Hey folks, Harry here with the latest super interview from Quint, our arrrrsome swabber of decks and chunker of chum. Though this time... well this time he has a visitation with a geek god... a man upon a throne of cool... the man that the world simply does not understand is their leader... Yes, I am of course speaking of BRUCE CAMPBELL, now bow your heads puppies and read the gospel according to St Campbell...
Ahoy squirts. The totally groovy and crusty seaman, Quint, here with yet another round table celebrity scar sharin’, this time with the coolest of the cool, the grooviest of the groovy, the man with the boomstick and the best damn B Actor of our time, Bruce Campbell. This interview was done in person up in Dallas where Bruce was wrapping up his shooting on Servicing Sara. You know what day? It was perfect... This interview was conducted on ASH WEDNESDAY... That was a good omen.
I was there along with My Fair Spanish Maiden, Tom Joad, El Cosmico, Annette Kellerman and Mouth. Cos, Joad and Mouth were manning DV cams of various sizes for possible inclusion into the mysterious AICN TV Show. This is my first interview with a crew present... I had "decorations" because of the cameras. I mention this only because the Evil Dead poster, Evil Dead 2 script and McFarlane’s Ash toy come into play during the interview. Check it out, you primitive screwheads and enjoy.
QUINT: FIRST, YOU HAVE A LOT ON YOUR PLATE AT THE MOMENT. I WOULD GUESS IT’S BECAUSE OF THE IMPENDING STRIKE.
BRUCE CAMPBELL: Yeah, the whole strike thing has gotten everyone freaking out. They’re making everything they possibly can in about three months, so even if there is no strike, there’s going to be no work anywhere because they’ve already spent their little budget. So, I don’t know what’s going on. It’s been crazy for me. I’m sort of doing four films back to back. I don’t know if that’s because of the strike or whatever. I have no idea.
Q: ONE OF THE MOVIES YOU’RE DOING IS SERVICING SARA, WHICH I HEAR YOU FINISHED UP YESTERDAY.
BC: Uh, I thought I finished it yesterday. Apparently Mr. Perry needs a little extra time, so ah... we’re just going to wait and see. That’s the official line. Let’s see... now what am I supposed to say? I don’t know anything.
Q: OK, I’LL NOTE THAT.
BC: How’s that? I don’t know anything about the Matthew Perry situation.
Q: WHAT’S THE MOVIE ABOUT?
BC: I play this guy named Gordon Moore, I’m married to Elizabeth Hurley, briefly. For some reason I exchange her for a new, cute model and the divorce proceedings start. The trick is I want to serve her for divorce in Texas because I own all the judges. He’s a good ol’ boy. She wants to serve me in New York City where she’ll have a fighting chance. So Matthew Perry is her process servicer. So, they try to serve me before I try to serve her. It’s a whacky mayhem ensues thing.
Q: YOU’RE GOING ON TO BUBBA HO-TEP NEXT, RIGHT?
BC: Yeah. Bubba Ho-Tep, which I don’t even know how to describe, that movie.
Q: WELL, I DO KNOW YOU’RE PLAYING A 70 YEAR OLD ELVIS, OR AN ELVIS IMPERSONATOR...
BC: Yeah... no, no. It’s the real Elvis. It’s the real Elvis that swaps... you don’t have your facts right. See, years ago he swaps with an Elvis impersonator because Elvis was tired of the fast life, so what he wanted to do was just play those little gigs again like he use to. So, he made a deal, signed a contract with an Elvis impersonator... a really good one... not one of the crappy Elvis impersonators. That’s the guy who died.
So, Elvis is now living in a rest home, he’s old, he’s semi-cancerous, all his good days are before him and he meets a guy who thinks he’s JFK, played by Ossie Davis. The guy who thinks he’s JFK is convinced that the mummy Bubba Ho-Tep is sneaking into the rest home at night and sucking the souls out of the old people because they’re easy prey. So, Elvis and Jack Kennedy team up and defeat... it turns out it’s real. It’s true, so they team up to defeat Bubba Ho-Tep. It’s a very strange script.
Q: THAT’S SOUNDS REALLY COOL.
BC: The KNB FX guys are doing the Elvis. We’re doing prosthetics for everything. It’s not going to be me playing Elvis, it’s hopefully just gonna be Elvis. You’ll never see me without make-up on, without some form of prosthetic.
