10 Weird Ways That Actors Coped With Difficult Shoots
7. Heather Donahue Brought a Big Knife to the Blair Witch Shoot
When aspiring actress and improv comic Heather Donahue found a casting notice in Billboard Magazine for an upcoming production, she thought it was her ideal opportunity. The advert stated that the filmmakers were looking for someone who was comfortable with improvisation and camping. You should be prepared, the notice warned, to be very uncomfortable.
Donahue's friends and family were deeply concerned when they discovered that she planned to take part in the production. Faced with the prospect of her daughter trekking off into the woods with a bunch of strangers, Heather's mother requested she get hold of everyone's social security numbers. Fearing that the whole endeavour was a snuff film, Donahue's loved ones also convinced her to take a weapon.
And so it was that aspiring actor Heather Donahue turned up to the first day of shooting with what she describes as "a giant knife". Whilst the shoot was fraught with dwindling food rations, tensions and surprising stunts from the directors, no actor was harmed in the making of The Blair Witch Project. Donohue's career prospects, on the other hand, were slightly harmed by the fact she had to pretend to be dead as part of the film's genius marketing strategy.