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| Shane Interviews Scotty (Evil Dead) |
| Features - Misc Features |
| Written by Shane - Administrator |
| Sunday, 05 July 2009 00:05 |
|
This was one of the greatest days of my life, as a life long Evil Dead fan I always felt that the player of the movie never had enough exposure, in fact after the film was made he basically dropped off the planet, Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi both went on to great things, Raimi directed the Spiderman movies and has recently gone back to his roots and released 'Drag me to Hell', but everyone forgot about poor old Scotty from the movie. Well not me! 26 years later I managed to track him down, believe me it was NOT easy and to this day I am still the only person to interview this guy for a website, this is THE only online interview with Hal Delrich (Go on Google it I dare you!) that exists, to which I am extremely proud. Adobe Flash Player not installed or older than 9.0.124!  Original Evil Dead Trailer (1981) - Over 18's Only This interview was conducted on my old horror movie website 'DVD House of Horror' on February 12th 2007:
Shane - How did you get the part in The Evil Dead? Hal - During the time leading up to the production of THE EVIL DEAD
I had been involved in theater, voice-over, industrial film and
commercial work in and around Detroit, Michigan. Work was not
steady, so I was also working for a delivery company and teaching and
coaching springboard diving at a local high school to pay the
bills. I lived in a small house in Birmingham, Michigan with 2
other guys I knew from the theater. One of those roommates,
Del Howison (now proprietor of DARK DELICACIES in Burbank, California) was the public relations director of THE ATTIC THEATER in downtown Detroit. Renaissance
Pictures contacted Del to send over any actors from the theater
who would be interested in auditioning for their planned movie.
Del told me about the auditions that would take place in the basement of
Sam Raimi's parents' house. I declined because I
was withdrawing from the acting&nbs p;profession to
focus on money-making jobs, i. e. working at the delivery
company. About a month later, Del told me Renaissance was having
one more night of auditions and that a mutual friend, Greg Tatum, had
already won a role. I thought it would
be fun to work with Greg again, so I agreed to audition. That
fateful Sunday night I met Sam, Bruce and Rob, then proceeded to the
basement for my reading. I read from the script with Bruce, Sam
and Rob playing the other characters. I don't recall all the
scenes we read, but I know that I read the opening scene in the Olds
(with the direction that Scotty was a smart-aleck). Sam also asked
me to die "as if I was being ripped apart from the inside." When
all was said and done, I got the part; Sam said he liked the way I
died. My friend Greg? Until that Sunday night, Greg was
Scotty. Added info: My real name is
Richard de Manincor. My roommates were Del Howison and Hal
Christiansen. Hal, Del & Rich. To EVIL DEAD fans - Hal Delrich.  Driving to the cabin, Evil Dead begins... Shane - Your
character (Scotty) is remembered by the fans for being the "player" of
the group, if anyone was up to mischief in the movie it was you, is this
a personal trait or did you really have to play to be Scotty? Hal - It
was definitely not out-of-character for me to behave the way I did in
the movie. I like to have fun. Humor and seeing the funny
side of things has been part of my make-up since I can remember.
An example: When I was about 6 or 7, I recall an incident in which
my next older sister, who out-weighed me by a considerable amount, and I
were fighting/wrestling. She got on top of me and tried to choke
me. I pretended it worked, pretended to die, and she screamed and
cried because she thought she had killed me. So, it's been with me
for a long time. Shane -
The movie looked like a lot of fun to make, young people realising
their dream and making a movie, did you always want to act or were you
just in the right place at the right time? Hal - As
you can see from my previous answer, I've been an actor all my
life....AND, I was in the right place at "a good" time.
The right time would have been about 6 months sooner. I regret
that this movie came along at a time when I had given up my ambition to
pursue acting as a career. But, I wanted things that acting wasn't
providing, and I made the right choices.  At the cabin: Chair moves on it's own.... with no wind... Shane -
Scotty was the joker of the group and had some of the best scenes in
our opinion, at the start of the movie at least, did you just act out
your scenes or did you have any input into the way Scotty was portrayed?
Hal -
The lines were scripted, but I probably would have said similar things
in similar situations. Overall, I would say I was type-cast, and
there wasn't a whole lot of directing required. I can't, however,
take credit for the "She's your girlfriend, you take care of her! I'm
gettin' the hell out of here!" line. I would hope that in a
similar situation I would be a little less callous.  "She's your girlfriend, you take care of her." Shane -
After having spoken to the three girls who starred in the movie,
as well as Tom Sullivan and Josh Becker and getting negative responses,
what was it really like working on set out in those Tennessee mountains? Hal -
I would say that the conditions were "not comfortable". As far as
I knew, at the time, that was the way movies were made. I was in
the middle of doing something I really loved, so I was unaffected by the
conditions, and thrived. I also think the conditions added to the
production. There was no pretense of working on something
"BIG." It was like a "struggling artist" production where everyone
contributed...more of a team concept. There were some glitches,
but as far as I was concerned they were nothing to get upset
about....there was humor in it all. Shane - At the time, when you filmed it, how did you think the movie would turn out? Hal -
While filming, I was only interested in playing my part, doing what
they asked me to do. I had no concept about how the whole thing
would turn out. I didn't much care. I was having a great
time "being in a movie." A lifelong dream.  "OoooOOOoooo" Scotty winds up the girls. Shane -
According to Josh Becker's journal, you never had much of a mention
regarding how the cast and crew felt about each other, we never got a
feel for how Scotty felt behind the scenes, how did you get on with
them? What was it like to work with these people? Hal -
I probably got along with the crew more than the actors. Bruce
was part of the production triumvirate and the girls did as girls
do...they were their own support group. They were only 3 females
in a group of a bunch of males, so, I think they had their own special
bond. I had more "social" interaction with Don Campbell, Bruce's
brother, and Dart, one of the crew, whose real name, I think, is Steve
Frankel. There wasn't a whole lot of socializing outside of the
production. There wasn't much time. Shane - If you could go back and change any scene in The Evil Dead, what would it be and why? Also what is your favourite scene? Hal -
The only scene I might change is for strictly selfish reasons.
