Interview with Tobias Jelinek and Larry Bagby

Disney’s Hocus Pocus was a staple of slumber parties and rainy-day-schedule recess in the early ’90s. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy star as daffy, 17th-century Salem witches with drag-queen aesthetics who are accidentally resurrected by skeptic teens in 1993. They have an anachronistic romp navigating suburban Halloween, attempting to suck the life essence out of children to secure their immortality. Obviously, Bette Midler sings a campy rendition of “I Put a Spell on You.”

This Halloween, Hocus Pocus celebrated 25 years of growing popularity as a cult classic. “The nostalgia has blossomed,” said Tobias Jelinek, one of the film’s teen stars, who grew up in Santa Barbara. That sentimentality prompted him to return to town to promote the film’s anniversary. “Hocus Pocus came out of nowhere, and as soon as it ended, I came back to Santa Barbara to be a teenager,” Jelinek said. “Hocus Pocus and the early ’90s are tied up into all that nostalgia for me. That’s my Santa Barbara.”

Jelinek’s life in performance began in childhood, working on community productions with directors such as Rod Lathim and Clark Sayre. He was discovered as a teen by a Disney scout while working on an area production (directed by Sayre) and was cast in Hocus Pocus as the film’s bully, along with Larry Bagby, a teen actor from Westlake. Still friends, Jelinek and Bagby are now Los Angeles–based TV and film actors. You can see Jelinek in Stranger Things and in the upcoming series American Woman with Alicia Silverstone. Bagby has credits from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and played musician Marshall Grant in Walk the Line. The two recently shot a live show at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery for the Hocus Pocus 25th anniversary and cast reunion.