Happy 52nd Birthday, Eduardo Sánchez! Born today in 1968 as Eduardo Miguel Sánchez-Quiros, this Cuban-born American editor, screenwriter, producer and director is one-half of the brainpower behind the independent film phenomenon of the late 1990s.
Born in Havana, Cuba, Sánchez moved to Spain with his family at the age of two, before settling in the United States in 1972. As he grew, it was still at a young age where he gained an interest in filmmaking.
Years later at Wheaton High School, Sánchez made school movie projects such as 'Shrimp Fried Vice and Pride (in the name of Love)', all of which starred his friends and family, as well as Sánchez himself.
After high school, Sánchez studied at Montgomery College. It was here where he continued to make films like 'Star Trek Demented'.
Sánchez later got accepted to the University of Central Florida. This was where he made 'Gabriel's Dream', a film which he thought was going to be his big break, but that didn't come for almost another decade. Sánchez eventually graduated in 1994.
In 1997, Sánchez, along with his close friend, American film director Daniel Myrick, got together and started production on the most successful film (budget to gross) ever.
This was also the film of which Sánchez is best known for co-editing, co-writing and co-directing, being the 1999 American supernatural mystery/psychological horror film 'The Blair Witch Project'.
Five years prior to the film's release, Sánchez and Myrick conceived of a fictional legend of the Blair Witch. They had developed a thirty-five-page screenplay with the dialogue to be improvised.
A casting call advertisement in the entertainment-industry brand Backstage magazine was prepared by the directors; American writer and now-retired actress Heather Donahue, American actor Michael C. Williams and American actor, writer and director Joshua Leonard were cast.
The ad was for actors with strong improvisational abilities. The informal improvisational audition process narrowed the pool of two thousand actors.
The film entered production in October 1997, with the principal photography taking place in Maryland for eight days. About twenty hours of footage was shot, which was edited down to eighty-two minutes.
A sleeper hit on a mere budget of $60,000, 'The Blair Witch Project' eventually went on to gross $248.6 million. This made it one of the most successful independent films of all time, as well as the thirty-seventh most profitable horror film.
Upon release, 'Blair Witch' was a world-wide hit, and has gone on to become one of the most spoofed films of all time. Sánchez's payout from the success of 'Blair Witch' was $4 million. The earnings of 'Blair Witch' have also made it one of the most successful independent films of all time.
It eventually launched a media franchise, which includes two sequels ('Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2' [2000] and 'Blair Witch' [2016]), novels, comic books, and video games.
When 'The Blair Witch Project' premiered at the 21st Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 1999, its promotional marketing campaign listed the actors as either "missing" or "deceased".
Owing to its successful run at Sundance, Artisan Entertainment bought the film's distribution rights for $1.1 million.
Later that same year, 'The Blair Witch Project' had a limited release on July 14, 1999, before expanding to a wider release starting July 30. While critical reception was mostly positive, audience reception was however split.
After 'Blair Witch' was released, in late November 1999, the historic house where it was filmed was reportedly being overwhelmed by film fans who broke off chunks as souvenirs. The township ordered the house demolished the next month.
Roger Ebert later gave 'The Blair Witch Project' a total of four stars, and called it "an extraordinarily effective horror film".
He also went on the say: "At a time when digital techniques can show us almost anything, The Blair Witch Project is a reminder that what really scares us is the stuff we can't see. The noise in the dark is almost always scarier than what makes the noise in the dark."
American film critic, journalist and television presenter Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called it "a groundbreaker in fright that reinvents scary for the new millennium".
However, some critics were less enthusiastic. American film critic and a leading proponent of the auteur theory of film criticism Andrew Sarris of The New York Observer deemed it "overrated."
He also deemed it as a rendition of "the ultimate triumph of the Sundance scam: Make a heartless home movie, get enough critics to blurb in near unison 'scary,' and watch the suckers flock to be fleeced".
Also, in the same year as the release of 'Blair Witch', Sánchez, along with Myrick, co-directed the forty-four-minute 1999 American thriller television short film Curse of the Blair Witch.
The short is a mockumentary about the Blair Witch legend and the three filmmakers who disappeared in October of 1994.
It first aired on the Sci-Fi Channel on July 11, 1999 as a promotional prelude to the release of 'The Blair Witch Project' on July 30, 1999.
'The Blair Witch Project' is heavily credited with reviving the found-footage technique which was later used by similarly successful horror films. This includes the 'Paranormal Activity' (2007) and 'Cloverfield' (2008).
Sanchez is perhaps best known for directing other films such as 'Lovely Molly' (2011) and a segment in 'V/H/S/2' (2013).
He has also directed five episodes for the American live-action fantasy horror television series Supernatural (2005–2020).
According to Sánchez's personal life, he has been married to Stefanie DeCassan since 2000. She had served as an audition assistant/production assistant and still photographer on 'The Blair Witch Project'. They have three children together.
Sánchez has been active from 1999–present.
