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Bruce Campbell is known best as Ashley 'Ash' J. Williams, the antihero in EVIL DEAD and its two sequels, but Campbell's long , entertaining and varied career includes everything from playing the lead in the 1993 TV series THE ADVENTURES OF BRISCO COUNTY JR. to directing television and film projects. His most current project MY NAME IS BRUCE, directed, produced and starring Campbell, is about what happens when a group of hapless teens mistake Bruce for his character Ash and take him from the comforts of his trailer and cheap whiskey to do battle with an evil monster by the name of Guan-di.
Bruce is currently on a promo-tour for the film but was kind enough to talk me about MY NAME IS BRUCE, EVIL DEAD, tattoos and mad dogs in Bulgaria.
The Fan Girl Next Door: Hey Bruce
Bruce Campbell: Hello, how the heck are you?
Fan Girl Next Door: I'm doing fine, How about you, probably tired, huh?
Bruce Campbell: No, not too bad, not too bad, touring is like speedballing. Heroin and cocaine at the same time. You're thrashed all around. No, it's fine, because I'm here of my own free will, you know?
Fan Girl Next Door: I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me, I know your schedule is kind of tight right now.
Bruce Campbell: No worries.
Fan Girl Next Door: How did the idea for MY NAME IS BRUCE come about? Did you have a fan come up to you and think you could actually help them with demon issues?
Bruce Campbell: Nothing so specific. Mark Verheiden who is a writer friend of Mike Richardson, who owns Dark Horse Comics, those guys are old pals. So, mark who worked with Mike on TIMECOP and THE MASK. Mark is one of the key writers from BABYLON 5, no wait, sorry, What's the latest...come on. Help me with it, the sci-fi show.
Fan Girl Next Door: Um, STARGATE?
Bruce Campbell: No.
Fan Girl Next Door: Ah, see I'm the FAN girl next door so this is embarrassing.
Bruce Campbell: Come on, what was the show that was big in the 70's?
Fan Girl Next Door: Um.... (I am dying at this point)
Bruce Campbell: Oh! BATTLESTAR GALACTICA!
Fan Girl Next Door: I was going to say DOCTOR WHO, oh GOD!
Bruce Campbell: (Laughs a bit) Close
Fan Girl Next Door: (Laughs)
Bruce Campbell: Anyway, Mark Verheiden is a big comic book fan and he read a comic book that was from the 40's where people kidnapped Alan Ladd, the actor, to help fight pirates, because he was in a movie a couple of times as a swashbuckler. So, we decided to do an updated, twisted version of that. They pitched me the basic concept which I thought was, you know, look, this is not meant to be a defining moment, this movie. It was a concept for a silly comedy. So I went, "Yeah, let's do it!". You know because the theory here is that it was not played like B-movie actor Dash Riprock instead of Bruce Campbell. It adds a more confusing element. People seem to think this becomes an ode to myself when really it's an ode to Bob Hope, with decapitations.
So, we developed this story and this tone, the approach together. Then , Mark went at it and then as director I then made it my own version.
Fan Girl Next Door: Do you prefer directing when you are acting in the project?
Bruce Campbell: It all depends. Like television directing, I cut my teeth on that in HERCULES and ZENA.
Fan Girl Next Door: You did VIP [Pam Anderson series] too, didn't you?
Bruce Campbell: Yeah, I even did a couple of VIP episodes. If you don't learn how to do stuff then, then you'll never learn. Television is its own beast. So, you really get in someone else's conveyor belt. So, that isn't as compelling to me to direct, you're kind of directing traffic that someone else has created. Whereas with a singular feature you can kind of start from scratch, make it your own little thing and on the low budget end MY NAME IS BRUCE was made for hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars. At that budget rate I'm like,"Hey, I'm as experienced as anybody on the set so, I'm just going to direct it". Also, it boils down to creative control, of just being able to go, "Let me have as few chefs as possible in this whole creative process".
Fan Girl Next Door: The promotional tour hasn't being going on for long but have you had any interesting experiences that you could share?
Bruce Campbell: I've been doing a lot of tattoo updates where someone will have an Ash tattoo on their arm and they'll want me to finish it off with a signature. In Austin alone I did 8 of those where people will come up and go, "Come on man, add it [The signature] to your face". You know, no one has RISKY BUSINESS tattooed on their butt. So, I'm fine with it.