Q: OF COURSE. THAT’S HOW THE MOVIE WILL WORK THE BEST.
BC: I think so.
Q: COOL. I’M FRIENDS WITH DON (COSCARELLI, THE DIRECTOR) AND IT LOOKS LIKE I’LL BE OUT ON SET AND GET TO STALK YA’ FOR A WEEK.
BC: Good. Lovely.
Q: SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO, ANYWAY. HAS DON HAD ANY LUCK RAISING MONEY FOR PHANTASM 5?
BC: Not that I’m aware of.
Q: IF HE DOES, ARE YOU STILL GOING TO BE INVOLVED?
BC: Yeah, if he does, if he gets his act together... you know, it’s a fun script and seems like it makes perfect sense. But, that whole rumor stuff... Unless something is real, it’ s just hard to talk about it. It’s hard to talk about all the what ifs. You know, Evil Dead 4, Phantasm 58... you know, when it happens it happens.
Q: WELL, SOMETHING THAT YOU ARE DOING, THAT WE DON’T HAVE TO SPECULATE ABOUT, IS YOUR BOOK.
BC: That’s right, the Book! The Book (and he holds up the script to Evil Dead 2) Although this isn’t a book, this is the cheesy script to Evil Dead 2. (He flips through and reads) "Ahhh!" "Nooooo" "Workshed..." Yeah, OK. (Points at a page) Lot of omitted scenes there for budget purposes.
Yeah, I have a book coming out in June and I think it’s LA Weekly Books, a division of St. Martin’s Press. So, I can’t say enough about that. I’m doing a book tour. June, July, August will be the tour. I’m hoping on my website we’ll set up some sort of schedule so people will know when I’m going to be where. We’ll be making all the convention rounds. What I’m going to do is actually increase the convention appearances and sort of connect those up with the book, with the book tour, a book signing.
Q: THAT’S A REALLY GOOD IDEA.
BC: Now look at it this way. If you’re a fan... I’m gonna sell ya’ for a little bit. I don’t know how much the book is... I’m sure it’s $19 or $20... whatever. Each photo you buy there at the convention is $10. Maybe I’ll sign it, maybe I won’t. Depends on the line. But if you buy the book, I’m telling both of these cameras now and this camera over here... all three cameras. If you buy the book, I will sign it regardless of how long it takes to wait in line.
In the book, now, there literally are hundreds of photographs, some of which you’ve seen before, but many, many, many which you’ve never seen before. So, for twenty stinkin’ bucks, man. What could possibly go wrong?
Q: WHAT A BARGAIN!
BC: Yeah, even if it sucks, you got lots of photographs.
Q: EXACTLY AND IF YOU CAN’T READ YOU’RE COVERED, TOO.
BC: And if you can’t read, just flip to the pictures. Absolutely. You can watch me age. Just start at the beginning and go to the end.
Q: SO, TELL US ABOUT THE BOOK. WHAT GOT YOU STARTED ON IT?
BC: I have a bunch of sort of rants and stories on my website, not many, but then a book agent, a literary agent contacted me and said, "Hey, why don’t you write a book?" I’m like, yeah... OK... whatever. He said, "No, really. You should write a book." I thought, "OK, well what do we have to do." He said, "Well, let’s come up with an outline... like a Cliffnotes version of the book," like it’s already written and we shopped that around to publishers and apparently that interested them enough to get one or two on the hook, then one of them finally said, "Well, what about a chapter? Could you just do a full chapter so we can see what it’s like, to see if it can sustain itself."
So, I did that and finally made a deal with St. Martin’s Press. That’s how it came about. And that was about four years ago. So, this is like giving birth, this stupid book. I can’t wait. I can’t wait to get it out there finally ‘cause it’s just done. Every time I’ve had any spare time, it’s always been working on the book and I’ve been working a fair amount, so there hasn’t been much time to really do anything.
Q: WHAT’S GONNA BE INVOLVED IN THE BOOK?
BC: You tell me what you want to hear and I’ll tell you if it’s true or not. What do you want to hear about as a pseudo fan and I’ll tell you if it’s in there.
Q: AS A PSEUDO FAN? WELL, DEEP DOWN INSIDE I’D LIKE TO KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING ABOUT THE MANIAC COP SERIES...
