Bruce Campbell Night!

Tuesday night was indeed Bruce Campbell night at Coolidge Corner. Everyone's favorite shemp spent the whole night there, from 6PM until well past midnight. He started off with a full question and answer period, allowing the packed house to ask him anything and everything. And that they did.

I have to say, I feel bad for Bruce. If you look at his current projects, it ought to be pretty obvious how far he's strayed from being "that guy in Evil Dead." Yes, he's doing Ash's voice once again in the "Evil Dead: Regeneration" game, but there's also his books, Man With The Screaming Brain, Sky High, The Woods... he's got a lot going on, and he's certainly not living or breathing Evil Dead like some of the schmucks at the Q&A were. Now, don't get me wrong, I love those movies. They are probably three of my favorites of all time. But there needs to be a point when you dissociate the man from the character. Many of them may follow him throughout his career, but it always comes back to "Say groovy!" or something equally inane.

And he wants to talk about other things. When he spoke at Northeastern a few months back, he very eloquently lashed out at the lack of unoriginality in Hollywood. Last night, he drew the crowd into a mini-debate about Batman Begins, because Bruce could barely speak the name without disdain and disappointment creeping into his tone. He says they're selling the same story to us for the fourth or fifth time. "Not interested!" "But it's a good movie!" the fans cried. "I'm glad," he said. "My son loves it, he's seen it twice. NOT INTERESTED." I did love Batman Begins, but the man makes a good point. He emphasizes it via Man with the Screaming Brain, but I'll get to that a little later.

Interesting tidbits to come out of the Q&A:

• MGM has expressed interest in Bubba Nosferatu, the sequel to Bubba Ho-Tep. Interest is great, but Bruce put it best. With Sony buying them, "there will be a year of figuring out whose desk is whose. And then everything gets delayed."
• Despite all the hubbub, Evil Dead IV is less a matter of "if" and more of "when." "It's our franchise," Bruce said, so naturally they want to do more. Most of it depends on Sam Raimi finding time in his ever-expanding schedule.
• Man with the Screaming Brain was originally going to be set in East L.A., but after years of delay, it got moved to Bulgaria because that's where it was cheapest to shoot. Interestingly enough, a woman from Latvia found her way into the audience, and proceeded to rant in her native language, talking over Bruce and frustrating him to no end. After about half an hour, she was escorted out of the theater. We found out later that she apparently was protesting him taking advantage of local workers in Bulgaria to make his film. According to him, Bulgarians make on average about $110 a month. "Bulgarians never had it so good as they did working on Man with the Screaming Brain!"
• Bruce and Ted Raimi had a great time doing vocies for the new Evil Dead videogame "Regeneration." Bruce said he likes putting Ted in anything he does "because Ted Raimi makes me look subtle."

That's it for now. Back later with a review of Man with the Screaming Brain. Also continuing the 2005 preview. Stay tuned!