ET Flashback: Tension on 'Witches of Eastwick' Set

Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer and Cher left audiences under their spell as The Witches of Eastwick back in 1987, and now, 25 years after its June 12 release, we've got a vintage ET interview with the power trio, who reveal that that their biggest battle wasn't onscreen with Jack Nicholson – but with the producers of the film!

"It was terrible in the beginning: [Susan] was promised a part; I was promised the same part," explained Cher. "The studio and the producers and the director could not get it together to make their decision."

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"I would have had big legal problems [if I had pulled out of the project], and so then I just decided to do the best job I could and have a good time, because it's only a movie," said Sarandon. "The whole situation was very unwieldy. … To have to sit down and rehearse for two weeks when you don't have a part and someone else is doing your part, it's kind of a strange situation, wouldn't you say?"

Asked if she felt any sense of tension during the start of the project, Sarandon replied bluntly, "Did I feel tension? Is the pope catholic?"

Luckily, the women were able to recognize who the enemy really was and bonded together into what Pfeiffer called "a tight little unit." "It was one of the hardest movies I've ever made, but it was also one of the richest experiences," she said.

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Directed by George Miller (The Road Warrior, Happy Feet), The Witches of Eastwick was based on the John Updike novel about a trio of modern-day witches in a small New England town who each fall for the mysterious and seductive Daryl Van Horne (Nicholson), only to have to rally together to drive him out of their lives.

Despite having to soldier like "war buddies" through the bitter studio politics, the ladies had nothing but high praise for Nicholson, with comments ranging from "the most different man I've ever met" to "very sensitive," "totally unpredictable" and "the most interesting man I've ever met."