In an interview from his Maryland home, Co-Creator of the original Blair Witch Project contemplates where the franchise is going and what he would like to do with it.
‘Nobody from my house will be going out trick-or-treating tomorrow dressed as the Blair Witch. I have young kids, my oldest daughter is 8, and they’re still a little too young, They know I made The Blair Witch Project, but they have no idea what it’s about, and I don’t want them to know until they’re much older. So I’m dressing up as an alien, my son’s a clone trooper and my daughter will be either a hobo or a gypsy or a cowgirl.”
It might seem as if Sánchez is trying to evade the creepy woodland crone who shot him and co-creator Daniel Myrick to fame, fortune and enduring influence 10 years ago.
And for a while, he and Myrick were indeed on the run from Blair Witch: “We didn’t want to be seen as one-trick ponies.”
They turned down offers to direct the 2000 sequel Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. Documentary director Joe Berlinger took up the challenge, attempting to blow up the myth but instead seeing his confused efforts explode on impact at the box office.
Times have changed for Sánchez and Myrick, and rather swiftly in recent weeks. After years spent pondering their Blair Witch legacy, while pursuing other horror and sci-fi projects, they’re willing to ride the broomstick again.
They’re now at the point where they’re ready to do a Blair Witch 3, once again sharing writing and directing. They’d pick up from where the original left off, pretending Blair Witch 2 never happened. The duo recently went on a drive through their original Blair Witch haunts, about a half hour from Sánchez’s Maryland home, looking for inspiration.
They’ve worked up a treatment for a new story, which would involve original cast members Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael C. Williams, albeit in smaller roles.
“We’re at the step where we’re about to pitch to Lionsgate, which owns the movie rights now. It’s pretty much up to them. They can completely squash it or greenlight it.”
The renewed witchy fervour for Sánchez and Myrick came from watching all the copycats, especially Paranormal Activity, the haunted house shocker by rookie director Oren Peli currently atop the box office. It follows the shakycam, first person, micro-budget footprints of Blair Witch so closely, it’s a wonder there isn’t a stick figure Blair logo on every frame.
Sánchez disputes reports this week that Paranormal Activity is now more profitable than Blair Witch, which made $249 million (U.S.) worldwide on an initial production investment of $20,000.
“I wouldn’t be completely honest with you if I said I wasn’t jealous of Paranormal Activity. I’m happy for the guy … but at the same time, there’s the feeling that, man, I could have done this. It would have been different and might not have been as good. But I know how to make these films. To me it’s like, man, maybe I should go back and kind of milk this one more time.”
But neither Sánchez nor Myrick are interested in just photocopying what they did with Blair Witch, which deserves its status as a modern horror classic. It still chills as effectively as ever, exploiting the power of suggestion to the max.
Sánchez wants to use a technique he calls “mixed first-person,” which would mean less reliance on the Blair Witch innovation – now a cinematic cliché – of having the protagonists speak directly into their fidgety cameras.
He laughed when he saw Cloverfield, another Blair Witch wannabe, and the characters never dropped their video camera even when being chased by a Godzilla-like monster.
The closest he’s seen to the mixed first-person technique he seeks is District 9, the summer ’09 sci-fi hit that begins in documentary style before segueing into a conventional thriller.
Sánchez hopes to first try the mixed style with Possessed, a low-budget horror he’s also involved in, which he promises will “show things that have not been seen before. Hopefully audiences will dig it.”
But old habits die hard. Sánchez spoke at a screenwriter’s expo in Los Angeles two weekends ago, and he was surprised by how many people want Blair Witch 3 to be another true shakycam experience, just like the original.
“I asked the crowd, `Who would be turned off by that?’ And nobody raised their hand. Then I said, `Who wants to see more shakycam?’ And everybody raised their hands. We might have a problem here. We still haven’t really decided yet, but instinct-wise it seems that doing the same thing would probably be a mistake.”
Ever resourceful, Sánchez has a compromise in mind. And the same thing applies to his Halloween plans for tomorrow. There might be some Blair Witch in there after all.
“You know what? I might hang a couple of stick figures out front this year.”
[Source] The Star