BC: The Maniac Cop series? Sure, it’s in there. There’s a mention of it. I’ve mentioned just about everything I’ve worked on in one form or another. It’s all kinds of stuff. It’s a little bit... Obviously it’s all the historical stuff. You know, my ridiculous childhood which led to becoming an actor and the process of becoming an actor.
That’s more what it is. From the suburbs of Detroit to being in movies. Then, just following the flow of it all, it’s a little bit of a fly on the wall because I’ve been around Hollywood and in it. I haven’t been in the A Leagues, just sort of the B Leagues, but it’s enough to sort of look at how the industry works. There’s behind the scenes, lots of the behind the scenes stories. It’s very anecdotal. I don’t know. Hopefully there’s a little something for everybody. There’s even a chapter about fans in there!
Q: WELL, YOU GOT A DOCUMENTARY YOU DID ABOUT FANS...
BC: That’s right! Fanalysis. I don’t know if the documentary is going to be included in the book or not. I’m trying to see if I can get a DVD included in the book. So, then it’d be an even better deal. Buy the book, get a DVD... but I don’t know yet. I can’t say that. I don’t want your legion on fans saying, (high-pitched, nerdy voice) "You lied to me, I want my money back!"
Q: ALSO ON YOUR PLATE IS A CAMEO YOU DID ON SPIDER-MAN.
BC: Yep!
Q: FROM WHAT I’VE HEARD, YOU ARE ACTUALLY THE PERSON TO GIVE SPIDER-MAN HIS NAME.
BC: I give him his name. I’m the ring announcer in this big WWF kind of event where Spider-Man has his first little fight. I ask him, "Well, what’s your name, kid?" And he goes, "The Human Spider." It’s like, "Naw, you gotta do better than that." Then I announced him, "The Amazing Spider-Man," so that was fun. It was fun to work with Sam (Raimi) again and just fool around on a big budget movie for a couple of days.
Q: WELL, SINCE YOU HAVE A CAMEO, DOES THAT MEAN WE’RE GOING TO SEE "THE CLASSIC" IN SPIDER-MAN, TOO?
BC: The cars were on the lot. I have whole section of Sam’s Classic in my book. It’s called "You Will Never Kill My Classic" and it’s a history of Sam’s car. I’ve got all kinds of great photos of it, intimate photos of how that car came to be.
So, I don’t know. I think it might be because Sam puts it in every one of his movies. Like, literally every one of his movies.
Q: VERY COOL. I GUESS WE NOW GO ONTO...
BC: Then there was this movie, The Majestic, that I just finished. It use to be called The Bijou, now it’s called The Majestic.
Q: YEAH, YOU GET TO PLAY A SWASHBUCKLER IN THAT.
BC: Yes, I’m in a movie within the movie. Jim Carrey plays a blacklisted writer and that’s one of the movies that he wrote. I’m the actor in that movie, so I have no scenes with Mr. Carrey.
Q: YEAH, BUT YOU GET TO BE A SWASHBUCKLER IN A ‘50s ADVENTURE FILM!
BC: Yes. It was fun, it was fun. It was all black and white, so it should look pretty neat.
Q: THE LAST TIME YOU DID A BLACK AND WHITE MOVIE WAS RUNNING TIME, RIGHT?
BC: Correct. They don’t do much black and white now. It’s too old fashioned for you punk kids. It’s not colorful enough! It’s not handheld enough. There are no jump cuts, so I hope you guys will be OK when you watch it. Hope you’ll be able to follow it.
Q: WE’LL DO OUR BEST. I HEAR THAT EVERYBODY’S FAVORITE GOLDEN IDOL MAKES A CAMEO IN THE MAJESTIC. DID YOU GET TO PLAY AROUND WITH THAT?
BC: What does that mean?
Q: THE RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK IDOL?
BC: I didn’t see it, no.
Q: REALLY? MORIARTY, WHO I GUESS YOU TALKED TO A BIT WHEN HE VISITED, SAYS THE GOLDEN IDOL WAS WORSHIPPED HOURLY ON SET. HE SAID DARABONT WAS ABLE TO GET IT FROM SPIELBERG...
BC: Maybe he gets hit. Actually, I think Cliff Curtis, who plays the evil Khalid, I think he hits the professor on the back of the head with it. I didn’t recognize it being from that.
Q: YEAH, THAT’S THE ONE.
BC: Wow. There you go. That’s a little trivia for you... For you internet freaks!
