+34
Susanne Bier discusses the sequel to 1998's misfit classic, reuniting Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as cursed witch sisters.
The Oscar-winning film-maker on the weird thing about Hollywood and the ‘vivid’ experience of working with Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock as sisters from a long line of romantically cursed witches, was released, in 1998, it lost money, grossing $68 million against an estimated budget of $75 million.
It also baffled critics with its angular marriage of romantic comedy, witchcraft, autumnal colour schemes and domestic abuse. , the Oscar-winning director of In a Better World, was not among the whimsigoth – yes, that’s a thing – faithful. Until now. ,” she says.
“Only then I watched it and loved it. I loved Sandy and Nicole, Diane Wiest and Stockard Channing. I loved the fun and the wildness. So I thought, okay, we’re going to take something that has such a seductive call and embrace, but still make something new.
” I meet Bier in London a few hours before Practical Magic 2’s premiere. Nearly three decades after the original film flopped, franchise fans are queuing outside the hotel where the director is staying. It’s a sign of the times.
First Look review: Wild Horse Nine – Martin McDonagh’s film is powered by bromantic barbs and imperialist skulduggeryFour new films to see this week: The Death of Robin Hood, The Incomer, Super Nature, LeviticusIn theory the instant, collective-discovery potential of streaming might have made Hollywood less dependent on the past. In practice, studios have learned that familiarity is one of the few reliable currencies in an overcrowded content economy.
The latest iteration is the announcement of Days of Thunder 2, which will bring Tom Cruise back as Cole Trickle decades after the original; next year audiences are expected to get Heat 2 and Shrek 5, bringing two more long-dormant favourites back to multiplexes. What looks at first like nostalgia is also a new industrial logic: streaming has turned decades of movies into a reservoir of recognisable intellectual property.
So Practical Magic 2 features three Oscar winners on screen – Kidman, Bullock and Wiest – and another behind the camera.
“But it’s very different with the two of them together, because the effect isn’t doubled. It’s multiplied by 10 or something. The energy between the two of them is incredible, because they really stimulate, challenge and enjoy each other. That makes it very energetic and vivid.
”Practical Magic 2, which is based on Hoffman’s 2021 novel The Book of Magic, drafts in Joey King andas Kylie and Antonia, the younger generation of Owens witches. When a family curse strikes again, Kylie journeys to their ancestral home in England, hoping to break the hex and save her comatose boyfriend. She is duly pursued by her mother and aunt, who squabble all the way across the ocean.
“I don’t have a sister, so the sisterhood thing was something that I was kind of invited into, and which I really thoroughly enjoyed,” Bier says. “I have two brothers, and throughout my childhood most of my friends were boys. Coming into sisterhood as a grown-up, in a very, very deep way, made me appreciate it.
“I have friends who are like sisters, where we kind of know everything about each other. That feels like a very deep comfort and recognition for me. I wasn’t brought up with it, but it talks to the idea that family can be something broader than just what you’re born into. I think that’s very meaningful and really important.
” Bier was born in Copenhagen in 1960 into a Jewish family whose history had been shaped by displacement and war. Her father’s family left Germany for, the family fled to Sweden. After the war they returned to Denmark, where Bier grew up. It is no accident, she says, that so many of her films explore the precariousness of family life.
“There’s no doubt about the links between my films and family history,” says Bier. “I’ve always had a huge curiosity about families but also a natural understanding of family dynamics. So I think anything to do with family immediately attracts me and immediately feels like material that I can recognise and utilise. ” Practical Magic 2: Sandra Bullock, Joey King and Maisie Williams in Susanne Bier's film.
Photograph: Warner Bros Bier initially pursued art and design rather than film-making, studying in Israel before moving to London to attend the Architectural Association. She abandoned architecture after several years but says the training still comes in handy, especially for long-form prestige television – notably“As an architect you understand the blueprint,” she says.
“You take a step back and look at the biggest picture. I think what I’ve done as a director very much utilises that skill. When I’ve done TV shows that have been six or even 10 episodes, you need to understand and think about the bigger scheme of things. You need to know where every character and scene fits.
