Take your pick from a myriad of diverse options, Bruce Campbell takes the term “actor” to rarified air.
The Bruce Campbell Way
Follow along as Penthouse corners the chain saw-wielding, boomstick-carrying cult-film actor who opens up about producing the Evil Dead remake, his next book, turning down a threesome, and the question he’s been fielding for two decades-will there be a sequel to Army of Darkness?
When Bruce Campbell talks, people listen. They also generally smile.
You took a huge risk remaking what’s basically a sacred movie to fans.
It’s funny how The Evil Dead got better when the remake came out. Suddenly, it’s a classic. Half of the reviews when that movie came out were devastatingly bad. I look at it as a wonderful time capsule of 1979. I have to say, the fans were violently opposed when the remake was first announced. We appreciate their zeal, but I think most of them have come around. There’s going to be a certain percentage of purists, and that’s fine, but it’s not like we’re destroying the negatives of the original. If you want to boycott this one, I guess you can, but I’m not sure what point there’d be, since it was made by us.
I think it made a difference that you, director and screenwriter Sam Raimi, and producer Rob Tapert were involved in it.
It wasn’t some cigar-chomping producer looking for a quick buck. It was something we agonized over, and Sam Raimi handpicked the director [Fede Alvarez]. And we didn’t want an Ash character because that would torment the fans even more. This is just another rough night with five other people, using the filmmaking tools that we did not have back then. It’s not about making an expensive version of The Evil Dead — this is still a very modestly budgeted movie. But wouldn’t it be better if you had actors who were experienced? Wouldn’t it be better if you can’t tell how the special effects were done, rather than seeing garden hoses doing the fake blood?
It’s the goriest movie I’ve seen in a long time.
When we set out to make the original Evil Dead, we thought, if we are getting into the film business let’s make something that’s tried and true, so we decided on horror. If we are going to make it, let’s not crap around. We’re like, it to be scary, it has to be bloody, it has to leave these people exhausted. That was our theory of making horror… but now, this is like the return of the splatter movie. All the rough edges have been rubbed off a lot of modern-day movies, partly due to the rating system. But I really feel that there is a difference between “depressing carnage,” which is what I call torture porn, and “exuberant carnage,” where you go, “Oh, my God, she’s cutting her arm off!” You know, where it’s over-the-top. This isn’t something that’s going to happen in your real lives. It’s not some guy carving up women with a butcher knife. This is different — it’s fantastic; it’s ridiculous.
I was very Impressed with Jane Levy’s performance as Mia. Was that part of the Bruce Campbell factor?
She kicked it! She auditioned and then she came back to apologize because she thought she sucked. And we’re like, “Jane, you did great, you killed it!” That’s the tricky thing about casting these movies — can you put up with the crap? Can you physically do it? Each of these actors, good God, they got vomit in their faces, they’re cutting their face off, their limbs are missing. I sent an email out before the movie was filmed to all the cast members: “I just want to let you know what’s coming. Be patient, don’t party, you’ve got to get through this.” Jane, she was really tough, and it shows… that’s the beauty of movies, it’s there forever. Three months of torment — it’s gone now, but you’ve got this as a result. We’re very grateful to these actors, because they were better than any of us. I know — I can say that because I was in it.
I’d heard you wouldn’t have a role or cameo in this movie, yet if you watch until after the credits, there’s a little treat for the fans there.
Fede would not relent. He was like, “Dude, you have to be in this movie! Dude, you have to be the guy who pulls up in the end in the truck.” I’m like “If I show up, the audience is going to be pulled completely out of this movie, and go, ’Oh, there’s that guy,’ and it will stop it cold” This is his movie, and we didn’t want any distraction. So he picked that idea. Yeah it’s a little treat for anyone who is patient enough to sit through the credits, a little Bruce Campbell bonus.
I read that there might finally be a sequel to Army of Darkness, with you Ash.
You know what, we have sort of rekindled the old “let’s do a sequel” conversation. There seems to be a fair amount of interest in the remake, even though fans were a little skeptical, but it showed us how much they would probably embrace it if we did another one. Sam’s making the biggest movies in Hollywood, so it’s going to be tough to get his attention. I’ve been doing [Burn Notice] for seven years, for God’s sake, in Florida, so we have to just find the time. But we finally decided to say, “Never say never.” It will be fun having 20 more years of experience to go back and play the character. By the time it comes out, it will be Bruce Campbell 25 years later.
And Ash will be so tired, just like, “You Deadites are still here? Seriously?”
Exactly. Like, “I’m too old for this shit!” Well, Sam is a visual wizard now, so it will be fun to see what he would bring to it.
Will you write us a “Forum” letter? You must have some stories.
Sure. You know who comes after me? Fanboys — 18-year-old fan boys.
But you must have gotten some crazy propositions.
Honestly, N-O, zero. I’ve never had one proposition for sex at a convention. I did get propositioned during a book tour, because what I’ve found is books bring the women. They go, “Oh, he is sensitive after all.” Since my book If Chins Could Kill came out, more women have started to come to these events. I have only been propositioned officially one time, by two women — they were a pair.
Okay, so there’s your “Forum” letter.
There’s nothing to write about; it was just a proposition. I was like, I’m on an airplane at 7 A.M. tomorrow, it just ain’t going to happen for this middle-aged boy. I get up early and go to bed early these days.
There’s still time. Are you aware of the Evil Dead porn parody?
Yes. I have not seen it. It’s probably the worst thing ever made in the history of civilization.
Will there be a sequel to Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way?
I’m doing a sequel to Chins. There are way more ridiculous stories now. There’s a bit of a travel theme, having filmed a couple of movies in Bulgaria. I also visited the troops in ’09, went down there for the show, to Iraq.
What was that like?
Amazing, ridiculous, terrifying, cool, and creepy. They were actually very happy to see Ash show up at a war zone. They all went online, printed out their favorite Ash photos. It was amazing how many of them were clued in to those movies.
I just found out that you are an ordained minister. How many marriages have you performed?
Only one. It was a guy who wanted me to marry him and his bride as zombies. So the bride was a pregnant zombie with a demon baby coming out of her belly.
What does the average person have to do to have you perform their wedding?
Give me a sack of cash. That’s all.
As should be obvious by now, Bruce Campbell has an IMDB list that would be the envy of all but the most accomplished in the entertainment field. He shows no sign of slowing down either, as even a casual glance at his schedule will attest. We were going to try and uncover some inside information here, but by now all his fans know how he feels about spies — “buncha bitchy little girls.” To be clear, Bruce shot “Burn Notice” a very long time ago (well, 2007). Today the line would certainly have changed to, “You know spies … buncha unnecessarily aggressive, insignificant, people, regardless of their age or gender identity.”