Q: YEAH, THAT’S BASICALLY THE AUDIENCE YOU’RE PLAYING TO DURING THIS INTERVIEW... BUT THE IDOL IS COOL AND ALL, BUT IT IS NO PAIR OF RUBBER PANTS.
BC: They’re what? That’s right, they’re no rubber pants.
Q: YOU’RE LIKE, "UH-OH. I KNOW WHAT’S COMING UP..."
BC: It’s a very obscure reference now. These people will have no idea what you’re talking about.
Q: WELL, THEY WILL AFTER THE NEXT QUESTION.
BC: OK.
Q: THAT WAS A REFERENCE TO A SUPER 8 FILM YOU DID WITH SAM RAIMI AND JOSH BECKER CALLED WADERS OF THE LOST PARK, WHICH, BY THE WAY, WAS SHOWN RECENTLY WITH RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK AT THE ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE IN AUSTIN.
BC: It was? It was shown with the real movie?! Really?
Q: YEAH, BEFORE THE MOVIE.
BC: As like a short before the movie? That’s hysterical! Good lord! What did you do, show it on video or something?
Q: YEAH, THEY HAD A VIDEO. OF COURSE IT WAS TERRIBLY BOOTLEGGED, BUT STILL...
BC: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Q: IT WAS STILL FUN TO WATCH NONETHELESS. YOU GOT A BIG APPLAUSE, BY THE WAY, WHEN YOU FIRST POPPED UP.
BC: You guys should let us know because I can always get better copies of that stuff. Of course, you’d steal it and bootleg it again... so maybe not.
Q: SO YOU GUYS DID A BUNCH OF SUPER 8 STUFF. IT MUST HAVE BEEN A BLAST DOING THAT KIND OF STUFF.
BC: Yeah, doing all those cheesy Super 8 movies. Now you say Super 8 and people go, "Oh, video?" No, Super 8 movies. Super 8 millimeter. Yeah, we didn’t really date. I never had girlfriends or anything like that. That’s what we did, that was our activity. Then we were just sort of dodging reality I think. By the end of high school we realized we had better do something for a living. So, that’s how that led into making the first film.
Q: EXACTLY. YOU USED "WITHIN THE WOODS" TO RAISE MONEY FOR THE FIRST EVIL DEAD MOVIE.
BC: There are awful bootlegs of that floating around where you can’t even see what’s going on. It’s like, just out of courtesy I want to put out a better bootleg version just so people can watch it.
Q: I HAVEN’T SEEN IT MYSELF, BUT I HEAR YOU PLAYED THE MONSTER.
BC: Yeah. I play the hapless boyfriend who becomes the bad guy. Where there was a woman being terrorized, much like the Jamie Lee Curtis type in Halloween, but when we went to do the first Evil Dead film, Sam thought, "Well, let’s put a guy in that situation. Let’s reduce a guy to a screaming coward." He thought you could make it much more horrible of that’s the case. So, not for me to judge.
Q: WAS IT TOUGH RAISING THE MONEY?
BC: Yeah, it was real hard. It was awful. It took four years to make the movie because we kept running out of money. Raising money is the hardest part. Making the movie is no big deal, not compared to raising the money, because you’ve got to put these legal documents together and meet with lawyers and CPAs and sit at meeting after meeting in rooms like this with board executives where you’re trying to pitch them on how much money they’re going to make. You can’t even guarantee that they’re gonna make money. There’s a little bit about that in the book, this whole fundraising stuff. I guess you’ll just have to read the book for that answer.
Q: THE LOCATION FOR EVIL DEAD, THE MAIN CABIN AND THE SURROUNDING WOODS COME ACROSS VERY SCARY ON-SCREEN. WERE YOU CREEPED OUT AT ALL DURING THE SHOOTING OF THE MOVIE?
BC: Well, you know, there’s a creepy story behind the cabin. Originally, in the ‘30s, there was a woman named, I think it’s Clara, who was a little girl. Over the course of one night I think both of her parents are killed and it was during a horrible storm. She wandered off... she was not killed, for whatever reason and was found wandering. Supposedly during bad storms she’ll just wander now, to this day.
So, in 1979, there had been a bad storm near the time where we were shooting and Clara was found wandering back in the woods behind the cabin, now a very old lady. So, the cabin itself had a pretty creepy history. By the time we found it, the cows had taken it over. There was no electricity. There was no running water. We had to get the cow manure off the floor and put power to it. Sorta redo it. Then it burned down. Some people squatted in the home. This was rural Tennessee, so we were in the land of squatters and sorta white trash. The cabin eventually burned down about a year later.
