BRUCE CAMPBELL

The BRUCE CAMPBELL INTERVIEW

Perhaps the most loved actor working in Psychotronic film today is Bruce Campbell. His fans have stuck by him through the good (the Evil Dead trilogy), the bad (Maniac Cop) and the ugly (McHale's Navy). His book, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B- Movie Actor (www.brucecampbellbook.com) is being released in paperback by St. Martin's Press, and is highly recommended by critics for anyone who wants to be an actor, and even for people who have never heard of Bruce Campbell. That is a pretty high compliment for a kid from Royal Oaks, Michigan who not only shared a dream with pal Sam Raimi but, like him, actually stuck to it.

You won't find the typical Hollywood stories in his book, but you will discover what it means to be a professional working actor. The fans love him because he is, and you hear this over and over from them, "for real". Not just accessible, but out of the star-hunting loop that leads to disappointment for so many actors. He is happy to be working in the industry, with no illusions as to its up-and-down nature.

His website, www.bruce-campbell.com, even has his e-mail address posted! His TV work from Xena to Hercules (as the King of Thieves) and the wonderful The Adventures Of Brisco County, Jr. has won him an additional following, and his personality, sense of humor and honesty has kept that following loyal.

He is the guy you could have a drink with. And in a moment, you'll find out what he drinks. The Las Vegas Film Festival screened Bubba Ho-Tep (www.bubbahotep.com), the latest film from Campbell and from Phantasm director Don Coscarelli, to astonishing response and word of mouth. Even people who had never heard of the Evil Dead films were stunned by his portrayal as a 70-year-old Elvis fighting a mummy in this off-the- wall film, written by horror author Joe Landsdale.

Bruce will be in Chicago for the upcoming Flashback Weekend festival. His cocktail, The Rumdinger, now joins our Bettie Page Zombie and our secret martini recipe on the website. Come to Sarah Masters' talk on playing Bettie, or the table we'll have, and we'll clue you in on the party later. . .

FLORES - How did you come up with the Rumdinger?

CAMPBELL - I just made it up. You mix Kahlua with rum and add a splash of ginger ale. I hate rum and Coke. A Black Russian is vodka and Kahlua, so I just tried different combinations until I came up with it.

FLORES - Sounds sweet. Must be a rough hangover.

CAMPBELL - Mike, you get a hangover with any drink you drink too much of!

FLORES - I know. I know. So you just finished your first play in how many years?

CAMPBELL - Twenty years. I was in Xenia, Ohio, doing Shane.

FLORES - Like the movie Shane? The Western?

CAMPBELL - Oh yeah. The play became a movie in the 1950s. The theatre is really just the woods, with trails and roads. When I ride in on a horse --

FLORES - A horse?

CAMPBELL - Yes. Horses and everything. I am 1/4 mile away and riding in. You try your damnedest to reach the audience, you know, the back rows. There were nights when we had 1200 people. I had to learn how to chop wood and all that. It was a real eye- opener.

FLORES - How does it feel to be on the verge of being the next hot overnight sensation based on the new film Bubba Ho-Tep, after working in this industry since you were a kid?

CAMPBELL - I don't care about that stuff. No interest. Couldn't care less. I have been in plenty of movies I don't care for. But Bubba Ho-Tep made me laugh my ass off.

FLORES - Everything I am hearing about this movie is phenomenal. And this is from non-Psychotronic fans!

CAMPBELL - It's going to screen at the Toronto Film Festival and I'm taking it on the road to screen at theaters I do book signings at. They are still looking for a distributor on this. But we don't want a mercy distributor-

FLORES - For tax writeoffs.

CAMPBELL - They have to believe in the film. It is so unusual that they have to believe in it to market it. But it opens with a 70-year-old Elvis putting a balm on his dick! (Laughter). Ossie Davis plays JFK in a wheelchair, convinced that a mummy is destroying the people in this nursing home. And it is. If you like quirky, out-of-the- ordinary films, you are going to love this film.

FLORES - Marketing is crucial to movies. I hated that Army Of Darkness didn't find an audience. I think the marketing did it in.

CAMPBELL - Hey, actors always complain about the marketing when a film doesn't hit. But I laughed when I saw the ads. They had them in the college papers. I do think they really tried. It didn't hit the crowds then, but on video and DVD it did. Loads of guys in college discover that film and love it.

FLORES - I liked seeing you in a bit in the first Spider-Man movie. I understand you are slated for the second one, too.

CAMPBELL - Sam does his thing and I do mine. He called and asked if I'd do it, but I have no idea what it is or anything else.

FLORES - And you have a straight role coming up on the Sci-Fi channel in the movie Terminal Invasion. God, I love that these channels do their own original movies.

CAMPBELL - That's right, baby! No winking at the camera on this one. It's a balls-out film directed by Sean Cunningham about an alien at an airport. Kind of like The Thing. Mike, I'm a big supporter of all these channels making their own films. Sci-Fi, TNT, I don't care who it is. If they want me, I'm there.

FLORES - The major networks just don't get it. I still can't believe they take the summer off. Are they out of their minds?

CAMPBELL - If they don't understand how the market is being split up, they will be museum pieces. Look how many years cable has been around. They still don't get it. Museum pieces.

FLORES - I know you have directed. Which do you prefer? Acting or directing?

CAMPBELL - Directing is cool. The day goes really fast. Directing is a pretty good gig. It can be restraining when working in the confines of a TV show, because that is someone else's baby. You are working for someone else on their TV show. But I like directing. I did a couple of Hercules and Xena episodes and a couple of VIP episodes. That was a hoot!

FLORES - I missed the VIP ones. I better catch up! Well, it looks like my twenty minutes is about up. I hope we can do a lengthier interview at the Flashback Weekend.

CAMPBELL - At these festivals I am being pulled in every direction, so this is probably it.

FLORES - I am planning to have the fixings for a Rumdinger in my room for the Saturday night party.

CAMPBELL - (Laughter) OK, Mike. You're talking my language. We'll see!

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