The three stars of 1999′s “The Blair Witch Project” are talking out towards movie studio Lionsgate as plans for a revival of the era-defining horror basic get underway.
In a wide-ranging interview with Selection, Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael C. Williams say they’ve missed out on income from the unique film, which raked in a reported $248 million on the field workplace worldwide. Given the movie’s then-unique fake documentary conceit, not one of the three actors had been capable of profit from its sudden success, and at the moment are in search of residuals and “meaningful consultation” on future tasks that use their names and likenesses.
“I’m very grateful for what I have now and how fucking hard I fought to get it. But it still impacts me,” Williams instructed the publication. “Giant corporations don’t care that this happens to young artists. It’s bullshit. And that’s got to change somehow. Hopefully, we will help somebody to see: Don’t do what we did.”
Added Leonard: “I don’t need Lionsgate to like me. I don’t care that they know that I think their behavior has been reprehensible. I don’t want my daughter to ever feel like anything is more valuable than her self-worth.”
The trio’s remarks come simply months after Lionsgate honored the twenty fifth anniversary of “The Blair Witch Project” by asserting plans for a big-screen revival. The brand new movie might be produced by Jason Blum, whose work consists of the “Paranormal Activity” and “Halloween” franchises, and is meant to “reintroduce this horror classic for a new generation,” in line with Lionsgate Movement Image Group chair Adam Fogelson.
Written and directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, the unique “Blair Witch Project” follows three scholar filmmakers (performed by Donahue, Leonard and Williams) who hike into Maryland’s Black Hills with the goal of creating a documentary a few native delusion often known as the “Blair witch.”
Ron Galella, Ltd. by way of Getty Photographs
The group goes lacking with out a hint, although their deserted movie gear is found a yr later. The large-screen movie was alleged to be a compilation of that “found footage.”
When Artisan Entertainment ― now a subsidiary of Lionsgate ― picked up “The Blair Witch Project” for distribution, Donahue, Leonard and Williams had been barred from attending its Cannes Movie Competition premiere or taking part in interviews so as to keep the phantasm of the film being a real story.
Not one of the actors had union illustration when “The Blair Witch Project” was launched. Though the film was a important and business hit, they mentioned many casting administrators assumed they’d simply performed themselves, provided that their actual names had been used for his or her on-screen characters.
In her chat with Selection, Donahue says she had an epiphany when “The Blair Witch Project” handed the $100 million mark on the field workplace, and she or he and her co-stars had been despatched a fruit basket.
“That was when it became clear that, wow, we were not going to get anything,” she recalled. “We were being cut out of something that we were intimately involved with creating.”
In 2000, Donahue, Leonard and Williams collectively sued Artisan as a sequel, “Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2,” was being rolled out. About 4 years later, they had been capable of attain a settlement for about $300,000 that may be paid to succeed in of them over a number of years.
As a part of the settlement, nevertheless, Artisan “can’t use our names and images to make money for themselves anymore,” Leonard instructed Selection. However, Donahue added: “They keep doing it anyway.”
In response to the actors’ claims, the administrators and producers of “The Blair Witch Project” issued a joint assertion to Selection saying their had been “hopeful Heather, Joshua and Mike find a satisfying conclusion to their conversations with Lionsgate.”
“For us, this anniversary provides an exciting opportunity to celebrate the movie and its legacy with fans,” the assertion continued.
