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Tobias Jelinek Says Omri Katz Got Him High During 1993 Hocus Pocus Rehearsal

The actor recounts a one-time lunch smoke that left him struggling through a Kenny Ortega run-through.

Overview

  • Jelinek shares the account in a new Entertainment Weekly interview published Monday, corroborating Katz’s 2022 admission that he used marijuana during filming.
  • He says Katz persuaded him to take a few puffs at lunch before a Kenny Ortega-led rehearsal for the outdoor pumpkin-smashing sequence that featured Thora Birch.
  • Jelinek recalls, “I was a mess,” saying he struggled to run the scene, felt embarrassed by his red eyes, and heard Ortega ask what was going on.
  • He adds that Katz smoked throughout the shoot and knew how to handle it, leading Jelinek to tell him, “Never again.”
  • Jelinek also remembers Katz buying a Volkswagen bus during production and driving Ortega to a Grateful Dead concert during a break.