Fan Girl Next Door: Where is the strangest place you have seen a tattoo?
Bruce Campbell: Before it is shown I usually stop them, when they offer to show me. Lots of boob signings, not on this tour though. I've had no boobs on this tour.
Fan Girl Next Door: Well, that will change when I come to the December 12th stop in Seattle.
Bruce Campbell: (Laughs) Yeah, because it's SUCH a chick flick.
Fan Girl Next Door: Yeah, it just talks to the babes
Bruce Campbell: Ah, Yeah
Fan Girl Next Door: I know that it must be flattering when someone gets excited, points to you and says ,"Ash!", But do you sometimes say to yourself, "Oh this just isn't going to go well"?
Bruce Campbell: Hey, that's what the whole movie is about. That was the whole point of making it, to remind people that you never hire an actor to do anything, not to paint your deck, nothing. They don't do anything other than act. They seem like they do all these cool things, they shoot guns and they get chicks and look cool but then they get in their crappy little cars and go back home to their miserable lives. That's the metaphor under our movie, it's a silly comedy but underneath there's very heavy sociological content.
Fan Girl next Door: Yeah
Bruce Campbell: Very deep
Fan Girl Next Door: (Laughs) It will be released in February on DVD?
Bruce Campbell: This film wasn't released, it escaped. Yes, February for the DVD. What we are doing is the big national tour, the dog and pony show. You rouse the troups and let them know there is actually a movie because it took a couple of years to put this movie together. I think people thought, 'Oh another Campbell movie that disappeared', so we're here to remind them that no, it did actually get done.
Fan Girl Next Door: Can we look forward to commentary and special features?
Bruce Campbell: You'll have the making of, the MOTHER of all making ofs. You will not want to know that much about making a movie EVER AGAIN.
Fan Girl Next Door: (Laughs)
Bruce Campbell: It's an hour long, my buddy Mike Serio who is an independent filmmaker, he did the whole nine yards and they went crazy with it. There's stupid non sequiturs and random interviews, behind the scenes bloopers. Hopefully relatively entertaining, yeah and there's big audio commentary. I know now, you get to make an hour and a half movie and then 17 hours of extras. So yeah, I get it, I understand the obligation.
Fan Girl Next Door: The film's performance has been great, Is it true there are talks of a sequel?
Bruce Campbell: You know that is all kind of pillow talk as they say. Well, the money actually does exist for it. But we thought it would kind of be disingenuous to the fans to immediately start a sequel if this movie is a bomb.
So yeah, I say let's give it like an hour more.
Fan Girl Next Door: Yeah I know, things seem to need to happen very quickly.
Bruce Campbell: That's the horrible disease, everyone twitches and says, "OH, more than one person saw the movie, let's start making a sequel!". But we have the name, we're ready. Yeah.
Fan Girl Next Door: Have you ever wanted to go completely against type and do an indie tearjerker about an alcoholic dad who is battling cancer and trying to take care of his 4 kids?
Bruce Campbell: No, but that's what this movie is, this movie is completely against type.
Here's here's the thing. Here's what I have found over time. People only watch what they want to watch. They're not going to search out the Bruce Campbell OEUVRE because I've made a French film and I don't think they were dying to see me in LA PATINOIRE [AKA THE ICE RINK]. I did a completely serious two- parter on HOMICIDE. Not a wink, not a "Hey babe". No ass grabbing, nothin'. Also, I did my demon with a heart of gold on X-FILES. So, it's out there but people go, "No, No, no, we want more chainsaw movies, where are those?" So, that's what happens. I'm actually more stereotyped outside the industry than within the industry. You know I just did a voice for CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS, it's a pretty well known kids book from the 70's that they are making into an animated movie now. So I either do unrated or Disney. Not much of a middle ground there.
Fan Girl Next Door: People hear weird stories all the time like how Sylvester Stallone was supposed to have played Eddie Murphy's role in BEVERLY HILLS COP.....
Bruce Campbell: (Laughs) Wait, (Does a serious voice) What Luke Skywalker role did you turn down?
Fan Girl Next Door: (Laughs) Well, IS there a role that you have turned down that would surprise your fans?
Bruce Campbell: No, it's really mostly insignificant stuff. I turned down a great film role in MEN IN BLACK, which became a big movie, in order to do a TV-movie called TORNADO which was a piece of shit.
