Synopsis
Jack Wyatt, a self-centered movie star whose career is fading, agrees to play Darrin in a television remake of Bewitched. He chooses Isabel Bigelow, an unknown newcomer, to play Samantha, hoping to keep the spotlight for himself. Jack does not realize that Isabel is a real witch trying to live as an ordinary woman, and their romantic and professional entanglement soon brings magic to the production.
Factoids & Trivia
- The film is a reimagining of the original television series rather than a direct remake. Its central joke is that the sitcom is being remade within the movie, while the actress playing Samantha is secretly an actual witch.
- The project spent nearly a decade in development. Earlier versions involved actor Ted Bessell, writer Douglas Carter Beane, and possible stars Rob Morrow and Cynthia Nixon. Jim Carrey was also considered for the role of Darrin before the production took its final form.
- Kristin Chenoweth's part was written specifically for her after Nicole Kidman saw her performance as Glinda in the Broadway musical Wicked. Bewitched marked Chenoweth's feature-film debut.
- Sony Pictures Imageworks created many of the film's supernatural effects. Its work included three broom-flight sequences, a constructed night skyline, time being rewound and frozen, and the magical effects surrounding the closing garden scene.
- The film includes several callbacks to the original series. The original television cast appears in uncredited video cameos, while Aunt Clara's collection of doorknobs is referenced when her bag spills them.
- The Bewitched theme heard in the film, including its lyrics, uses a 1964 recording by Steve Lawrence that was deliberately performed in a style resembling Frank Sinatra.