The Blair Witch Project was the horror flick that got plenty of people talking over 20 years ago.
Filmed with handheld cameras, the indie movie followed three students, Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams, who trekked off into a forest in America to film a documentary about the local Blair Witch legend. And spoiler alert, they only left their harrowing footage behind…
It’s fair to say the movie took the world, and Hollywood, by storm. To build up buzz, producers billed the flick as “real life”. They set up a website claiming the “students”, whose birth names were used, really did disappear. They also prevented the lead actors from doing any sort of press at first and even claimed they were deceased.
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The movie had its Sundance festival debut on January 23 and ended up grossing more than $200million (£157m). It has since become somewhat of a franchise, with a direct sequel, Blair Witch, released in 2016 too.
(Image: Haxan Films)
But for actor Heather Donahue, now known as Rei Hance, she has been open about the impact that Blair Witch had on her life – which eventually led her to leave Hollywood for good.
Rei was unexpectedly catapulted to stardom as the lead star in the movie – who filmed herself crying in what is one of cinema’s most iconic scenes. However, at the height of The Blair Witch’s success, Rei referred to herself as the “poorest new famous person in Hollywood.”
(Image: Getty Images)
It was also reported that due to Rei using her birth name, her own mum received sympathy cards from people who thought that she was actually dead or missing. She went on to tell GQ in 2016 that using her real name in the 1999 film was her “biggest life regret to this day.”
The then-Heather Donahue has also openly talked about how the movie hindered her career – as she is only remembered for this role. She told The Guardian in 2016: “Nothing I do will ever surpass what I did at 24.
(Image: WireImage)
“My name and face are forever going to be someone else’s intellectual property. My snot-flooded portrait was back. It’s all anyone wanted to talk to me about,” she added.
Following her appearance in The Blair Witch, the then-Heather Donahue had roles in TV show Taken and a few other films. But after 2008’s horror flick The Morgue, she retired from acting.
In 2008, she made an unexpected career move to become a marijuana farmer. Rei spoke out about her profession and life as a marijuana farmer in her 2012 memoir, Growgirl.
(Image: instagram)
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Fast forward to more recent times, and Rei started studying esoteric practices like Zen. In 2020, she received a jukai, an initiation into the Zen traditions and was given the name Reigetsu (Spirit Moon), as Rei noted on her Facebook page.
Following this, she then legally changed her name to Rei Hance that year, and describes herself as a “writer, gardener, guide and podcast hostess.” She now works to help others in search of spiritual guidance and one review on her website called Rei “a sage and a brilliant witch.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
