"And, thank you very much all of you fine journalists for your time and attention. We appreciate it. We need your support. Some of you are fans. Some of you don't know anything about the series. Hopefully, you can find out, and enjoy it. This is for the fans. It's for the fans."
Well, I think I can now count myself among the latter. I am among those dwellers of rock undersides who had zip, nada, zilch clue whatsoever of even the existence of the Evil Dead franchise. Completely ill prepared to be amongst cult level fans who "soliloquized" about this being their Star Wars. The nuanced level of questioning left me feeling uneasy. While other questions (seemingly duplicated from mine) were met with unseen, but silently felt, eyerolls, the thought of crawling back to my aforementioned abode was comforting; but as I heard Bruce respond to question after question, I became more familiar with this kindred of creativity.
"It's great to get back to this character. It's probably the most fun character there is to play. Now, we can use all of our experience...flesh him out even more...people have only seen four and a half hours worth of Ash. In this first season alone, we're going to do five new hours ours of Ash. So, I'm actually looking forward to finally seeing who Ash is going to interact with...He has to be a leader. So, it's a slightly different story in that the character has to evolve. The story has to get bigger. And, I'm looking forward to that so that I can take enough time to finally be with Ash. The other movies, you know, I had a week that went by without any dialogue...So, it's Ash getting out in the wild, you know, getting into suburbia. So, that's the fun thing to do is interact with other people. "
After an hour of hearing about his character, Ash Williams, and the upcoming Starz series Ash vs Evil Dead, I knew I had to watch. I needed more, but how can this be...I'm not one of those...I don't do zombies...spoiler alert: I watched the pilot...again...I needed more. Expanding on that creative appeal, Bruce addressed the choice of Starz...
"They had what we needed. They gave the budget we were looking for...and, they gave us the leeway we were looking for...and, they give us unrestricted content that those movies demand. So, they were really...out of the suitors that we had...they were actually the only company that I'm aware of out there that could give us that criteria, and that did it. That sealed the deal right there. And, you know, look...these guys are growing as a company.
I like being part of companies that are growing and expanding, rather than shrinking and contracting. And, they're willing to stay on the cutting edge. And, they want to do shows that people not only like, but they like a lot. And, I think we provided something like that for them; and, I think we're attracted to them because this show can actually play around the world. Not all TV [outlets] can. We started overseas, and in the UK...then, spread over the world. It makes...I think we're good partners. I think we're good for each other."
Sparing you the snarkiness (which was appropriate & further endearing), we'll skip over questions about "Michigan Easter Eggs," and whose choice it was for Ash to grab two condoms v. one. Bruce also appropriately addressed questions about different "rumor mills" and "reports" as he (or, any other quoted individual) was tossing out some flippant comment at the time, and "you the media" running with it.
His tone (much to my delight) was different when speaking directly to yours truly. I've seen much of Bruce Campbell's work, and would consider myself a fan. However, when I began to research him, I learned how vast his creative tentacles reach...actor (TV & film), director, producer, writer, author. What hasn't he tried? The vastness expands to the genres...comedy, drama, horror. My question was more of a confirmation of what I had come to realize… "given the huge variety of media and genres...it seems that it's more where you can delve into, where you can extend your creativity...seems to be what draws you...but, is there any particular genre and/or media that does draw you a little more, or that you might be interested in working in further?"
Interesting question. It's funny...yes, I go where the work is good. I had some people who represented me years ago who could not understand why I would go to Auckland, New Zealand...into the Southern Hemisphere to work on the show Hercules, and then, on Xena, and Jack of All Trades. They just couldn't understand it. It was a syndicated show. There's no network. They got no respect at all. No Emmys. No nothing. And, I'm like, ‘you don't get it. You're not down there on the set with us. We can get away with murder. Murder!' And, we do. We take the script, and we look at it, and we see what we can do. We can work with the director, work with the other actors. If somebody has an idea, they do it. It's the most creative set I've ever been on. And the last time I checked as actors, that's what you're looking for is creativity. You're not looking for the Rolls Royce, and, you know, the big fancy trailer. Those are supposed to be the byproducts of having fun, and then getting good at what you do.
So, I'll chase that to the end of the Earth which is one of the main reasons when I was going to be in Auckland, New Zealand for this show...I mean, I have crew members that I know down there that I've known for 20 years. These people are extremely gifted at what they do, and it makes our job easy, because they make it look good, and we make it look easy.
And, it's only because now that I work with people that I know that makes it so much better. You see them come out of their trailer, you're cracking jokes, you punch them in the arm, you know. You're messing with them when they're on camera trying to get them to break up. You know, there's a lot of work play involved. And, that's a big appeal to it, too. But, other than that, the comedy. The comedy can lift your spirits."
So, there you have it folks...creativity and comedy. A dream response. Yet, I find myself longing for more Ash kicking some Evil Dead ass!
Ash vs Evil Dead premieres this Saturday October 31, 2015, at 9pm ET/PT on Starz.