Then some kids found it, some INTERNET GEEKS found it! They did! I was at a film festival in Champagne Urbana, IL and some kid plunked a stone in front of me and I said, "What’s this?" He goes, "What do you think? Hehehhehehehe..." I go, "I don’t know. C’mon, give me a hint." He goes, "Ahahhhhahhehehehee." It was... Sam Raimi wanted the fireplace of the cabin to look like teeth, so my brother, Don, who was helping on the movie, just went, "Oh... OK," and just plastered in these craggy stones.
The guys had found... because the fireplace had survived the fire. Fire... Place... So, he brought one in, so the secret is out. Then another kid sent me a long email about how he tried to find the time capsule that we buried. We buried a time capsule that had a little note and, according to Sam, a visual code to the movie. It would decipher the whole movie if you found this code. It was a visual code. And there were some other artifacts. We put it in a cigar box and buried it.
But it was under the house, where the trapdoor was and where the supposed basement was, which was only four feet of steps going down. That’s where we buried it. So, it got dark and the kid had to go before he found it.
They’re going to have strange rituals down at that cabin. I just know it now. Weekend rituals, drinking binges and sacrificing children. I’m terrified.
Q: YEAH, I REMEMBER YOU GUYS MENTIONING THE TIME CAPSULE ON THE DVD. I WAS WONDERING IF SOME FAN HAD RUN OUT THERE AND TRIED TO FIND IT YET.
BC: Yeah, they did. Several people made it. They’ve been sorta sneaking into Morristown, TN and sniffing around. Someone’s going to get shot, too. It’s not the area where you go looking through people’s backyards.
We had guys up on the hills, watching us at night. I went down to the cabin one morning, I was taking grocery’s down. We had posted a look out because some power tools were stolen, which was classic because it was right next to a $20,000 Ariflex camera and they took the Skill Saw, ‘cause that’s all they need in rural Tennessee. (Hillbilly accent) "Shiet. I don’t need a camera! I need that saw..."
So, we posted a lookout at the house. After shooting each night, one of us would sleep out. If it was my turn, I’d just put a hat over my bloody hair and put a coat over my bloody shirt and just shiver by the fire all night. It was very glamorous, though.
But I saw a guy coming up the road that had shotgun shells across his chest and a huge shotgun and big beard. It’s like what do you do? What do you say to that guy? So, I just said, "Good morning." He went, "Mornin’." I guess he had been hunting back up in there. I figured he had killed Sam. It was Sam’s night that previous night. I thought I’d come in and just find blood all over the walls, but unfortunately he was fine... ah... I mean fortunately.
Q: STEPHEN KING GAVE YOU GUYS A VERY AWESOME QUOTE THAT MADE IT ON THE POSTER.
BC: Yes, "the most ferocious original horror film of the year." It helped a lot because it gave us legitimacy because it was just another horror film at that point. But he saw it at the Cannes film festival in France and sort of put his seal of approval on it. Then the critics just sort of just backed away and went, "Yeah! We like this movie, too! Yeah! It’s an instant classic!" But the film did get all kinds of reviews. It got good reviews and some really bad ones.
Q: WELL, I MEAN WITH A MOVIE LIKE THAT YOU’RE GOING TO DIVIDE NOT ONLY THE CRITICS, BUT THE AUDIENCE AS WELL.
BC: Yeah, I think so, too. It’s fair to say. It’s not for everybody, it’s not a chick flick. Although, from what I understand a lot of guys test their girlfriend with those movies. If their girlfriends like it, then they’ll go out with them.
Q: YES, I’VE HEARD OF SUCH THINGS. AFTER THE FIRST EVIL DEAD FILM YOU WENT ON TO DO CRIMEWAVE, WHICH WAS A PRETTY COOL MOVIE THAT WAS OVERLOOKED BY A LOT OF PEOPLE.
BC: Oh, I don’t know if it was overlooked, I think it was... I liken it to the movie Brazil. Where the movie is good in 10 minute pieces. Like if I watched the movie Brazil in 10 minute chunks, I’d really like it, but watched as a whole it just gets annoying. I think it’s kind of an annoying movie because it tried to be everything.