The scene is where we're talking about what we're going to do after
Cheryl was posessed. Scotty suggests that "in the
morning, we'll take the bridge," then just fades out. I tried to
do the scene as Sam wanted it without truly "believing in it" while I
was doing it. It was one of my weaker "acting" moments, and I wish
I could have done it a different way. My favorite scene was when
Ashley is dragging Linda's corpse out of the cabin. He drags her
across my dead body, lying on the floor. I was dead, and I had
"blood" dripping out of my mouth and nose. I only moved as a
corpse might move when another corpse is dragged across it.  "Party Down!" Shane -
The "cabin" used for filming both internal and external for most of the
movie is now an iconic image in the realm of horror movies, what can
you tell us about it? Hal - The
cabin was less than "a cabin." It was a shell with a roof, no
windows, and cow shit on the floor. One has to admire the
ingenuity of the crew in making it seem as if it had so many rooms when
it didn't. It was cold, but it was a good thing the fireplace was
functional. It provided some warmth during those long nights of
shooting. Shane - I
have to ask this, there is a scene in the movie where you say something
like "I'm sure as hell not going anywhere tonight" after Cheryl returns
from being harassed by the trees, in the DVD commentary section it is
said that you thought you had blew your lines in that sequence and you
can actually see you raise your head and step backward in disgust, this
footage however made it to the final print of the movie, did you ever
discuss it with Sam, or anyone else for that matter before or after the
movie was made? Hal -
I truly don't remember feeling I had blown the line. It may have
happened, but I have no recollection of the events surrounding that
particular shot. I guess my short-term memory fails me now.
Y'know, it's only been 27 years since that shot was filmed.  The scene Hal forgot! Shane - When was the last time you watched The Evil Dead from start to finish? Hal -
In its entirety, the last time I watched the movie was with a bunch of
my wife's friends (now, mine of course, but the movie was shot 20 years
before I met my wife) in October of 2005. It was a pretty funny
scene. We had 14 people packed into our master bedroom, for many
of them, watching the movie for the very first time. Some were so
frightened, they won't watch it again, even knowing I'm still alive and
kicking. Shane - What are your views on the movie now? Hal -
It is impossible for me to remove myself from the experience and
comment on it objectively. It was fun to make the movie; I
grinned, ear-to-ear at the debut at the Redford Theater in Detroit;
there are a lot of fun memories associated with each and every
scene. It's just fun to watch, and I get a kick out of the
reactions of others watching. I couldn't tell you if it was good,
bad, high-quality or trash. It's just fun.  Boo! Shane -
I respect your decision for stepping out of the limelight if that was
your choice, but how come no-one has barely heard of you since this
movie was made? Hal -
As I said earlier in the interview, I was getting out of the business
to work at something that would ensure a roof over my head, a dog, a
fenced in yard and a basement (cellar). I achieved all those
things. If I had it to do over again, I would have moved to LA
with my Evil Dead resume and pursued the acting career I probably have
wanted all my life. But, it didn't happen that way, and I have a
happy life with a lot of truly unique memories. Shane - Are you a horror movie fan? If so what are your favourites? Hal - I
am a horror movie fan. I'm a bit of an "older" horror and
sci-fi movie fan. I liked Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, Jr. and
Boris Karloff in the Dracula, Wolfman and Frankenstein movies they made
famous. Godzilla, King Kong, The Mummy, The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Those are the movies that I grew up with. King Kong vs. Godzilla and Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman were my early favorites. And I can't leave out Michael Landon's I Was a Teenage Werewolf and The Blob
with Steve McQueen. I can't get enough of sci-fi...I really
can't. I also really like the Christopher Lee Dracula
movies. If I had to name one "monster" as my favorite, it would be
a vampire. There, that should give you something to ponder. Shane - You are about to be seen again in the upcoming Morrow Road, why now after all this time? Hal -
That's an easy one to answer. I've always thought that after
attaining some level of comfort in my life I would return to
acting. It takes all types and characters to fill out a
production, and I believe there will always be a role for me to play
somewhere. It just so happens that Fran contacted me and struck my
"acting nerve" with the right invitation. I also must thank my
fellow Deadite, Ellen Sandweiss, for putting the thought into Fran's
head to get some Evil Dead people in his film. Thanx for the opportunity to dredge up the feelings and horror of The Evil Dead. Hal Delrich |
