Sandra Bullock may have been busy with magic and spells on “Practical Magic,” but she did take time out of her busy schedule to do a selfless act.
According to Alice Hoffman — the author of the 1995 novel of the same name — the Oscar winner reached out to her son when he was too sick to visit the set.
“I don’t know how old he was at that time, but he was maybe 10 or 11. He couldn’t go on the set,” Hoffman, 71, recalls to the Post. “Sandra Bullock called him at the hotel and talked to him for an hour. [That says] everything about who she is and her generosity. That was kind of that personal moment for me that was the best part of the filming.”
She adds: “She’s just extremely generous and kind and knew that he was disappointed that he couldn’t go on the set.”
Bullock, 59, stars in the Griffin Dunne-directed drama alongside Nicole Kidman, Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest. Centered on the Owens family, witches Sally (Bullock) and Gillian (Kidman) try to find love despite being threatened by a curse — all while living under the same roof as their eccentric aunts (Channing and Wiest).
Hoffman credits Bullock for making the film adaptation a reality.
“I felt like she’s the reason that [it got] made — that she decided to do it and she made it happen. And because of her, everybody else was in. And she [was] involved with the music. She was involved with everything. She really made it happen,” she explains.
“She was just incredibly warm, incredibly nice. As for my opinion, just completely down to earth. And I just felt very lucky,” Hoffman continues. “And she and Nicole worked so beautifully together. They were just a lot of fun and terrific.”
Hoffman only was able to visit the set once during production, but kept in touch with cast members via email at the time.
“I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the same time that they were filming. So I only got to go down once,” she explains. “I went at the time when half of the house was in Washington State and half of the interior of the house in LA. So I went to LA and walked [through] the kitchen.”
Hoffman, who calls the book “my baby,” knew the story of the Owens would “belong to the screenwriters and the director and the actors” once they took over — but she knew her pages were in good hands.
“I remember I wrote the book in a little shed on the marsh, and then suddenly there are hundreds of people involved and they’re all really important to making it happen,” she tells the Post. “It’s so collaborative. …It’s great to watch it happen. It’s a whole different art form. And it’s a beautiful thing when when they get it right. And I feel like they got it right.”
The author has since published two prequel novels, The Rules of Magic (2017) and Magic Lessons (2020), as well as one sequel, The Book of Magic (2021). She hasn’t crossed paths with Bullock or Kidman, 56, since filming, but hopes to reunite for another movie in the franchise.
“I would certainly be up for it. I think it would be a great idea and I would love it if it was the original cast,” she says. “I know that the readers and the fans and the people who love them are dying for that to happen. And I would do anything to have it happen.”
“Practical Magic” also starred Goran Visnjic (Jimmy Angelov), Aidan Quinn (Gary Ballet), Mark Feuerstein (Michael), Evan Rachel Wood (Kylie) and Caprice Benedetti (Maria Owens), Alexandra Artrip (Antonia), Margo Martindale (Linda Bennett), Lora Anne Criswell (young Gillian) and Camilla Belle (young Sally).
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