We were very concerned that Evil Dead was too gross for a lot of people and people fainted and barfed and all that sort of stuff and we wanted to make something that was a little more accessible. So, we tried to make a romantic comedy/action with dance sequences and it just... wow. It just didn’t cut it.
Q: WELL, THE COEN BROTHERS ACTUALLY WROTE THAT FILM, RIGHT?
BC: Yeah, they cowrote it with Sam.
Q: YOU LATER WENT ON TO DO HUDSUCKER PROXY WITH THEM...
BC: Well, Joel Coen worked on the first Evil Dead. Joel Coen was the assistant editor of the first Evil Dead. So, yeah, we go back a ways with those guys and I finally worked with them officially on the Hudsucker Proxy.
Q: DEFINITELY. YOU SEEMED TOTALLY AT EASE PLAYING A FAST TALKING ‘50s REPORTER. WAS THAT AN EASY ROLE TO FALL INTO?
BC: Yeah, it was fun. That was actually a lot of fun, but it was intimidating being with Jennifer Jason Leigh. You know, she’s like a real actress... she had so many lines in that movie... I was there for the first two weeks of rehearsal, ‘cause during rehearsal of Hudsucker I got to sort of read the other parts of the people who weren’t there for rehearsal, so it was great. I could really sit and watch.
She knew every one of her lines from first day of rehearsal. Every single one. And I knew that she would never screw up ever, so it got me really nervous. Normally actors blow lines all the time. Now I’m like, "Aw, crap. I’m boned, man." So, I just had to really concentrate.
Q: AND YOU GOT TO SMACK HER ON THE ASS.
BC: (Pause) Yes, I did smack her on the ass.
Q: (LAUGHING) HOW WAS THAT?
BC: How was that?!? (laughs) How would you like it to be? What do you think it’d be like to smack Jennifer Jason Leigh on the ass?
Q: I IMAGINE IT’D BE PRETTY DAMN GOOD, BUT I DON’T KNOW. I’VE NEVER HAD THE OPPORTUNITY.
BC: Well, what do you think... do you think she has a doughy butt? A kind of a hard body butt? What do you think? Body by Jake butt?
Q: I DON’T KNOW... I COULD SEE IT HAVING A LITTLE GIVE.
BC: A little give? (laughs) She had a very tight dress on, so frankly it was hard to judge. How’s that? I felt mainly wool.
Q: WAS THE SEQUEL TO EVIL DEAD SOMETHING YOU GUYS WERE REALLY JUMPING TO DO OR...
BC: No, it was out of necessity. Crimewave bombed a thousand deaths, so we went, "Aww, crap. We gotta do something that makes money." Evil Dead 1 had done really well, so we thought, "Well, maybe Ash didn’t die... Maybe that evil force didn’t really get him," so we just continued on from there. It just sort of happened. We never gave it all that much thought, I don’t think.
Q: WELL, THE FILM COMES ACROSS AS A SERIES OF BEATINGS ON YOU...
BC: Yeah, it’s a drinking game, too.
Q: DID YOU HAVE ANY INJURIES OR CLOSE CALLS?
BC: No, I’ve never really been officially injured on a movie to the point where I’d have to stop shooting. I got a cut on my face for Army of Darkness. I was flipping a stuntman down the stairs... I went to the emergency room and I already had 8 other cuts on my face and the doctor’s like "Well, which one is it?" I go, "I don’t know. Feel around... it’s somewhere over here." So, he just stitched me up and I went back to work. It didn’t hurt continuity at all because it was just another cut.
But I still have my little scabs from The Majestic, throwing myself back onto a pit. I had to do the beginnings of a flip, like in Xena, so I still give for my art. I still suffer for the audience.
Q: AND WE APPRECIATE IT. HOW DID ARMY OF DARKNESS COME ABOUT?
BC: Army of Darkness kinda had to wait until Sam was done with Darkman. That was written earlier, but shot later. Originally, part 2 was going to be Army of Darkness. Ash was going to get caught in this evil entity and get taken immediately back to 1300, but that didn’t work out, so...
Eventually, again it was the strength of Evil Dead 2. That made money. That made money even before we started shooting. They bid some pre sells for it and it was already in to profit when we were in to preproduction. So, we went, "Oh, cool!"
So, Army of Darkness wasn’t that hard to put together. But that was a long, grueling experience. That was a tough shoot. There’s quite a bit about Army of Darkness in The Book that’s coming out.
