'Blair Witch' horror film was a killer to shoot
Callie Hernandez received a horrible awakening while shooting her first feature film Blair Witch.
The on-the-rise actress (seen in the upcoming musical La La Land and Alien: Covenant) ran the terror gauntlet with co-stars James Allen McCune, Brandon Scott and Corbin Reid.
As one of the youngsters lost in cursed Maryland woods, Hernandez shot a prolonged scene that involved burrowing through a claustrophobia-inducing mud tunnel — all part of 34 dark days of mainly night shoots in the Vancouver woods for the follow-up (in theaters Friday) to 1999's blockbuster The Blair Witch Project.
"I knew this wasn't going to be a normal experience," says Hernandez, 27. "But I didn't mind."
Hernandez even volunteered for the dirty tunnel duty. A stunt woman handled some scenes, but most focus squarely on Hernandez's face as she gasps through the mud ordeal.
"It was weirdly fun, I have no claustrophobia at all," Hernandez says. "But at the end of take seven, (director Adam Wingard) saw the look on my face and said, 'Maybe we should take a break now.' "
At least Hernandez slept like a baby. McCune, 26, had the horrors seep into his subconscious. He was plagued with fitful dreams.
"We're not built to pretend like we're afraid every single night for that long — it's not healthy. I didn't adjust," McCune says. "I had dreams of being chased by a creature down an alleyway on a regular basis. I'd have dreams of being ripped apart."
For the actual running, McCune and Scott had to lug makeshift camera apparel for the found-footage film. This consisted of a helmet with a 30-pound camera rig on top and another 20 pounds carried on the back. The cameras did allow for a completely unique, mobile perspective. But they were "absolutely hell to carry," McCune says.
"After we wrapped, I went to a physical therapist, who was very confused over what happened to me," McCune says. "I just told her I did some weird work and it screwed me up entirely. But I'm very proud of what came from the trauma."
To help foster the eerie mood on the set, Wingard would crank foreboding music in the woods before scenes, a vocal concoction incorporating magic ceremonies from infamous occultist Aleister Crowley and sinister drone sounds.
"It was this chanting underlaid with a creepy, ethereal low rumble, hardly music. It's the sound you hear in your head when you close your eyes before bed," McCune says. "It made my skin crawl."
With one more emotional scene to go, Hernandez woke up the morning before shooting with strange hives covering her face — a disaster for most movies.
"I knocked on the producer's door and was like, 'Hi,' and he was like, 'My God, we've got to get you to a doctor,' " Hernandez recalls. "Luckily, (my character) is so covered in dirt and blood, you couldn't tell. It wasn't problematic."
Hernandez estimates she shot the final harrowing scene 36 times. She went to a dark place by the end before cabbing back to the airport at 4 a.m.
"We knew it was going to be extremely raw and real. I had to go there," Hernandez says. "After that final take, I went to the hair and makeup trailer and kind of lost it."