‘Hocus Pocus 2’: Kathy Najimy Reveals Why She Made a Noticeable Change to Mary

Longtime fans of the Halloween cult classic Hocus Pocus are running to Disney+ to stream the highly anticipated sequel. Released 29 years after the original, Hocus Pocus 2 picks up 30 years after the first movie and follows three teens who unknowingly ignite the return Sanderson Sisters and must work together to stop them from wreaking havoc in Salem. Kathy Najimy reprises her role as middle sister Mary. But fans may notice one difference in her physical trait that wasn’t present in the first film. Najimy told Entertainment Weekly that the character quirk of her twisted mouth, which she improvised in the original, had to be slightly altered in the sequel. 

“It’s on the other side mainly because it’s so hard for me to do it on the side I did it on 30 years ago. I’m sure the fans are going to go into deep detail about why it’s on the other side,” she explained. “It’s just something I came up with the first week. This is a big comedy, so you don’t have to be subtle or have a 40-page Shakespearean backstory.”

Luckily, she says the change is addressed in the sequel. “We can justify it because there’s a scene at the beginning where Winnie slaps me, and my mouth goes to the other side, and then she slaps me again and it goes to the other side, and sticks,” she added.

It wasn’t her only challenge filming this time around. She also worked with a broken rib. The injury came while she was on a brief vacation from filming.

“The day I wrapped, I went over to my friend’s house. And I saw that she had one of those machines that you put your legs in and you go upside down and it stretches you, because I have one. And I said, ‘Oh my God, I have one of these in home,’” she told PEOPLE. 

After getting into the machine, she noticed a change. “It flipped up, my foot didn’t quite make it into the thing … and I fell like an accordion,” she remembered. “And broke my rib. So my whole week off that we were supposed to enjoy the holidays, I was healing, but it’s fine,” Najimy added. “And then I was back at work wrapped up. Half the movie, I have a broken rib.”