From 'Blair Witch' to GrowGirl

In 1999, this week's guest starred in one of the most financially successful films of all time, but the circumstances around the making and marketing of Blair Witch Project meant that her incredible accomplishment actually came with a lot of very steep downsides. 

A story that’s briefly chronicled in her memoir: Growgirl: The Blossoming of an Unlikely Outlaw… by Heather Donahue (now known as Rei Hance).

On paper, it certainly sounds like a dream come true. You star in a micro budget movie shot for just $60,000 that becomes a $250 million box office smash. But when her star turn struck gold, Rei was both the face of the franchise and fully hidden from sight.

It’s a wild story, even by show business standards, but Rei and I talked almost exclusively about weed. Because after she left Hollywood behind, she ended up spending a few years in a place she very lovingly called Nuggettown, a Northern California medical cannabis farm back in the beautiful gray market days of the early 2000s. 

Revisiting those days more than twenty years later filled me with a beautiful flush of nostalgia cut with a bit existential longing. It was a wonderful conversation and I’m excited to share it with you as our first great moment in of 2025.

PATREON

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