Hail To The King Baby: Bruce Campbell’s Ash vs. Evil Dead Interview!

Bruce Campbell gives the low down on Ash vs. Evil Dead premiering Halloween Night!

“I didn’t give a rats ass about H.P. Lovecraft. I read lots of Spiderman comics. I read a comic called Sad Sack. It was a silly, farmy comedy comic. So that was me. I didn’t really get into that. You know we didn’t get into horror until we decided to make our first feature film because horror was the only type of genre that you could make cheap movies and no one cared. Like you couldn’t make a cheapo drama. That would be too low budget. No one would- dramas had to have good photography and well-known actors and stuff. And horror films, you could still make drive in movies back in those days. So that’s what we did. And horror I appreciate now is one of the few genres that can wind the audience up and make them pay attention. I kind of like that. It’s one of the few genres that can be very manipulative there.”

– Bruce Campbell

Speaking with Bruce Campbell during our conference call promoting “Ash vs. Evil Dead”was as cool as Ash’s 72’ Oldsmobile Delta 88 (which appeared in every Evil Dead film). The long-awaited STARZ original series and follow-up to the classic horror movie franchise, heralds the triumphant return of my favorite societal outcast Ash, the stock boy, aging lothario and chainsaw-handed monster hunter that has spent 30 years avoiding responsibility, maturity and the terrors of the Evil Dead. Now, after reading from the Necronomicon during a half remembered debauched evening in his trailer, we get a weekly dose of Ash going toe to toe with hordes of the possessed in a Michigan suburb being wickedly cool doing it, which Campbell is pumped to deliver.-

”Well you know people have only seen four and a half hours of Ash. So I’m actually looking forward to finally seeing how Ash is going to interact with other people now. He has to be a leader. So it’s a slightly different story in that the character has to evolve. The story has to get bigger. And I’m looking forward to that so that I can take enough time to finally be with Ash. The other movies, you know, I had a week that went by without any dialogue. Like shooting Evil Dead 2 I got trapped in the cabin. So it’s Ash getting out in the wild, you know, getting out in suburbia.”

“It’s not complicated getting back in the mindset of Ash. It’s difficult to get out of bed the morning after you do a fight scene. My recuperative powers aren’t’ as strong. What was the first part of your question?”

– Bruce Campbell

In 1979 with his Detroit friends, Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, Campbell raised $350,000 for a low-budget film, Evil Dead, in which he starred and co-executive produced. Completed piecemeal over four years, the film first gained notoriety in England where it became the best-selling video of 1983, beating out The Shining. After its appearance at Cannes, where Stephen King dubbed it “the most ferociously original horror film of the year,” New Line Cinema stepped forward to release Evil Dead in the U.S. Campbell stared and co-produced the second and third films in the Evil Dead trilogy, completing 12 years of work on the world wide cult phenomenon. Being a huge fan of the films and now the Starz show (I previewed the pilot episode) the tone of the show is spot on in line with the films. Ash vs. Evil Dead is a terrific balance of horror and comedy.-

“Its a horror show where we do keep the horror seriously. said Campbell proudly, So a fan of only horror I don’t think will be insulted by our approach to horror. We take it very seriously and hope fully we’ll give them some good stuff to freak out about. The comedy for me let’s everybody know that wink this is ultimately entertainment. For me, it takes the creepiness out a little bit because it’s still over the top. But it becomes nothing that you can see on the six o clock news. That’s what has always appealed to me about this approach”

Campbell who is staring and executive producing confessed having his hands full with those two tasks he’s not directing any episodes “that’s Sam’s [Raimi)’s baby” had a unique take on the process and looking backwards at the original films.-

“What we do is whatever entertains us on the set. And that’s the bottom line. The tone meetings I think come after (Sam) leaves the directors and talks about it. But (Sam) and I never talk about the films. He’s the one like you know if you put the star of your show in a man girdle that takes balls for a director—a writer or director—to do that with his character so, I challenge other directors. I bet you can’t be as daring as Sam Raimi as far as messing with the character and really showing their flaws—their naked flaws.”

“I have two great partners (Rob Tapert) and (Sam Raimi) and we never hit an impasse because we have three people. If anyone ever wants a partnership, go in with three people. You’ll never hit an impasse.”

