Halloweentown takes Tampa!
Kimberly J. Brown, who starred as Marnie Piper in Halloweentown (1998) and its sequels, Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge (2001) and Return to Halloweentown (2006), and herfiancé, Daniel Kountz, who played Kal in Halloweentown II, stopped by 90s Con Tampa to reminisce about the Disney Channel movie — and talk about their upcoming nuptials.
While speaking on the red carpet ahead of the Halloweentown panel, Brown, 38, and Kountz, 44, admitted they don’t usually watch their movies together.
“We’ve never sat and watched it,” Brown said. “I see it at times with my nephew, my niece, so I get to see different parts of it, but I don’t know that we’ve ever sat and watched it.”
Still, Brown said she feels “so honored that people still watch the movies after all these years.”
“It’s one of my absolute favorite holidays to even be a part of, so it’s been fun to watch it grow over the years,” she continued. “When I was a kid, Halloween didn’t take up like two months of the year, whereas now, it rivals Christmas with the decor and everything. I love it, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.”
Brown and Koutnz also gave an update on wedding planning.
“It has been a lot of fun,” the actress said. “It’s kind of felt like a production of its own and it’s so nice to be able to put your individual, unique touches on it and kind of express your personality and things. It’s kind of itched the creative in me.”
The couple recently went shopping for their wedding bands, which Brown called “so much fun.”
“We had more fun than I thought,” she continued. “There was so many different things to try on. Each little step makes the big day more real. So it’s getting close, and it gets exciting as we get to do these little things within it.”
Brown added that she most looks forward to “having all of our dear friends and family together” on the big day.
During the panel, Brown and Kountz reflected on working alongside Debbie Reynolds, who Brown referred to as “legendary.”
“Any time I was ‘flying’ with her, that was a very special time in my life,” she said.
Brown shared that she and Reynolds, who died in December 2016 at age 84, became “good friends” as a result of working together, so much so that the Quints star saw Reynolds’ variety show a few times over the years.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better experience with just such an amazing person who had so much behind her and yet also wanted to help everyone around her shine brighter,” Brown said. “She shared so much about her life and everything, and at her expense just to make everybody laugh. It taught me so much when I was young what a gift it was to just bring joy to people. She believed in that 100 percent and taught me that at a young age. I love the time we had together.”
Kountz, meanwhile, remembered Reynolds being “so full of energy” on set.
“She was 68 at the time that I worked with her [on Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge]. She was running around on set, dancing, singing, telling jokes,” Kountz continued. “We had one scene where it was really late at night, there was a bunch of extras and everybody was tired, it was 1:00 in the morning and she noticed and she was like, ‘Well, we need to bring up the energy.’”
In 2022, Brown and Kountz in honor of the first movie’s 25th anniversary, reflecting on the Disney Channel series’ incredible legacy.
“It is such a gift to bring joy to people and to have this relationship with people over the movies and share the magic over the years,” Brown raved at the time. “I love Marnie as much as everybody else does, and she was definitely a part of me … I’m so grateful to all of the fans and everything for making the movies what they are. And I’m so grateful to continue to be able to spread some joy in the world.”
Over the years, Kountz learned how the movie resonated with viewers.
“We’ve done some fan events and one of the things that strikes me the most is the ‘Being normal is vastly overrated’ [line] and how much that quote has meant to so many people,” he chimed in. “So many people come up, and they say, ‘I just want you to know that got me through my childhood because I felt that I was different … but it made me feel better.’ It almost brings a tear to my eye now.”
