For its stars, the true horror of Blair Witch Project was getting paid

The Blair Witch Project is one of the most successful independent films ever made, grossing over $100 million on a $35,000 budget. One of the reasons the movie came with such a low price tag is its conceit: A found footage horror movie shot by the victims of Blair’s witchcraft. The cast, consisting primarily of three young, inexperienced actors hoping to break into the industry—Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard—also shot the picture and captured sound. What they didn’t get was paid. In a new interview with Variety, Donahue, Leonard, and Williams reveal the extent to how much Lionsgate (née Artisan) didn’t want to pay them.

The three actors were in their early 20s when they shot The Blair Witch Project, a movie they thought would go nowhere when they signed a contract with Haxan Films, a production company founded by the film’s writer-directors, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, and its producers, Gregg Hale, Robin Cowie, and Michael Monello. Should the film gross more than $1 million, the actors were entitled to 1% of the profits. Williams remembers thinking, “Wouldn’t that be ridiculous?” They didn’t even know the Blair Witch Project would be an entire movie, not the short film they expected for their acting reels, until a year after production wrapped.

Of course, the ridiculous thing happened: the movie grossed well over $1 million, and the things that didn’t bother them at the start of production began to wear. The fact that the movie used their real names meant Artisan required them to hide from public view during the film’s initial “are they dead?” viral marketing campaign. They couldn’t take acting jobs or even talk to the press about how little money they were making. A random character wasn’t the subject of a sexist backlash. Karen Donahue was, and because she shares a name with her character, all the insults were directed at her. “It was relentless,” Donahue says. “Just that feeling of ‘Wow, this is definitely not what I signed up for, and I have no money to protect myself from the onslaught.’”

Artisan, its successor, Lionsgate, and now Blumhouse, have all used their likeness and names for marketing and narrative, using their story from the first movie as a jumping-off point for other sequels. Meanwhile, Blair Witch continued to make money. In the mid-2000s, the trio sued Artisan and received a $300,000 settlement as investors continued to bring in millions. When Lionsgate attempted to use her name for the 2016 sequel, Donahue invoked the settlement, prohibiting the studio from using her last name and likeness. Williams was game, though. At the time, he and his family were living in a one-bedroom because their home was destroyed in a flood.

“I’m embarrassed that I let this happen to me,” Williams told Variety. “You’ve got to put that stuff away because you’re a fucking loser if you can’t. Because everybody’s wondering what happened, and your wife is in the grocery line, and she can’t pay because a check bounced. You’re in the most successful independent movie of all time, and you can’t take care of your loved ones.”

It doesn’t look like their issues with the film are fully exorcized. Announced last month, a new Blair Witch reboot from one of horror’s most successful imprints, Blumhouse, is on the way, and they’re already using the original cast’s likeness to sell it.

“I’m very grateful for what I have now and how fucking hard I fought to get it. But it still impacts me. I buried all this,” Williams says. “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.”