Fan Girl next Door: (Laughs) Hey, good choice!
Bruce Campbell: Well, at the time it was with my old network of FOX, Brisco [TV series Brisco County Jr.] had just been cancelled. That [TORNADO] came up and I already had been cast in this MEN IN BLACK movie as an exterminator who winds up getting killed by Vincent D'Onofrio. At the time it made perfect sense because it [TORNADO] wound up getting really good ratings for FOX, even though it was not that good. But for me it was my own little personal redemption story with FOX but, no, I don't really regret anything because you know on paper if I thought the script was lousy...I've never seen a good movie out of a lousy script. It's the blue print, you know? You can hire all of the great builders but if the scene is leaning to the right, it's always going to lean to the right.
Fan Girl Next Door: About the EVIL DEAD, I guess we'll call it, retelling....
Bruce Campbell: The saga. Here's the whole remake/sequel story, it's pretty straight-forward. Every 8 years Sam [Raimi] makes a bold statement like, "I'm gonna start working on that picture tomorrow!". Here's the reality, Sam and I have never sat in a room together, looked at each other and said, "Man, we have GOT to make another one of those movies immediately". So, that's probably why it has never materialized. Sam has like 19 children now and he's doing like MASSIVE Hollywood movies now. So, I think the theory is that we can ALWAYS do one of those even when he is like 70 and he's going, "Action!" and I'm saying (Does an old man's voice), "WHAT?! What did you say!?".
Fan Girl Next Door: My hip, my hip, I broke my hip!
Bruce Campbell: (Chuckles) Exactly, yeah so that's possible and the remake thing is equally as non-compelling. The only way it would SORT of get my interest is if you got 5 absolutely no-name actors and went back to a 16mm hand held movie with basic special effects. Go gritty or go home. People tend to go, "Let's spend a billion dollars on the sequel!" and you go, "HUH?". Next thing you know you have BLAIR WITCH 2 which was like 47 million dollars compared to BLAIR WITCH which was like a $1.67. So, it doesn't work out, you've gotta find some balance.
So, I think that movie [An EVIL DEAD sequel] would get done if we were like sitting in a log cabin going, "Damn, I wish I had something to do right now". You know? Because I'm doing BURN NOTICE for USA, I have a 5-year commitment to them and it's the number one show on cable so they're not going to cancel it. I'm going to be sweating in Miami for 7 more years. I'll be there when it's geezer time.
Fan Girl Next Door: Speaking of the EVIL DEAD films, Do you ever wonder what kind of sales YOU could have made on QVC? [QVC Shopping Channel host Rick Domeier played Ed Getley in EVIL DEAD 2]
Bruce Campbell: Eh, I don't really want to play the direct merchandising game. I'm not quite there yet. I'm going to kind of walk away when it's time for that.
Fan Girl Next Door: (Laughing and trying to be charming because I know I have asked a stupid question) Ahhh, that was a bad question to end with, wasn't it?
Bruce Campbell: Is THAT your last question? (I'm sensing he can feel my pain)
Fan Girl Next Door: Yeah, I was told I only had a certain amount of time
Bruce Campbell: Well, I'm good until 2:00 so, you have a grace period
Fan Girl Next Door: Wow, Well I don't know what else to ask you.
Bruce Campbell: (Sounding amused) Well that's alright, you can end it.
Fan Girl Next Door: Are you kidding me? No. (Mr. Campbell had given me a life preserver so, I took it and shut up)
Bruce Campbell: I'm touring, I'm going to 21 cities, I'm taking the show on the road. You know these days in this weird, competitive arena I'm just happy to get a movie out because there's a lot going on. We show mostly in these cool Landmark theater chains where they show foreign films and stupid Bruce Campbell movies. It's a great deal. We're doing that until December and then season 3 of BURN NOTICE, next March, we're working.
Fan Girl Next Door: Pretty steady gig. That's a good show actually.
Bruce Campbell: It is because of what it ISN'T. It's not a cop show because we don't obey the law, it's not a lawyer show because we don't obey the law and it's not a doctor show because we don't mind killing a few people.
Because here's what I love, somebody gets their identity stolen and they get their $100,000 stolen. The cops will come in and go, "Oh, there's not much we can do". They MIGHT catch the person but they'll never get the $100,000 back but WE will go "Alright, we're going to catch you. Oh, and your giving us the money back, every penny and probably a little more. Oh, and you might die if you're not careful". (Laughs) You don't piss off spies, that's the bottom line. You don't EVER piss off spies.
