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E! News Shares 25 Secrets About Hocus Pocus

Doug Jones says Bette Midler's Hocus Pocus contract required her feet on screen, and that the moths in his big scene were real; BBN would like a word with the shoes.

Photo: Library of Congress Life · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN
▶ As it aired · Pop Culture

Watch it as it aired: Hank Ledger and Vera Bullock on this story, from Weekend Edition at 11:20 AM ET. Cartoon anchors, real headline: the facts are E! News's, the jokes are ours.

Photo: Bette Midler
Photo: Library of Congress Life · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN

At a glance

The real story

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What BBN said about it

  1. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorBette Midler reportedly had a contract requirement that her feet be shown on screen in Hocus Pocus, according to Doug Jones, and E! News has the rest of the secrets.

  2. Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorHank, this is a family emergency. Twenty-five secrets, and they've gone straight to the footwear. I need a minute.

  3. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorIt's a movie from the nineties. I don't have strong feelings about it.

  4. Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorJones says he heard a rumor she wrote an isolated shot of her shoes and feet walking in. That's not vanity.

  5. Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorThat's a negotiated, footwear-forward deliverable.

  6. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorSo she asked for a walking shot of her shoes. And got it.

  7. Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorAnd the shoes had representation.

  8. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorMeanwhile, Jones says the moths coming out of his mouth in his big scene were real.

  9. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorSomeone put moths on his tongue so he could cough them out.

  10. Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorThe shoes got a clause and the man got moths. The Drama Index gives this a nine, for the unequal distribution of contract language.

  11. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorA nine. I'd have said a six, but I wasn't asked to leave the shot.

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