As we near the 25th anniversary of the original The Blair Witch Project, the film’s three actors are asking for a little piece of the spooky pie they helped bake. Rei Hance (who appeared in the film as Heather Donahue), Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams are asking for retroactive residual payments from Lionsgate, who is eyeing a potential reboot with Blumhouse. They also want “Meaningful consultation†on further work Blair Witch-based projects, and a $60,000 grant to be awarded to “an unknown/aspiring genre filmmaker to assist in making their first feature film.†A list of requests and a letter of support from the film’s directors and producers was posted on Leonard’s Facebook page.
Hance, Leonard, and Williams improvised much of The Blair Witch Project, which was made on a budget of $60,000 (hence the grant). They all used their real first names in the film, and shot most of the footage. The film was bought by Artisan Entertainment for $1 million, after which the actors were paid a $300,000 buyout of their ownership points on the film. They were also listed as “missing, presumed dead†on IMDb. “Being dead? How did effect my career? Adversely,†Hance told Vice in 2016. The actors were not SAG-AFTRA at the time of filming, and they request compensation “equivalent to the sum that would’ve been allotted through SAG-AFTRA, had we had proper union or legal representation when the film was made.â€
A collective statement of support was given by original Blair Witch directors and producers Eduardo Sanchez, Dan Myrick, Gregg Hale, Robin Cowie, and Michael Monello. “While we, the original filmmakers, respect Lionsgate’s right to monetize the intellectual property as it sees fit, we must highlight the significant contributions of the original cast,†it reads. “As the literal faces of what has become a franchise, their likenesses, voices, and real names are inseparably tied to The Blair Witch Project.â€