And as a director, one of the most important things is to navigate big decisions and small decisions, and prioritise. I learned all those things as an architect. ”, Bier’s international breakthrough, in 2010, set a family crisis in Denmark alongside the work of a doctor at a Sudanese refugee camp, skilfully connecting morality, violence, parenthood and geopolitics. It won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for best foreign-language film.
“I suppose if you get an Oscar, you do get invited to meetings that you didn’t get invited to before getting an Oscar,” Bier says. “Having said that, there is this weird thing in Hollywood that you’re never better than your most recent work. “You can’t just relax and lie back and think that everything is fine. You have to keep asking yourself all the important questions.
I think in life you have to always ask, ‘Am I doing the right thing? Is this what it’s meant to be? ’ Being a person who can keep asking those questions is also part of one’s creativity. ”, a period drama with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper.
Neither film matched the critical or commercial success of her Danish work. But working across languages is its own reward.
“I direct a lot with my face or with my hands and things like that,” she says. “So there’s a part of me that thinks maybe I could direct in Chinese. ” Bier found her anglophone groove with prestige television. Since her 2016 serialisation of The Night Manager, based on John le Carré’s book, Bier has become a regular at the Primetime Emmy Awards.
Television and streaming have brought a whole new fan base.
“I never thought of movies as a limited intellectual medium,” she says. “There was always a part of me that thought if I’m doing something, I want it to be something that I honestly believe audiences are going to want to see. ” If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Bier has been flattered aplenty.
Like It Never Was Before, her third feature, was reworked as a play; After the Wedding was remade in English by Julianne Moore and her writer-director husband, Bart Freundlich; Brothers was remade in English by Jim Sheridan and inspired an opera by the Icelandic composer Daníel Bjarnason. She is a properly influential figure.
“When you have kids they grow up,” she says. “The responsibility goes away a little bit. I do find it very rewarding that people want to take my things and make other things with them. And I don’t feel that I have to be controlling it or feeling responsible for it.
It’s a great feeling. Let me just enjoy it. ” First Look review: Wild Horse Nine – Martin McDonagh’s film is powered by bromantic barbs and imperialist skulduggeryDo Venetians see depictions of their city in film as we Irish see Micksploitation movies? MOST READPatrick Bergin, co-star of Julia Roberts in Sleeping with the Enemy, seeks buyer for Offaly castleDay-tripping: how to spend 15 hours sightseeing in LondonDavid Brennan: ‘We grew from €0 to €60 million per annum in nine years’
Practical Magic 2 Susanne Bier Sandra Bullock Nicole Kidman Film Franchises
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News: You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Heather Humphreys says presidential campaign exposed lingering sectarian prejudice in IrelandFormer Fine Gael presidential candidate Heather Humphreys reflects on the sectarian abuse she endured during the 2025 campaign and warns that a united Ireland must confront cultural prejudice, media misunderstanding and the practical costs of constitutional change if it is ever to succeed.
Read more »
How the Delhi Metro Became a Global Model for Urban Rail TransitThe Delhi Metro has grown into one of the world's most successful public transit systems, overcoming scepticism, construction disasters, and the challenges of building a modern subway from scratch in one of the planet's most densely populated cities. Spanning 370 kilometres and powered in part by solar energy, it has become a benchmark for rail-based mass transit in developing countries.
Read more »
Grehan puts Walker Cup comeback from 14 foot to defeat world number oneSTUART GREHAN PRODUCED one of the standout moments of the Walker Cup when putting a 14-footer on the eighteenth hole in Lahinch to defeat the world's top ranked amateur golfer Preston Stout in their singles match. Tullamore native Stuart is the only Irish golfer on Team GB & I, he commanded a strong support at the famous Clare links which became only the third Irish course to host the international match.
Read more »
Kimi Antonelli wins Italian Grand Prix at Monza after late pass on George RussellKimi Antonelli started 19th and won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza after overtaking George Russell with three laps left. He became the first Italian winner at the circuit in 60 years and extended his championship lead.
Read more »