Shot on a $25,000 budget and a 35-page script that called for lots of improvisation, 1999's The Blair Witch Project made an astounding $248 million in theaters. Mental Floss put together a fun list of 17 facts about the horror movie classic.
2. THE AUDITION PROCESS WAS AN UNUSUAL ONE.
Actress Heather Donahue remembers reading an ad in Backstage that said: "An improvised feature film, shot in wooded location: it is going to be hell and most of you reading this probably shouldn't come." In order to test the improvisational skills of the candidates, as soon as each potential actor entered the room to audition, he or she was immediately told by one of the directors: "You've been in jail for the last nine years. We're the parole board. Why should we let you go?" If the actor hesitated for even a moment, the directors concluded the audition.
7. THE SOUNDS OF THE CHILDREN ACTUALLY TERRIFIED MIKE.
Williams said the most terrifying moment was hearing the sounds of the kids that lived across the street from Eduardo Sánchez's mother on three boomboxes being blared outside of his tent.
