Lee Pace’s first day on Practical Magic 2 put him in bed naked, while Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman stood over him talking through his body like it was part of the set design. It was a strange beginning for a role that has already been defined by something even more unusual: Bullock personally chose and placed every tattoo on his character over about a month with the makeup department.
That hands-on work gave Pace’s part a look that could not have come from a generic character sheet. He plays Sally Owens’s new love interest, a tattooed academic covered in ink, and Bullock built that surface detail one mark at a time. Among the tattoos she picked were what she called the right crow and an eyeball, small pieces of visual shorthand that help define the character as much as any line of dialogue.
The move stands out because it is not just an actor approving a costume choice from afar. Bullock was involved in the placement itself, shaping where each tattoo landed on Pace’s body and how the finished design would read on camera. When he was told what she had done, Pace’s response was simple: “Dreams come true.”
There is a sharper edge to the story, though, and it comes from that first day on set. Pace was lying naked in bed while Bullock and Kidman were openly discussing his body, a scene that turns the usual hierarchy of star-driven production on its head. The film’s leading women were not just performing their roles; they were also helping define the visual language of the man in the bed.
Practical Magic 2 is being set about 25 years after the 1998 original, which helps explain why the sequel is leaning so heavily on the return of familiar faces and a fresh arrangement around them. Nicole Kidman is back as Gillian, while Stockard Channing returns as Frances and Dianne Wiest returns as Jet. Joey King and Maisie Williams play the grown Kylie and Antonia, and Warner Bros. has the film in theaters on September 11, 2026.
That release date gives this tattoo story a longer shelf life than a typical behind-the-scenes anecdote. It also leaves one question hanging over the sequel’s design choices: whether Bullock’s crows, eye and other marks are only decoration, or the first visible clue to how much she is shaping the world of Practical Magic 2 from the inside.
