With Blair Witch midway through its first week in theaters, there’s renewed interest in the trio that made up the lead cast of 1999’s Blair Witch Project. We all know that Heather Donahue left Hollywood behind to become a marijuana farm and author, and Joshua Leonard has starred in Shark Night 3D and recurred in “Bates Motel” in 2015. But what is Michael C. Williams up to? I’ll address that in this installment of Where Are They Now?.
Born in New York in July 1973, Michael C. Williams would end up attending university for theater arts before taking on Hollywood. His first credited role was actually his co-starring, self portrayal in The Blair Witch Project. Probably the most well known found footage horror film of all time, The Blair Witch Project remained in the top six movies at the box office for six weeks and grossed $140,000,000 in the US against a budget of only $60,000! This one role, his biggest role to date, has carried enough weight to make him a cult star.
But, his roles have been few and far between since his days spent running through the woods being chased by an unseen witch. Following The Blair Witch Project, Michael booked his first television roles with guest spots in “Law and Order” and “Without a Trace,” which he followed up with a small part in a Rachel Leigh Cook romance drama titled Sally (2000).
So, where is Michael C. Williams now?
The late 2000’s proved to be a second wind in his career, though he failed to reach the same success as 1999. He did return to the horror genre, however, by playing one of the lead roles in Altered (2006) and The Objective (2008). After returning to “Law and Order,” this time appearing in the SVU brand, Williams began appearing in horror shorts including The Midnight Drive In Presents: Stay Out of the Woods (2009) and Four Corners of Fear (2013) – a mockumentary of sorts that he also wrote and executively produced. Although he hasn’t booked anymore roles since then, he can still be found making the rounds at various horror film conventions around the country. He’s also the owner of The Big Blue Door in Hawthorne, New York.
