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No Longer A Project by Joshua Mooney The Blair Witch Project was, for a lot of people, last year's most disturbing movie experience. But being one of the stars of the film was a horror show, too. "I spent most of the summer in shock, it was so overwhelmingly bizarre--like being in the center of a maelstrom," says Heather Donahue, who played the leader of the unlucky trio who met their doom in the dark woods. "I'd get off planes and there'd be people there with 8x10s for me to sign--they knew where I was going!" Thanks to the unprecedented success of that little thriller, though, Donahue was able to quit her office temp job and pursue acting full time. "I'd spent so many years in desperate-actor mode," she says, "and then came the dawning reality that maybe I could have the career I always wanted." Armed with Blair Witch cachet, Donahue landed roles in Boys and Girls, a romantic comedy starring Freddie Prinze Jr., and another indie, Seven and a Match. But Blair Witch continues to haunt her. PAGE 1 | 2 |
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Having played a character named "Heather Donahue" in the film, she's often taken for a non-actress. "There were a lot of auditions I couldn't even get in to," she says. "My agent had to say, 'She's an actress, guys--she knows what she's doing.' Using my own name in the film was a horrible, horrible mistake." The part Donahue did land--in Boys and Girls--is "absolutely, diametrically opposed to 'Heather'," she says. "I play this socially inept electrical engineering student who's got Betty Crocker aspirations in a really demented way and is obsessed with Freddie Prinze Jr.'s character." The jump from ultra-hip indie to teen flick (Boys and Girls is directed by She's All That's Robert Iscove) is uniquely pleasing to Donahue. "It was a fun thing to do and a really sweet, cute little movie," she says. Her point of view makes perfect sense when you consider that she was paid peanuts to star in Blair Witch, which has generated more than $100 million in pure profit. Given all she contributed to the film... "Oh God, here comes the question I hate," she sighs. Well, couldn't those now-wealthy execs at Artisan have tossed a few loose hundred thou her way? "Um, well, you know--it's good to stay humble. That's my answer," Donahue says evenly. "Money isn't everything. Besides, it all works out. Karma--that's what I say." PAGE 1 | 2 |
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