Actor-director-writer-producer-author Bruce Campbell has had a weird and wonderful career. Fans know him best as Ash Williams in Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead franchise, a wisecracking, Deadite-killing character he's revisiting on the new Starz show Ash vs. Evil Dead. Campbell has also starred in cult films like Bubba Ho-Tep and Maniac Cop, made memorable cameos in films like Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, authored the best-selling book If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor, directed movies like My Name Is Bruce, and starred in TV shows like Xena: Warrior Princess and Burn Unit.
We caught up with Campbell as the first season of Ash vs. Evil Dead became available on DVD and Blu-ray (August 23) and VOD services like FandangoNOW. Our conversation was short—but "groovy"—as our favorite one-handed hero talked about stepping into Ash's shoes again, how much he's like the character in real life, and what his five favorite horror movies are.
Fandango: After Army of Darkness, fans have been bugging you for years to play Ash again. What made you finally cave and do it?
Bruce Campbell: Well, the pressure was overwhelming, but it was the opportunity. Starz wanted to expand from showing other people's movies to create original programming like channels such as AMC have done. Our producer-partner Rob Tapert did Spartacus with Starz, and that developed the relationship. Sam Raimi was starting to write Evil Dead 4, so Rob and I sat down with him. Sam makes movies that cost $100 million now. We thought if fans want their money's worth, we can spread the love around and do it as a show [instead]. If you make one movie and spend a lot of money and it bombs, that franchise is dead. It's as dead as the evil dead.
Fandango: Army of Darkness came out in 1992. Was it easy to get back into character after all these years?
Campbell: It's never easy. It wasn't easy last year; it's not easy this year. I've pulled another hamstring this year. The old geezer is giving it all he's got! It's not a full tank anymore. Thankfully—I will always mention him, because actors never do—Raicho Vasilev from Bulgaria is my stunt guy.
Fandango: One of the best scenes in season one was when you had to battle your evil twin that grew out of your severed hand. Is Ash your kind of hero?
Campbell: I've actually enjoyed stepping back into Ash's shoes—the character, the attitude, the flaws, the failures, the juvenile s**t that he does—and yet he saves the day. It's a hero that I want to play. In Burn Notice, I was kind of this washed-up ex-Navy SEAL, but I still have to have something in the hero that is not the guy saluting all the time.
"The old geezer is giving it all he's got! It's not a full tank anymore."
Fandango: How are you like Ash and how are you not like him in real life?
Campbell: Well, we have weird similarities. I don't know if I’m as high on the courage meter—I haven't been attacked that much. I live in Oregon. If a grizzly bear came after me, what would I do? I don't know. I'd probably s**t myself. Here's what it is: Ash is me on my best day and my worst day.
Fandango: You worked with Lucy Lawless before on Xena: Warrior Princess. Was it your idea to bring her on board for Ash vs. Evil Dead?
Campbell: I demanded it. But it wasn't like it's a stretch—Rob Tapert eats across the dining room table from her every night. So I said, Rob, would you please pass the potatoes and ask her. I wanted to do dining room casting. Lucy was working on the show Salem, and we had to wait until she was available. But as soon as she was… it's Lucy Lawless! Come on!
Fandango: You're a published author and writer. Do you write for the show or contribute script ideas?
Campbell: We do have a room full of talented writers, and the only thing I told them is, "If you bring it, bring every word as it's written. And if you don't, don't be surprised about what you see in the dailies." I am the last filter—the last stop—for the things that come out of Ash's mouth. So I've had influence, but it's really just feeling the instinct of what Ash is saying at that time and not feeling reined in about certain types of behavior. At the beginning of a TV series, the actor talks like the writers write. At the end of the series, the writers write like the actor talks. So everything syncs up eventually.
Fandango: At the end of season one, Ash made a dubious deal with Lucy Lawless' character and his team was heading off to Florida. What's the setup for season two?
Campbell: Well, season two starts perfectly, as it should. Ash is happy as a clam and drinking beer, shacking up with chicks at a beach in his crappy trailer. Life is good! Kelly is working at the crappy shack that he's set up. He's basically retired. But then, of course, the deal that he made at the end of season one comes back to haunt him, as things tend to do, and his world is ripped apart irrevocably. So in season two, Ash has to go back home. He has to go back and confront the town that he's basically a pariah in. He's like a serial killer in that town. So he has to go back and confront that… and save the world.
Fandango: You started the Bruce Campbell Horror Film Festival in 2014. What are your five favorite horror movies that you didn't star in?
Campbell: I like The Exorcist—the original one. Also The Tenant, by [Roman] Polanski, is very creepy psychological horror. I also like the original The Thing, and this is the invasion movie from the '50s. Another black-and-white movie I enjoy is The Haunting. At number five, I would actually put the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre—it scared the s**t out of me at the drive-in.
Fandango: We could talk to you forever, Bruce, but we're out of time!
Campbell: Yes, they're very strict here. They're… evil.
Watch season one of Ash vs. Evil Dead right now on FandangoNOW.
All photos c. Starz
