Practical Magic : My interpretation of Jimmy Angelov:

I watched this movie today for the first time, mainly because of Nicole Kidman, and I picked up something on Jimmy that I haven't seen anyone else mention: I think Jimmy was supposed to be a vampire. I haven't read the book but I saw on the trivia page the original Jimmy was very different from the movie version of Jimmy, so it's plausible that he could of been intended to look like a vampire.

Here are the reasons why I think he was supposed to be a vamp - Gillian mentions that Jimmy's from Eastern Europe and says "he's so close to Transylvania" Now, maybe it's because I wasn't using subtitles, or maybe I wasn't listening closely, but wouldn't that imply that he's a vampire, since the most famous vamp of all (Dracula) stems from Transylvania? I don't believe that was supposed to be a coincidence. Also, we only ever see Jimmy at night or in dark places. Like he's in the dark club/place/wherever where Gillian was dancing with all those guys around. Plus, in the scenes with Sally, he only appears during the night when they're driving in his car. And not to mention, he apparently stays up all night long when Gillian sees Sally after Michael has died and she tells her all about Jimmy, she says they just stay up all night long "worshiping each other". Doesn't that seem a little vampish to anyone else, or just me? It wouldn't be THAT far off for a witch to be romantically involved with a vampire!

One more thing: when Sally, Gillian, and Jimmy are driving in the car and he's been drinking the tequila, Sally looks to her sister in the rear view mirror, you only see Gillian, not Jimmy, and if I recall correctly, according to ~vampire mythology~, you can't see a vamp's reflection. And I know, later on, when Kylie could see "him" in the yard during the day, but her mother couldn't, that could be interpreted as Kylie's witchcraft being stronger in her than her mom (who had abandoned using magic at this point), so a witch seeing another "magical creature" isn't too hard to believe, compared to a human or a witch who hasn't used her craft in awhile.

I don't know if this was what the director was intending to do, or was supposed to be an ~underlying theme~ or metaphor for good intended girls (like Gillian, who although she wanted to break away from her small town and have fun, she was still a good person deep down) getting mixed up with bad boys, but the entire time I was watching, all I could think of was he was a vamp! Did anyone else notice what I did, or was I reading too much into a movie?

I'm going to be honest, I don't think he was a vampire, but those are some pretty good reasons as to why he might be. That was a really in-depth analysis for a first time view.


I only do it with superheroes.

Wow, I never thought of it but you've got some great evidence to back your theory up. :)

good observations, however, it is highly unlikely that jimmy was meant to be a vampire. the most obvious reason being that it is never brought up in the film. this movie focuses solely on witch craft. it does not acknowledge vampires at all. jimmy being a vampire would have nothing to do with the story, in fact, it would only complex and derail it. for instance, the movie is centered around sally accidentally overdosing jimmy and killing him. you can't kill a vampire with drugs. jimmy would not have died, and there would be no story.

jimmy being from Transylvania is just coincidence, sort of. while many famous vampires are from Transylvania, that doesn't mean that any time someone is mentioned in a movie, being from Transylvania, that they are vampires. we all know that vampires are not real, and that there are real people living in Transylvania. therefore, there is no correlation unless it happens to be a vampire movie, which this is not. jimmy being from Transylvania is most likely just to give his character a little more darkness and mystery. because of famous vampires, when you hear Transylvania, that is what you think of. you automatically connect that person with being dark and inhuman. it was probably just a quick way to establish jimmy's character.

jimmy not sleeping at night does not imply that he is a vampire. gillian was bringing that up as a way to let the audience know that jimmy is obsessed with her. he was so psychologically messed up that he chose to keep himself away just to worship her other than go to sleep.

jimmy always being in dark lighting was probably for the same reason he was from Transylvania. just to set a dark mood about him so the audience felt uneasy about him right off the bat.

finally, the last part with the mirror was not implying that jimmy has no reflection. during that part, it looks like gillian is right up too the mirror. she is using a basic spell so she can communicate with her sister without jimmy hearing it. almost like telekinesis. and when kylie sees him in the rose bush, he *was" a magic creature. that was after he had died, and the sister's had put a spell on him to bring him back as a dark, unearthly thing. by that point in the movie, he was no longer human.

I'm watching this movie right now Jimmy IS in the rearview mirror. I went back to double-check :)

Also, him being only in/around dark areas is more of a cinematic choice than anything else how can we associate him with evil if he's hanging around in bright sunny places? It even says in the book (when he was a stupid redneck) that he slept most days and was active at night. Some people are just like that.

Some people are just dark. He's not supposed to be a vampire. If he was, the stupid belladonna wouldn't have killed him (they even state in the book that the amount of belladonna wouldn't have killed a squirrel) and he wouldn't be able to be "brought back" anyway. And, even if he was, a smack to the head wouldn't have killed him. Vampires are supposed to be tougher than that.

Keep in mind that the intention of the book (and, honestly, even the movie) was to represent witchcraft in a more realistic way. There is NO blatant spellcasting in the book at all just small cantrip stuff, with the exception of the aunts. There's no dead people brought back to life, no lighting candles on fire by blowing on them. Honestly, that's TAME by Hollywood standards even, showing the desire to stick to a low-key concept of Witchcraft. (Seriously, compare the spellcasting in this movie to The Craft!) Edited to add: My point is that a movie at least halfway attempting to be realistic is NOT going to ask the audience to accept vampirism on top of witchcraft!

Oh, and Jimmy is out in the day, btw, in the first scene we see him in, when he's watching Gillian at the pool.

Some people are just evil. They don't need to be vampires to be so. Heck, in the book, he's been actively abusing Gillian for their entire relationship, not just that one punch. He locked a cat in a fridge and it almost died. And he and Gilly are on the run because he's been selling jimsonweed to kids and two died. Some people are just freaking evil.

Not to mention the character was originally supposed to be a Texan cowboy, so Griffin Dunne instead made him an Eastern European obsessed with everything cowboy.

Lay off the bottle

I definitely think he's supposed to be some kind of incubus.