17 Captivating Details About ‘The Blair Witch Project’

With a tiny budget under $25,000, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez managed to write, direct, and edit one of the most iconic indie films in history. Upon its 1999 summer release, it baffled and terrified audiences, raking in over $248 million globally. Now, 25 years later, let’s uncover the mysteries behind the Burkittsville, Maryland, tale.

The blueprint for The Blair Witch Project was a concise 35-page outline.

In 1993, while studying film in Orlando, Florida, Myrick and Sánchez penned their initial draft of The Blair Witch Project. They structured the script as a flexible outline, intending for the actors to improvise their lines to enhance the film’s authenticity.

The casting process was far from conventional.

Heather Donahue recalled spotting an ad in Backstage that stated: “An improvised feature film, shot in a forested area: it’s going to be grueling, and most of you reading this likely shouldn’t apply.” To evaluate improvisational abilities, each actor was immediately challenged upon entering the audition room with the prompt: “You’ve spent the last nine years in prison. We’re the parole board. Convince us to release you.” Any hesitation led to an instant dismissal.

The three lead actors earned $1000 per day.

Filming lasted eight days. Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard went on to earn significantly more following the release of The Blair Witch Project. Williams reportedly netted around $300,000.

Heather and Josh’s characters were written as ex-lovers.

The concept was dropped before filming, yet, ironically, significant tension arose between the two actors/characters. Heather’s jab at Josh as “Mr. Punctuality” was a biting inside joke (Leonard had been extremely late that day). This irritated the directors so much that they chose to eliminate Josh before Mike. Leonard was treated to a meal at Denny’s—since the actors were limited to Power Bars and bananas in the woods—and later attended a Jane’s Addiction concert while the others stayed at Seneca Creek State Park.

The teeth embedded in the twigs were genuine human teeth.

They were provided by Eduardo Sánchez’s dentist. The hair used was Josh’s own.

The actors relied on GPS devices to locate their daily instructions.

Producers set up GPS waypoints for the actors to find milk crates containing three small plastic canisters. Each canister held notes outlining the story’s direction for each actor, who kept their instructions private. From there, they improvised dialogue while adhering to the provided guidelines. This allowed the actors to flesh out their roles: “I wrote the entire cemetery scene—all the parts where my character narrates her documentary,” Donahue explained. “I researched symbolic imagery, Wicca, and wilderness survival. I thoroughly scared myself before we even started filming.”

The sounds of children genuinely frightened Michael C. Williams.

Williams described the most horrifying moment as hearing the noises of kids from across Eduardo Sánchez’s mother’s street, amplified through three boomboxes outside his tent.

The actors used a code word to signal when they needed to break character.

“Initially, it was unclear because we needed to define when we were acting and when we weren’t,” Williams shared with The Week. “The directors didn’t set those boundaries; they wanted us to stay in character as much as possible. So, we actors decided to use code words to switch from our roles to our real selves.” They chose taco, which each had to repeat “to ensure we all knew we were stepping out of character simultaneously.”

Securing rights for certain elements was too costly.

As a nod to foreshadowing, the directors initially wanted The Animals’ “We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place” to play on the car radio at the film’s start, but it was too expensive. However, they secured rights for Heather to reference the Gilligan’s Island theme and to feature their Power Bars.

Filming wrapped up on Halloween night.

On October 31, 1997, the local Denny’s saw a surge in customers as Donahue and Williams were brought there for their first substantial meal in over a week. Williams described stepping out of the woods and seeing people in costumes as “utterly surreal.”

Nineteen hours of footage were condensed into a 90-minute film.

Sánchez and Myrick spent eight months editing the movie for its Sundance debut. Their first cut was two and a half hours long, and the removed scenes were repurposed for the website and a mockumentary aired on Syfy.

Sánchez personally designed the movie’s website.

As the only team member with web development experience, Sánchez was the natural choice to create the website that propagated the Blair Witch legend. He also had the time to dedicate to the project, as he was single at the time.

The Blair Witch Project revolutionized filmmaking and marketing strategies.

As noted in a 2019 The New York Times article by Jake Kring-Schreifels, Sánchez’s website played a key role in making The Blair Witch Project go viral on the early internet, a year before its release. The site didn’t appear to promote a movie, adding to its mystique. Artisan, the now-defunct studio behind the film, avoided traditional marketing by keeping Donahue, Leonard, and Williams away from the press and not correcting misinformation on platforms like IMDb, which falsely listed the actors as deceased. By the film’s release, many believed it was based on true events, with Donahue’s mother even receiving condolence cards.

The film’s impact was profound: While not the first found footage movie, its raw aesthetic inspired a generation of filmmakers to experiment with low-tech cameras. It redefined marketing in the digital age and became a pop culture phenomenon, spawning countless imitations and parodies. As Kring-Schreifels noted, “Its blending of fact and fiction helped shape the media landscape that would now make such viral success nearly impossible.”

The shaky camerawork caused some viewers to feel physically ill.

The regional director of Loews Cineplex Entertainment estimated that, on average, one person per screening became sick and requested a refund.

Burkittsville, Maryland, has faced issues with vandalism and overzealous fans.

The town’s wooden welcome signs were repeatedly stolen, including their replacements. Artisan Entertainment donated four metal signs, which have since rusted or been stolen as well. Former mayor Debby Burgoyne, representing the town’s 150 residents, once found a movie fan in her living room, mistakenly expecting a tour. “It was chaotic,” Burgoyne told the Los Angeles Times. “Cameras were everywhere. I made sure to look presentable even when stepping out for the morning paper.”

Among the cast, only Leonard remains a full-time actor.

By 2017, Donahue had transitioned to a career as a medical marijuana cultivator and authored a memoir titled Growgirl. Williams, after quitting his job as a furniture mover on Late Night with Conan O’Brien following the film’s success, eventually went back to it to support his family financially. Leonard continues to pursue acting full-time.

The Blair Witch Project has spawned two sequels.

The 2000 follow-up, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, was widely criticized as a rushed attempt to capitalize on the original’s success, with minimal input from Sánchez and Myrick. The co-directors once discussed a prequel set in the 1700s, though it never came to fruition. Adam Wingard (The Guest, You’re Next) later helmed a sequel, Blair Witch, which ignored the events of Book of Shadows. A surprise trailer for the film, initially titled The Woods, debuted at San Diego Comic Con in 2016.