Fan Girl Next Door: You'll get the briefcase with the money back but it may still have the guy's arm attached to it.
Bruce Campbell: Yeah! (Chuckles) and we have been known to divvy up the loot at times. But it's all for the greater good, it's all for the little guy. What I love about it is that we are going to huge extremes and I think that's what makes the show work. Look, spies are spies, you don't always want them to be cool and tough like, they freak out when they have to go to therapy with their mother, I LOVE that. Jeffery Donovan [plays Michael Westen on BURN NOTICE] really summed it up to a director one time when we were doing an action scene. The director goes, "Yeah, Jeffery, I think we need to look more like 'wow, we are crazy' in this situation because you might not make it out of it", and Jeffery goes, "No, No, No this is my job, this is what I do, we're good at this, we're cool at this but when you have me in therapy THEN I'm going to be scared". You know what I mean? It's really good, he [Jeffery Donovan] really knows his show and he's a great co-star.
Fan Girl Next Door: You touched briefly on this before but, Are you able to truly predict failure or success when working on a project?
Bruce Campbell: No, No, it's the opposite. Whatever you think is going to be exactly the opposite.
Fan Girl Next Door: Have you ever been on a set and thought, "Oh god, this is going to be horrible"?.
Bruce Campbell: (A bit of a pause) Mmmmmm.
Fan Girl Next Door: Although I don't know what you have done that you would have thought that way about.
Bruce Campbell: (Chuckles) Yeah, yeah, I've made a couple of movies in Bulgaria that I would like to take completely off the radar.
Fan Girl Next Door: They actually make movies in Bulgaria?
Bruce Campbell: (Amused) I made TWO movies there, Sci-Fi channel came to me and said, "Hey Bruce, do you want to make a couple of movies?"
I've gotta tell you, I've never experienced anything like it in my LIFE let alone making a movie. The first hour you are there your jaw is FLAT and you're drooling on your shirt because you can't believe what you're seeing there. Their emerging from communism, they were a pawn under Russia's thumb for 40 years and they broke free in the late 80's,'89,'90 and so you would see 18 unfinished buildings from that period where they walked away from every construction project that was going on in '89, froze in time. So now you had trees growing up through buildings next to a brand new building. So back when I was there it was crazy, it was communism falling and capitalism rising.
You would see packs of wild dogs and I would carry a bag of dry dog food wherever I went. I would whistle as loud as I could and dogs would come out from these bombed out buildings and come over and I would shake out a big pile of dog food, they would take your fingers off. They would kind of look at you like, 'OK, we'll let you go now'. I had to make peace with the dogs and you know making a movie is hard enough without that. So, while we were there but not at the same time we were filming, two mafia guys came into a restaurant dressed as priests , pulled out machine guns, blew a guy away, turned around (Makes the sound of a gun cocking) and walked out.
Fan Girl Next Door: Jesus
Bruce Campbell: Yeah, I mean this was the wild, wild west. We had mafia guys, mafia bodyguards passing us on either side of roads you probably only wanted to go 30 or 40 miles an hour on, they were going about 70. Now, nothing against Bulgaria, some countries are in a really weird place. The cops they would just flag you down, they would have sticks with a little symbol on it and they would point to your car, you would have to stop. They would think of something, some infraction that you did, something. Whether you were smoking a cigarette or your window was down, your car was unlocked, whatever. On the cell phone. They would ask you to pull around the corner, you'd work out a deal and then you'd move on. Because they werent'paid enough and this is all misinterpreted, unfortunately, as a slam against Bulgaria. It ISN'T.
On the other hand you saw businesses starting, people going out to eat, I mean these guys were never allowed to have public restaurants so there were a million restaurants on every corner and that part of it was just fabulous, amazing food and people but, Was a great place to make a movie? Mmmmm, not yet, not yet.
Fan Girl Next Door: Yeah, dry dog food doesn't work with the cops and the gangsters.
Bruce Campbell: (Laughs) Yeah. You know I had a dry erase board in my office and NONE of the department heads spoke English, all of the younger assistants did. So you had to translate, you would draw. Like When I had a meeting with the props department, I would just draw it. It's a pipe, this is what the pipe is shaped like. This is a Vespa, Do you know what a Vespa is? I would look things up on the internet and show them the picture, Vespa, this is a Vespa. I mean seriously.
