they are also teenagers by the end), and the fact that Sally actually rejected magic very early on in life due to a humiliation in school; Michael's death cemented this, rather than caused it. Other differences include:
*Jimmy is also not foreign at all, although the cowboy obsession was still a factor. His personality in the movie was actually changed to allow Goran Visnjic to take the role.
*The fate of the lovesick woman the Aunts help is also recurrent in the novel, a reminder to "be careful what you wish for".
*The Aunts, while not neglectful, are not as warm and loving as they are in the movie and delight in using their talents for the village women, although the caution of watching what you wish for is always there.
*Jimmy's death is attributed, not to the belladonna poisoning, but to possible alcohol poisoning and he died at a rest stop. Although him striking Gillian is not a direct factor in his death, he is depicted as being something of a sadist to begin with. His ring is also not a skull, but a cactus and a snake.

Television spin-off

A television pilot based on the film, titled "Sudbury" was filmed for CBS in 2003. It starred Kim Delaney, Jeri Ryan, Kat Dennings, Gage Golightly, Dixie Carter, Shirley Knight and Esai Morales. Sandra Bullock served as executive producer. The pilot was not picked up.

References

External links

* [http://practicalmagic.warnerbros.com/ Practical Magic]
*imdb title|id=0120791|title=Practical Magic
*amg title|id=1:173557|title=Practical Magic
*rotten-tomatoes|id=practical_magic|title=Practical Magic
*mojo title|id=practicalmagic|title=Practical Magic
* [http://www.amasveritas.com Amas Veritas]

Box Office Leaders USA
before = Holy Man
date = October 18
year = 1998
after = Pleasantville