-Bruce Campbell

 

There have been arguably few pitch perfect marriages between character and actor than Ash Williams and Bruce Campbell. @GroovyBruce (his twitter handle) has made his trademark brand an off-beat everyman with a schlep chic swagger that appeals both to long time fans of the Evil Dead trilogy and his more recent fans-

“He (Ash) has no special skill. He’s not trained. He was not part of any government agency. Nothing. So I think when you watch him you go that could be me. The guy that works at 7-11. I mean I could do that.” Campbell reflected on Ash’s appeal during our phone interview, “Why not? I’m sick of over trained heroes I’m really bored with that. Guys that are just ripped to shreds and, you know, full of skills. That’s boring me. Give me the drive mechanic that picks up a weapon, you know. Now I’m interested. That’s my hero.”

The cast is led by Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead, “Burn Notice”) in the role of Ash Williams; Lucy Lawless (“Salem,” “Spartacus”) as Ruby a mysterious figure who believes Ash is the cause of the Evil outbreaks; Ray Santiago (“Touch,” Meet the Fockers) as Pablo Simon Bolivar, an idealistic immigrant who becomes Ash’s loyal sidekick; Dana DeLorenzo (A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas) as Kelly Maxwell, a moody wild child trying to outrun her past; and Jill Marie Jones (“Sleepy Hollow”) as Amanda Fisher, a disgraced Michigan State Trooper set to find our anti-hero Ash and prove his responsibility in the grisly murder of her partner. As Executive Producer, Campbell picked and chose his battles, one was casting because as he put it-

“I’m stuck on a set with these people. So we went through a lot of rigorous stuff. We had to make sure these people were healthy and rigorous and had a lot of patience and could deal with a lot of special effects –a lot of just difficult, uncomfortable film making.” So (Ray) I thought we got fortunate with. He’s got a spectacular way about him. He’s got a great mug and a sweet guy. And so my hope is to go to conventions with those guys and watch them get swamped. That would be my greatest joy to watch (Dana) and (Ray) and (Jill Marie Jones) go to these conventions and be tormented. It would make me very happy.”

The icing on the cake for me as a fan was Bruce’s reunion with Lucy Lawless on the small screen, he agreed,-

She’s badass. She’s a great addition to the show She can step in and do anything we need her to do which is spectacular! She’s a great actress with an incredible amount of versatility. She was great when I worked with her on Xena. I said to Rob Tapert my partner Rob, you better sit down with your wife at dinner and you better lock this in. We’re really really happy!

Campbell says Ash vs. Evil Dead will showcase Michigan-

”It’s not even like were hiding anything you know we are brining back all that stuff. Michigan State University, Camp Chappaqua, the place where Sam went to camp, Faygo Red pop, Coney Island, you know, like chili dogs that everybody eats in Michigan.” He chimes with glee, “I hope the Michigan references never end because if you’re setting your show in Michigan I want Ferndale. I want Royal Oak in there where I was born. It’s all Michigan all the time!”

During the awesome pilot Ash’s character takes dramatic shifts quickly from Ash channeling Buster Keaton in his physical comedy transitioning seamlessly to “John Wickish” Deadite killing baddasery mode, whenever he’s pressed into action. When asked about that Bruce had a great observation on the craft of acting:

“It’s about contrast. You know I think with your characters you’ve got to do that. There’s Mickey Mantle at the plate and Mickey Mantle out to drink with the boys. – I heard a note from a director to an actor. A friend related this to me. And the director said I want you to be a different character in every scene. And the Actor was astounded. What are you crazy? I’m only playing one character. His point was that there was so much depth to humans and each individual. So in order to come close to the complexity to the most boring average person, you’d have to play each scene as a completely different character to even start to see the glimpses of all the sides of a person or even a character. So even though I’m doing a cheesy horror series there is still some art to it.”

Oh and here’s the first four minutes of Ash vs. Evil Dead  let me know what you think below! You’re welcome!

“He’s just like you. We make our own problems every time. Everything that we complain about is something we can solve. So that’s why I think Ash is universal because it’s like looking in the mirror”. -Bruce Campbell

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Ash vs. Evil Dead premieres on Halloween, Saturday, October 31 at 9:00pm ET/PT.

all art~STARZ

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