Fan Girl Next Door: It's like that old game show WIN, LOSE OR DRAW.
Bruce Campbell: (Laughs) Well then, of course, like an idiot I sold my soul to the devil because I go, "Guys, this movie is supposed to be shot 98% at night. This is a FILM NOIR" and they go, "Oh my god we can't shoot at night, we don't have the lighting for this. Where would the lights come from?". I said that wherever any lights come from for making a movie, you rent them and you shoot it. They said, "Oh no, we don't have any lights". So, I said,"OK, so this film noir is going to take lace COMPLETELY in the day, is that what you're trying to tell me here?". I said, [Putting them in a corner] "Alright, I'll trade ya, I can MAKE you shoot at night. Just give me a steadi-cam and an extra day a week to shoot it and I'll shoot it ALL during the day". So, it's like horsetrading.
Fan Girl Next Door: Or you can do what they did on THE LONE RANGER and make it LOOK like it's at night.
Bruce Campbell: (Laughs) Oh yeah, sure, exactly. Put a filter on it and you're ready to go.
Fan Girl Next Door: Well, that's why you do what you do and I'm sitting here.
Bruce Campbell: Exactly. (Laughs) I don't know how I got on this tangent but I don't think I need to do anymore of those [Films in Bulgaria].
Fan Girl Next Door: I wanted to ask about BUBBA HO TEP, You turned it down in order to keep your friendship with Don Coscarelli, correct?
Bruce Campbell: I did, yes. Movies aren't important enough to jeopardize that and it was a case where his favorite stuff was my least favorite. So, you kind of have to go, "Well, let's let this one go". But they're going to make it with Ron Perlman as Elvis Presley and Paul Giamatti as Colonel Tom so, what the heck. It's OK for franchises to have different actors, BATMAN is a good example of that. They have 14 BATMAN movies and 13 different Batmans. It's ridiculous.
Fan Girl Next Door: Well, speaking of that, I was reading on a massage board where Jim Carrey's name was thrown around to play Ash if there should ever be another EVIL DEAD.
Bruce Campbell: (Chuckles) Whatever.
Fan Girl Next Door: (Laughs) Are you insulted by that? He is so out there with his comedic performances and your performance, while tongue-in-cheek, was more controlled and wisely so.
Bruce Campbell: No, believe me, I have been accused of COMPLETE over-the-top ham acting.
Fan Girl Next Door: But there is completely goofy and then there is controlled goofy which, in my opinion, works better.
Bruce Campbell: I know, but to me it's all make believe. If a director tells me that he doesn't want ACTING then I won't give him ACTING. If the material is big then you can be big. If the material is not, then don't. You don't need to do one performance in everything you do. You scale it to whatever you need. With a movie called THE WOODS, that has been floating around for a couple of years, the director wanted an obtuse performance and that's what he got. You know, I think with every actor, you just have to match what you do. The same with the director. Sam Raimi is pretty adept. You look at A SIMPLE PLAN and you would never know that was his. He went ,"OK, This is a simple plan gone wrong and I'm going to shoot this simply. These people have simple lives". That's smart because if a guy like Michael Bay had directed that he would have 700 dolly shots, wide shots, close ups...
Fan Girl Next Door: Ben Affleck would be in there somewhere.
Bruce Campbell: Yeah, Ben Affleck running around. So, those are just differences in approach. Actors need to be in collusion, actors also need to be in the same movie! Watch the movie THE BEACH with Leonardo DiCaprio, there are great shots in it where they are going through the jungle and he's in a movie that's difficult and he looks hot and sweaty and the actress behind him is in a completely different movie.
Bruce Campbell: (Getting a call) OK, hold on, I may have to bail. Hold on a second, Alright?
Fan Girl Next Door: No problem
Bruce Campbell: Alright, that's it!
Fan Girl Next Door: OK, again, thank you so much for taking time out to talk to me. I really appreciate it.
Bruce Campbell: Thank YOU for your time. Have a good afternoon.
Dates for The MY NAME IS BRUCE Promo-Tour can be found here
www.bruce-campbell.com/pilot.asp?pg=mnib
BURN NOTICE can be seen on the USA Network
www.usanetwork.com/series/burnnotice/
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