As the credits rolled at the end of the movie, an impatient murmur rustled through the audience as the music soundtrack (which is actually kind of fun) petered out about halfway through. "Ah, you don't need music anyway," boomed a voice at the back of the theater, and The Man himself came striding down the aisle toward the front of the theater to a round of enthusiastic applause.
Without the cheesy sideburns and loud Hawaiian shirts he sports in the film, Campbell in person is even more handsome than his on-screen counterpart. Wearing glasses, a dark blazer, and a collared shirt, he could have passed for a professorial presence among the crowd of Yalies. The audience, for its part, skewed toward young men clad in their best geek attire. There were more than a few Evil Dead t-shirts in the crowd, and there were at least three or four guys who could have played Comic Book Guy in a live action version of The Simpsons. The switched film reels allowed Campbell to get off a humorous dig at the crowd — apparently only one person in the crowd mentioned the mistake to the projectionist. "He must go to Harvard," cracked Bruce, referring to one of the Ivy League's more intense rivalries.
The audience was full of questions, and Campbell was happy to oblige. He is funny and charming and clearly enjoys the interaction with fans — so much so that he obliged one young woman in the audience by crank-calling her parents right on the spot, much to the delight of the entire audience. The questions ranged from the sublimely silly ("In a fight between Ash, Jason, and Freddy, who would win?") to the slightly serious, as when two young men asked questions about breaking into the film business. It was the career-oriented ones that Campbell took most seriously, telling both questioners that whatever they wanted to be doing, they should also become involved in production, in order to keep some creative control over their work.
Fans of course wanted to know about the prospects for a fourth Evil Dead movie. Campbell allowed that while he'd love to do one, Sam Raimi is committed to doing two more Spider-Man films at this point, so the real question is when they would find the time. He also talked about the fun he's having currently co-starring in TV's Burn Notice on USA Network. In typical self-deprecating style, he said that when he takes a secondary role in a show it tends to stay on for more than one season (referring indirectly to The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. which had a season-long run in 1993-1994).
Article comments
1 - Josh Lasser
It's always great when you can rearrange reels of a film and not have anyone realize.
2 - Lisa McKay
What's funny is that when he mentioned the reels, I could pinpoint the exact moment in the movie where I thought to myself that the editing left much to be desired. I'll be picking up the DVD for sure, so it'll be interesting to see how much more sense the plot makes in the right order.
3 - El Bicho
I saw him speak at Comic Con '07 when they were pushing Brisco on DVD. He killed. His Old Spice commercials are funny. Will have to give this a gander when he comes to town.
4 - Jordan Richardson
I LOVE Bruce Campbell. Sounds like a riot!
5 - Arlo J. Wiley
Bruce Campbell is something of a god.
He's coming a few hours away from here in the next few days, but unfortunately I won't be able to go. Sounds like he doesn't disappoint!