Bruce Campbell on Ted Raimi
PAGE TWO
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| Unlike some other actors who have become fairly well
recognized, Ted's popularity with the fans doesn't seem to have
affected him much, Bruce observes. "Ted's very gracious. I've seen
him at conventions and… I think he's baffled by it, like most
actors. Most actors are baffled by the concept of fandom, and the
people who sort of chase you around. I think he's handled it very
well. He's very gracious whenever I've been with him. I was just
with him in New Orleans," Bruce points out. "Ted takes the time and
seems interested in people. And he's a nice guy. He's
just basically a nice guy." Suddenly he smirks and leans closer to
the tape recorder as he adds, "For an idiot!" Obviously intending
this to be very clear on the tape, he delivers another classic Bruce
sound byte: "He's the nicest moron I've
ever known." |
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| Thinking about what Ted is like when he's not being an actor or dealing with crowds of fans at a convention, Bruce goes into more detail. "Just Ted himself is generally good-natured… smart guy… has a lot of kooky ideas. He's a creative type. He wears bowling shirts, and he always wears these dumb 1950's suits, because he thinks they're comfortable and they're actually more designed to fit his body. So I give Ted a lot of credit. He's just worn the clothes that he likes to wear, not based on what some stupid trend is. Ted doesn't walk around wearing all black, in Hollywood, you know what I mean?" He glances down wryly at his own (mostly black) shirt and adds, "I wear black, but I… try to get some stupid pattern on it, you know? But Ted is just off the charts. He's in some gray, pleated Cary Grant suit and some stupid black Army-issue shoes." We agree that Ted has been seen in some really interesting glasses, too. "Oh yeah. Yeah," he chuckles. |
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| Bruce's favorite Ted role is definitely "Joxer, for sure. For
SEAQUEST Ted didn't have much to do." Bruce imitates Ted's role on
SEAQUEST, "Yessir. Be right there. Commence firing…
whatever." As Ted has pointed out before, it was mostly reaction
shots. "I'm glad Ted did that," Bruce continues, "It was great, it
really got him going in the world of TV, but it didn't give him a
lot to do. Joxer gave him a lot to do. He got to fight, got to play
different characters. An episode I directed of Ted, in 'The
King of Assassins' he got to play two characters, which was
great. And he pulled it off really
well." |
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Recalling his favorite stories about Ted's experiences as an
actor, Bruce muses, "Ted just got beaten up horribly during EVIL
DEAD 2. Sam gave him the part because he knew he could punish
Ted. It was six hours of makeup to get in that suit, and
shooting in North Carolina in the summer, on an elevated set. So Ted
actually has been through more physical pain and torment than any
other actor I know - myself included." He grimaces and describes
more, "He had to be put in a flying harness and he had to wear these
white contact lenses on top of that and get spun around in a circle.
He'd be breathing oxygen in the corner in between takes."
"The special makeup effects guys loved showing me this footage. They used to videotape everything. Ted had these monster booties - at the end of the shooting day they would take his little booties and pour the sweat out into cups. They would save his sweat! That's how much he'd sweat. And there's actually one scene in the movie where Ted is floating in the air and he turns his head sideways and a big stream of sweat comes out of a crack in his suit, by his head. It just comes dribbling out. Everywhere he walked there were puddles of sweat." |
Bruce is animated, acting out the story as he tells it and obviously enjoying all of this. "He came over one night - we went to Sam's for dinner on like the Saturday after shooting. Ted came crawling into the house and he goes 'Hi everybody…' then he disappeared behind the sofa and never came out again. He just fell asleep and crashed for the whole night. He must have lost 15 pounds, just from sweat. So, Ted has paid his dues." Bruce must realize the outright admiration for Ted that is written all over his face at this point, because he suddenly straightens up and adds in a teasing voice, "But I'm still allowed to torture him. Cuz his brother's tortured me, so Ted gets it vicariously." Is Sam still allowed to torture Bruce, then? "No," he says firmly and with great satisfaction. "Not anymore." Ten years from now, Bruce is guessing that Ted will be "More behind the camera. He's always writing, he's always noodling stuff. He wants to get involved in music videos. I think he likes the idea of directing. He comes from good lineage - he could pick Sam's brain. And he's not stupid; he's been watching how things happen. So I have a hunch he'll do that more." "Ted doesn't have to worry about the classic leading man problems. Ted's more of a character actor than anything. Character actors have a very long lifespan. He'll be able to act for a long time. So it will be up to Ted." On the possibility of being able to hire Ted for any project of his choosing in the future, Bruce says, "I always would keep Ted on a short list, there's no question about it - to do just about anything. It's very important to work with people who are A) not crazy, and B) who are talented, and C) who are fun. It's like three criteria, and not necessarily in that order. So I'd like to always work with Ted because he's a rare find, and he has all three of those characteristics." Bruce's eyes gleam mischievously once again as he can't resist adding smoothly, "For a moron." |
| (wav files) It's nice to see... For a moron. Many thanks to: Bruce Campbell & Jan Holbrook |
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(C) 2000 by S. Silverwind
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Additional Image Credits:
Scott Spiegel
Sheri Morrison
Gorezone Magazine/Mark Shostrom