“The calming circle, Kathy [Najimy] came up with that,” Ortega said.
Najimy played Mary Sanderson, one of the three witchy Sanderson sisters running around Salem.
Doug Jones, who played the reanimated corpse Billy Butcherson, toldE!
Newsabout a line that he felt compelled to change.
For a good chunk of the movie, Billy’s mouth is sewn shut.
When he finally gets it open and moths fly out, he can speak again.
However, Jones didn’t think that was right for a family film for Disney.
So he pitched his own line instead, where Billy shouts, “Wench!
You bucktooth, mop-riding, firefly from hell!”
He then leans over to Max and says, “I’ve waited centuries to say that.”
Jones' new line ended up in the final cut of the movie.
She added, “When we started shooting, it became a funny version, much lighter.
Kathy Najimy spoke with Syfy Wire in 2018 about a different change the film underwent.
Editing caused the film to shift focus to become “kid-friendly.”
