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THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH CRAIG KILBORN INTERVIEW
with HEATHER DONAHUE ( aug. 10 , 1999)
CRAIG: My next guest tonight has a unique claim to fame . She is the lead
actress in one of the most profitable movies in Hollywood history,...the
movie is "the Blair Witch Project"
~runs a clip of Heather chased from the tent screaming~
CRAIG: Please welcome - Heather Donahue !
~ crowd applaudes ; Heather walks out and waves to the crowd
CRAIG: Thanks for doing the show.
HEATHER: Its my pleasure.
CRAIG: Congradulations,...this is,...how exciting is it for you ?
HEATHER: Its,...it's insane,...it's like puberty,...ya know ?
CRAIG: That must be exciting .
HEATHER: You only go through it once in your life , and all of a sudden
everything around you is changing , your whole world is upside down and you
have no idea how you fit in to this whole big world . Its a completely
topsy-turvy time.
CRAIG: And how long has the movie been out ?
HEATHER: It opened in limited release on July 14th starting at the Angelic
(?) in NewYork and has slowly gotten larger and larger and taken on a life of
it's own.
CRAIG: And thats when your life changed , right ? It didnt change , did it
change in the filming ? Or not ?
HEATHER: It changed a little bit at Sundance and from there it has
progressivley gotten more insane .
CRAIG: Look at this !
~ he pulls , from under the desk , "Newsweek" and "Time"
magazines
that both feature Blair Witch cover stories ... ~
CRAIG: This is the same week .This is "Time Magazine" -The Blair Witch
Project and this is "Newsweek" ...
HEATHER: Thats ME !!!
~ she points to her pic on the front cover ~
HEATHER: How does that happen ?? (laughs)
CRAIG: Your the star ,.....can I say that ?
HEATHER
: Uhhh,....no,...no (laughs)
CRAIG: Okay then , I wont say that . Now first of all,...how'd you get the
part ? HEATHER: Basically there was this ad in Backstage . Which is a
newspaper that comes out in NewYork every Thursday and actors find open calls
in there and you can go , anybody can go,..a cab driver can go , if he wants
. And so I saw an ad that said that it was going to be a completely
improvised feature film shot in a wooded location, shooting was going to suck
about as much as you can possibly imagine anything sucking. And show up at
Musical TheaterWorks,...and so I did - along with like hundreds of other
people that first time.
CRAIG: Now you had done alot of other auditions before this.
HEATHER: Oh yeah . I went to a conservatory program in Philidelphia for 4
years. Learned fencing, and ballet and ya know,..all that stuff that you use
alot in LA .Its very handy - fencing (laughs)
CRAIG: And you got the part over numerous women ?
HEATHER: Apparently they audtioned like 2000 people ?!
CRAIG: Wow !
HEATHER: It's like that little "Annie"- that Annie that they're doin' .
CRAIG: Did you have to scream to get the part ?
HEATHER: No , actually when I went in , I sat down and one of the directors ,
Stan Myrick , ...who i believe sat in this chair not too long ago,...he said
said to me , " You've served 7 years of a 9 year sentance. Why should we let
you out on parole?" And that was how the auditions started. So I kinda had to
go from there - create a charecter, create a story . And he said "Come back
tommarrow."
CRAIG: And when they shot it ,...It was a weird way of shooting it .
HEATHER: It was an incredibly weird way of shooting it.
CRAIG: Cause you were seriously screaming and crying?
HEATHER: Yeah !?!
CRAIG: This was not acting.
HEATHER: No, no....Well heres the deal - What do you think acting is, Craig?
This is somthing that comes up alot as we go through this movie...
CRAIG: Right,...but somtimes they { actors } will think of somthing from
their childhood that would make them scream or cry , but you were
expereancing somthing that was freaking you out .
HEATHER: Well,...like anytime you have a nice, well put togther fictional
circumstance, it makes it easier for you to believe it,...But however, you
know, if I were to wake up one morning and there were a pile of rocks outside
my door, I wouldnt exactly be crying about it ,...So you do, sort of, have to
give it that little extra push...
CRAIG: So they did not tell you what they were gonna do?
HEATHER: No,...we always knew they were gonna do somthing,...but we never
knew what that somthing was going to be . It was crazy .
CRAIG: And the movie has made outrageous money .
HEATHER: Like $80 million dollars ?!?!?!?
CRAIG: Do the directors get alot of that ?
HEATHER: I guess,...I got it outta Backstage , you know what Im sayin' ,
information,..ya know?!
CRAIG: What's next ,..you got alot if offers coming?
HEATHER: Yeah,...now,...its,...Like I say...its completely upside down.
Because Im flying all over the place,...Im on planes , reading scripts on
planes and getting all decked out. This morning I was in a metal-mesh dress
with lots of clevage,...ya know? I never know whats happening...
CRAIG: Oh you did the Donny & Marie show
HEATHER: Yeah (laughs)
CRAIG: Well,...I know your life is exciting , but it doesnt get more exciting
than the Game-O-Matic !!
~crowd applaudes as Craig slides over the Game-O-Matic~
CRAIG: We just hit it ,...We dont know where it's going to stop,...We're
going to play an exciting game,..Oh boy,...Who knows ?? ....annnnnnnnnd STOP
! Celebrity Spook-out! Goodness. This is just for you I guess. Name the
celebrity Im thinking of. And there's a theme here, a spook-out theme . 45
seconds on the CBS eye annnnnd here we go ... Greatest director of all time -
the Birds - North by Northwest...
HEATHER: Alfred Hitchcock
CRAIG: That is correct . The Hungarian actor who played Dracula - the
original Dracula..
HEATHER: Ummmm,...Uhhhhhh,... the guy Ed Wood uhhhh movie uhhhh and he
actually died around the corner from where I live ,...I Uhhhhhh
CRAIG: Im sorry we can't except that (laughs) We'll move on to the next
one,...Actress in Halloween - She's married to Christopher Guest...
HEATHER: Jamie Lee Curtis
CRAIG: Yes!
HEATHER: So much pressure here !
CRAIG: Actress in Exorsist - Head spun around...
HEATHER: Linda Blair
CRAIG: Yes! Vice president to Bill Clinton...
HEATHER: Al Gore
CRAIG: Uhhh,...She was in Scream & in Wild Things - Last name is like a soup
...
HEATHER: Campbell,...uhhh Neve Campbell !
CRAIG: Yes ! Anda uhhhhh in Carrie...
HEATHER: Uhhhh Emily Burgle
~ buzzer sounds~
CRAIG: Can't except that,..very good score though !
HEATHER: Carrie 2 ,...that was close
~ Craig grabs a shirt from under the desk - Crowd applaudes ~
HEATHER: Wow,... free stuff !
CRAIG: Thank You !
HEATHER: Thank You...
CRAIG: Congradulations...
HEATHER: This is great,...thanks!
CRAIG: There you go , there's your t-shirt ...
HEATHER: I won ! (laughs)
CRAIG: You did very well,..uhhh dont forget about us...
HEATHER: I won't...
CRAIG: Nice meeting you !
HEATHER: Its very nice meeting you ...
CRAIG: A big hand for Heather Donahue,...And we'll be right back...
~ crowd applaudes and whistles ~
A HUGE thank-you to Beth for transcribing the appearance - it is much appreciated!