The Real Witches of Hollywood

Bette Midler by Bill King, November 1976.

Welcome to Thirstory, where we whet your appetite with pages from the Interview archive that were almost too hot to print. This week, we’re breaking out our broomsticks, candy corn, and sipping on our Pumpkin Spice lattes as we revisit some of the most bewitching beauties to ever dabble in sorcery on-screen.

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Surprise, witch! If you thought the most wickedly chic moment of the week was Miuccia Prada summoning the miniskirt back from the dead on Miu Miu’s Spring/Summer 2022 runway, think again! To commemorate the inception of spooky season at Interview, we’re taking a look into our Crystal Ball of Pop and summoning some of the most enchanting actresses to ever portray witches from the depths of our archives. Which witch is the most iconic? We’ll let you be the judge. There’s the Supreme Jessica Lange, who was almost ousted by Angela Bassett’s Marie Laveau, Gabourey Sidibe’s Queenie, and Emma Roberts’ Madison Montgomery on American Horror Story: Coven. Nicole Kidman revived Samantha Stephens in Bewitched, and played a spell casting sister in Practical Magic. Rose McGowan mastered telekinesis on Charmed, while Emma Watson waved her wand in the Harry Potter franchise. When she’s not concocting truth serums for Ellen DeGeneres, Dakota Johnson played a sorceress in Luca Guadagino’s Suspiria. The trio Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Susan Sarandon dabbled in voodoo to find a not-so-perfect mate in The Witches of Eastwick. Scream queens Neve Campbell and Fairuza Balk conjured the four corners in The Craft. And the late, great Debbie Reynolds got her cauldron out as the Cromwell matriarch in Halloweentown, while Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker played the Sanderson Sisters in another Disney cult classic. Below, enjoy a little bit of Hollywood hocus pocus.

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Jessica Lange by Brigitte Lacombe, December 1989.

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Cher by Bill King, Interview, December 1974.

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Michelle Pfieffer by Herb Ritts, August 1988.

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Nicole Kidman by Herb Ritts, May 2001.

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Dakota Johnson by Craig McDean, May 2016.

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Rose McGowan by David Lachapelle, May 1999.

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Sarah Jessica Parker by David LaChapelle, October 1999.

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Gabourey Sidibe by Inez and Vinoodh, October/November 2009.

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Susan Sarandon by Robert Mapplethorpe, June 1991.

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Debbie Reynolds, September 1976.

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Neve Campbell by Sofia Coppola, January 1997.

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Emma Roberts by Matthew Rolston, April 2008.

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Emma Watson by Nick Knight, May 2009.

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Fairuza Balk by Brigitte Lacombe, December 1989.