10 Actors Who FREAKED OUT When Their Movie Characters Died
3. Heather Donahue Had To Deal With Being "Dead" - The Blair Witch Project
There's no denying the impact found-footage horror flick The Blair Witch Project had on the general moviegoing public and the film industry as a whole upon its release back in 1999.
However, what is often overlooked is just how much the game-changing smash-hit altered one of the film's leading light's life in the aftermath of its chilling arrival.
In order to double-down on the premise of this made-up tale being anything but as a way of stirring up interest, the film's marketing department decided to actually fake the death of Heather Donahue in the lead-up, a move that had some rather difficult consequences for the actor in real-life.
As Donahue would explain in an article for The Guardian:
"My obituary was published when I was 24. It’s a complicated thing to be dead when you’re still very much alive and eager to make a name for yourself."
Frustratingly not being able to capitalise on what could've been a career-making project due to the fact that the film and its marketing was let loose at a time when most believed everything they heard on the Internet, the actor would ultimately decide to step away from acting in order to pursue a life of growing medical marijuana and producing the odd independent film.