Salvador Perez (‘Hocus Pocus 2’) on being ‘a huge fan’ of the original and whose costume was ‘a happy accident’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

Marcus James Dixon
·3 min read
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“I didn’t expect it, so that just makes it that more special,” Salvador Perez reveals about his 2023 Emmy nomination for “Hocus Pocus 2” in the category of Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes. The Disney+ telefilm is also nominated for Best TV Movie and Best Music Composition. The costume designer, who was previously recognized for “The Mindy Project” in 2015, continues on, “To be recognized was just cake with icing, and then cake on top of icing.” Watch the exclusive video interview above.

Perez calls himself “a huge fan” of the original Disney film, which introduced the campy Sanderson witches — Bette Midler as Winnie, Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah and Kathy Najimy as Mary — to audiences in 1993. “I’ve probably seen it 30 or 40 times,” he tells us. “I also had the benefit of being friends with Mary E. Vogt, who designed the original movie, and was able to ask her about details and where things came from.”

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Despite “Hocus Pocus 2” filming at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, “Every day on set was just so much fun,” he declares. “All of the things that I wanted to find weren’t necessarily accessible, so I had to find little bits of things throughout the country.” For example, “Each cape is 26 yards of silk habotai, and each actor had eight capes, and there were three colors of it, so I had to get hundreds of yards of silk habotai.”

During the first fittings for Midler, Parker and Najimy, “Individually, they put the costumes on and twirled. They wanted movement, and you could see the physicality in the characters. The costumes sort of evolved on the actors, because they needed to come to life in them.” Perez made the costumes his own, because as he realized, the originals “disintegrated” at the end of the first movie when the witches went to purgatory.

SEEEverything to know about ‘Hocus Pocus 2’

Eagle-eyed viewers noticed that Hannah Waddingham‘s Mother Witch ensemble looked similar to Thora Birch‘s Halloween costume from the first movie, but Perez confesses, “That was a happy accident, not on purpose.” He had to recreate Birch’s costume for a brief cemetery flashback, and that’s when he realized the two costumes shared unique similarities. “It’s divine intervention,” he laughs.

Also in our exclusive video interview, Perez talks about the Sanderson Sisters Halloween Contest that featured cameos from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” contestants, how new cast member Tony Hale was “so much fun” in his two outfits, and why he “couldn’t justify” changing the zombie costume worn by Doug Jones‘ William “Billy” Butcherson.

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