Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. Over the years I've been fortunate enough to be around Bruce Campbell quite a bit. From bumping into him the very first time at Anchor Bay's big launch party for their Halloween DVD in 2000 to spending a week with him on the set of Don Coscarelli's Bubba Ho-Tep to probably a half-dozen interviews covering all his various genre work and book releases it has been apparent to me that the dude is always on. He's part entertainer, part huckster and part politician.
I was happy to sit down with him once more to have a short chat about the new season of Ash Vs The Evil Dead, which, I have to say, is off to a damn good start! They screened the first two episodes at Fantastic Fest and you won't believe how far they go in the second episode. We're talking early Peter Jackson/Braindead territory here.
Coincidentally, one room over from Bruce was Don Coscarelli doing interviews for his Phantasm remaster and Phantasm: Ravager. One wall separated us from a mini-Bubba Ho-Tep reunion!
Before the recorder was turned on that's what we were talking about, so we start this transcription mid-stream on that and talk a bit about taking Ash out of his comfort zone, his feelings about his co-stars and a bit about my favorite scene of the series so far, which involved a quite filthy fight in a morgue in episode 2. Enjoy!
Quint: Bubba Ho-tep was 15 years ago!
Bruce Campbell: Everything was 15 years ago. Army of Darkness was 25 years ago. We shot that in '91. So, you're old!
Quint: I'm getting there!
Bruce Campbell: You're experienced, that's all.
Quint: Yeah, I'm seasoned.
Bruce Campbell: Seasoned. That's a good one.
Quint: So, one of the things I liked about the first season of Ash Vs. The Evil Dead is that as the dynamic between you and Ray and Dana grew episode to episode it became one of those rare shows that got better and better with each episode. I wondered if that could continue with the second season and in the first two episodes it's pretty clear that streak continues. By the time we get to the morgue scene in the second episode...
Bruce Campbell: It's off the hook.
Quint: That scene had me laughing so hard.
Bruce Campbell: Yeah, that's something you can't unsee. We figured it was something that you can't believe that you saw it, so you'll actually rewind it and watch it again. “Yep. I saw it!” (laughs)
Quint: When I saw the piercing in the background I was like “Man, it's crazy that they can get away with showing that on TV.” Then the rest of the scene happened and that sizeable pierced dick was front and center.
Bruce Campbell: Oh, it's right there. There is something to be said for unbridled material. It doesn't mean we have to do it all the time, but if we want to you bet we can. Hopefully the viewer will get to a point where they go “I don't really know what's to happen next” or how bad it's going to get when something starts. Hopefully that sense of unease will keep driving their interest.
Quint: Season 2 starts off interesting because for the first time since maybe the first Evil Dead Ash is really thrown out of his comfort zone. His cocky veneer is cracked a bit when he goes back home.
Bruce Campbell: The town doesn't really want him back. He's an urban legend there. He's Ashy Slashy. He's not the hometown hero. They don't want him back even though he's there to save the town. I thought that was a good dilemma.
The production designer drove all around Michigan before this season, a road trip I would have killed for! That's my home state, you know? He took all these pictures and settled on the little town of Gladwin, which my family had a little property outside of, so I know that Main Street! That's our Main Street, right out of Gladwin, Michigan. They did a great job recreating that and it's cool to see the world they created.
Quint: You're still shooting in New Zealand, right?
Bruce Campbell: Oh, yeah. Every frame of it. The sets are just great.
Quint: I dig it as a new setting for The Evil Dead world because usually it's either remote...
Bruce Campbell: Cabins, woods...
Quint: Or something crazy, like a medieval world.
Bruce Campbell: Yeah. This is small town crazy.
Quint: Then you throw in his dad who has no respect at all for him. I mean, Ash has never really been one to garner the respect of those around him.
Bruce Campbell: No.
Quint: You can feel that the character is a little nervous and put off by this new location and the way people and family treat him.
Bruce Campbell: You gotta give your hero somewhere to go. You gotta save the ticker tape parade for episode 10.
Quint: Were you involved creatively at all in the direction Ash is going as a character? Like did you have any say in bringing in Ash's dad or taking him back to his home town?
Bruce Campbell: I was certainly behind all of it because Ash was always like a teacher: you never saw him after school. I never really got to know anything personal about him. That's the beauty of TV. You get to flesh these characters out, you can bring other characters in and tell a bigger story and expand the character.
Someone was like “Aren't you tired of playing Ash?” and I was like “I just started!” Seriously, if you think about it Ash is just beginning to come into his own. And it's nice to play him again after 25 years of experience. It was great to work with Sam (Raimi) again. He learned a bunch of new tricks, I learned new tricks. It was good to apply that. It's been 25 years and we've all done lots of weird, different stuff. I like revisiting this character.
Quint: I imagine so, especially on TV where you can do more than a simple 90 minute mission movie.
Bruce Campbell: Right. Now it's time for the big story, the big arc. We get Mark Verheiden in this season, who is an old-time sci-fi guy with a lot of experience. He wrote My Name Is Bruce. I'm very excited to get Mark involved. It's his writer's room now, he's running the show.
Quint: I always appreciate good character work, which is why I really dig the family dynamic that's growing between Ash, Pablo and Kelly.
Bruce Campbell: I've had meetings with Mark and what's important to all of us for the long term health of the show is that we service the secondary characters. Those actors gotta get out of bed going “Cool! Can't wait to do this or that” rather than being the guy who says every fourth line. “Yeah, sounds good, Ash!” or “Come on, let's go!” I think Mark will add a new dynamic to that, too.
Quint: By not having every cool or crazy thing happen to or for Ash it makes everything more exciting.
Bruce Campbell: It's Team Ash now. It's still the same goal, just Ash has a little more help. 'Cause he needs it!
Quint: I love what they're doing with Pablo now, making him an unwitting seer. They gave him a gift that he really doesn't want.
Bruce Campbell: That's right! And it's kind of on the dark side, but it's a great development for him and I think Ray has enjoyed that he's not just the goofy sidekick. You gotta do that. You have to evolve Kelly, as well. Hopefully they'll be serviced. Same with Lucy Lawless. What do you do with Ruby? She's a little bit more part of the foursome now, but that can't last forever because she can't be trusted.
Quint: I've noticed the show's starting to subvert expectation, too. Season 2 kicks off with a Deadite attack, but it's not so much an attack as a call for help.
Bruce Campbell: Right. You have to do that. You have to peel back the levels of the underworld, which has its own hierarchy with their own goals. Now that he's unleashed the dead, what do they want? What's their mission? Ours is to put the shit back, but cat's out of the bag.
Quint: Yeah, I noticed the show's doing a lot of mythology building with that stuff.
Bruce Campbell: That's something Verheiden will bring to it, too. He's got that Battlestar Galactica background. You've got to tell bigger stories. Ash is foretold in an ancient book. Regardless if you think he's an idiot, you've got to address that. He was in an ancient book, so there's gotta be some destiny this guy has.
Quint: He's there for a reason.
Bruce Campbell: Absolutely. That's a great thing to explore: What is his destiny? Aside from being a jackass...
Ash Vs Evil Dead Season 2 premieres this very evening on Starz! Tune in why dontcha, ya' knuckleheads!
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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