The Man, The Myth, The Chin: An Interview With Bruce Campbell
Matt Boiselle
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With the Blu-ray and DVD release of “Ash vs. Evil Dead” Season 2 less than 2 weeks away, we here at Dread Central were graced with the pleasure of speaking with the man who made it cool to shop at S-Mart. Bruce Campbell, the B-Movie god, gave us the lowdown on what to expect from the next season of the hit Starz show, as well as where his travels will be taking him next – so grab a seat and a cold one, cause this one’s going to be groovy!
DC: Looking back, before the show even started, did you think it was something that was going to get off the ground, and if so, did you have any reservations about firing up the character that you haven’t played in so long?
BC: We didn’t have reservations until someone said yes – we shopped the show to about a half a dozen networks, and had some good meetings and some people seemed legitimately interested, then it boiled down to about two different parties, and then Starz won out, because they said they wouldn’t hit us with content restrictions. That was just massive for us – a game changer, so we felt pretty good about the pitches because they were well received, and people seemed interested in doing it, but it was only after Starz was like “sure, let’s go – right away, we’ll take ten of em (episodes),” and that’s when you spit the coffee out, and you think “whoa, we’ve actually got to pull this off now!” Shooting with Sam (Raimi) again was great, but then as soon as Sam was gone, we’ve got to shoot the show – have to get back to that TV pace and do this, and that’s when you realize what a chump you were to say yes to this deal. The last time I played Ash was 25 years ago, and I was wondering if I could still do this crap.
DC: That would lead me into my next question: between the course of the last film (Army Of Darkness) and the TV show, was there ever a pitch made to take the character in a completely different direction that you didn’t think was such a good idea?
BC: Well, there was a 4 minute conversation a while ago about having Ash vs. Jason vs. Freddy, but that went nowhere, because Ash wasn’t allowed to kill them, because otherwise why would he have been in it?
DC: So we have Season 2 all wrapped up, with a couple of loose ends – if you could tell us, which I’m sure you won’t…what can everyone expect to see out of Season 3?
BC: Jaw-dropping – the end of the season will be fairly mind-blowing, and we made sure of that. It’s a hell of a season – Ash not only has to save the world, but he’s back in his small town, and things start great (made a deal with Ruby at the end of Season 2) – so he’s saved his town, and now he’s going to cash in on it – he’s the hero. Things won’t all be well, because the mythology’s going to kick in now, which will give us all an idea of why Ash was chosen – this average idiot…this fool was written of in an ancient book. So Season 3 is where it all will come to a head – the ultimate mettle of the average man will be tested by these demonic forces, and if man fails, then evil will rule the earth – those are the stakes…OH!, and he may be a father.
DC: Over the course of your career, you’ve acted, directed, produced, written, and are also an accomplished author – if I was the guy to come forward and say “you can only do one for the remainder of your career, what would it be”?
BC: I’d be a writer – book writer. I have another one coming out August 15th (The Further Confessions Of A B-Movie Actor), because it’s a very pleasant world, and it’s not expensive to write a book. To make a movie can cost you anywhere from 200 thousand to 200 million, and it’s a very expensive vocation. I’ll say this to any writer out there who’s ever aspired to be a writer: you have absolutely no excuse because it doesn’t cost you anything to be a writer – maybe the cost of Microsoft Word, or if you write longhand, a couple of legal pads and some pencils. I mean come on, anyone that’s ever wanted to be a writer can be one, and now with all this self-publishing crap, just do it!
DC: Lastly, what’s up next for Mr. Bruce Campbell?
BC: A 35-city tour to promote the book, and I’ll be coming to your town, so bring out little Billy cause it’s time to shake hands and kiss babies…or is it kiss hands and shake babies? Gonna go out for a while, press some flesh and see what’s going on in the big, bad world.
Categorized:News
