Jeff Donovan has the longest resume of any Blair Witch 2 cast member, with appearances on several TV shows and roles in big studio films like Sleepers and Bait. As the tour guide who leads the group of Blair Witch fans into the woods, Donovan's character, Jeff Patterson, is the catalyst for the events which transpire.

Daily Radar:Who were you in Sleepers? I don't remember you.

Jeff Donovan: Oh, everyone says that about my acting. I was actually Henry Addison, one of the four guards who start initiating the kids when they first come to the juvenile detention center and then I'm taken to JFK [Airport] by the black gang, and they shoot me to death. Perhaps you couldn't attach my face to that, but I was actually in it.

DR: Would Blair Witch 2 be your first lead role?

JD: On this kind of exposure, yeah. But my first film work was in a movie called Throwing Down which actually won Best Film four years ago at the Hamptons Film Festival. Then I went and did Sleepers, then some HBO and Showtime movies, and I just did Bait with Jamie Foxx. I actually did a television show called The Pretender. I've done something like five movies and 10 TV shows, but that one thing has created more fans and given me more national exposure than anything I've ever done to date.

DR: What did you think of the original Blair Witch Project?

JD: I was attracted to the story to be honest with you. I thought it was fascinating that the country was duped, a certain percentage of the population. I found that fascinating that we still are susceptible to believing in fairy tales. I didn't know anybody that thought it was real. I don't know if you actually met someone or know someone who said, "No, I'm telling you it's real! They're dead!" And you're like, "They were on Leno! Gucci just designed for Heather!" So, when I read the story and interviewed with Joe [Berlinger], just like that [snaps fingers] we started this conversation about collective delusion and how, in a saturated environment, like a David Koresh compound, you can believe something so much that even though it's not real to the outside world, it is real because you perceive it to be real. Therefore, perception is reality in a controlled situation.

DR: How did you prepare for playing the mental asylum backstory of your character?

JD: The reason the mental institution stuff came out was because we had shot the movie, and Joe came up to me and said, "The movie's wrapped, we're all done, everyone go home except for Jeff. You're grounded. We want to get a shot of you in the documentary style that opens the movie of you selling Blair Witch stuff at the time the Blair Witch came out, so think about how you would be in town and what your backstory would be." So, I shaved my head, and I showed up and asked the wardrobe people to give me a dressing gown on the bottom. He saw me and said, "What the hell did you do?" And I said, "He just got out of mental rehabilitation, and he saw the movie and was so obsessed when he got out he's just part of it because it's his town. Finally, he has an identity." So, when he gets his lifeblood, which is this chance for 15 minutes of fame, he jumps at it and says, "Yeah, I'm a Burkittsville native, and I know the mythology." He doesn't. He was in mental rehab. So, we did that, and then Artisan loved that idea. Four months later, we went and shot all of that mental institution stuff. It was very interesting that a studio or anybody would take what an actor created in a moment and seize upon it and say, "That's good." That I think is a testament to Artisan being a very artist-oriented studio. They're really interested in what you create, not what they're going to impose on you.

DR: Did you keep any rocks or sticks from the set?

JD: Yes, and I've already sold them on eBay. Signed dirt, official Blair Dirt with my signature on it and when you get it, I'm sorry if my signature is gone. It must have been a packaging problem.

DR: How much does that go for?

JD: I don't know. The only thing I [really] took is something you wouldn't even notice. I wear socks that have the image of Van Gogh on them. I saw them in the wardrobe tent and I was like, "Oh, Van Gogh! He's nuts! Give me those!" Of course, no one would pick that up.

DR: How did the script's comedy affect your performance?

JD: I love gravitating towards comedy, and I had just come off of Bait which was a comedy. In fact, you saw an hour and a half movie, but the [first cut] was two hours and 15 minutes. There was a lot more comedy in it. Every step of the way, I tried to find the humor in the scene to defuse the tension because I always think it's scarier when your guard is down.

DR: What didn't we get to see?

JD: Just little things here and there. Like when I bring everybody into the warehouse, there was just more stuff about hats and more comedy improv stuff.

DR: How do little things account for a 45 minute difference?

JD: Scenes were longer. I'm talking about the assemblage. Every single moment shot goes two hours and 15 minutes. I think he whittled it down to a one hour, 45 or 50 minute movie, then Artisan came in and condensed it.

DR: Could we see any of that on the DVD?

JD: I don't know. You'd have to ask Joe. Joe would know that.

DR: What is your personal interpretation of the film's ambiguity? Were they crazy or was it the witch?

JD: I don't mean to be glib, but I don't know. That would be like me painting some abstract painting and telling you what it means. I hope though that when you walk out of the movie, you're thankful for the experience because it makes you think.

JD: I don't know. You'd have to ask Joe. Joe would know that.

DR: What is your personal interpretation of the film's ambiguity? Were they crazy or was it the witch?

JD: I don't mean to be glib, but I don't know. That would be like me painting some abstract painting and telling you what it means. I hope though that when you walk out of the movie, you're thankful for the experience because it makes you think.