Like any fan, I love shooting the shit with the Old Guard, the guys who headlined TV shows when I was a kid. It was a thrill to finally meet Adam West and Burt Ward – the original Dynamic Duo. Adam, now late-eighties, always has a smile on his face. I asked him how he was doing in passing one day and he replied, “I’d be doing a lot better with an ice-cold martini in my hand!”
Stan the Man.
Comic book legend/convention staple Stan Lee, mid-nineties now, is a blast. Having appeared in the first three Spider-Man movies, Stan and I had the web slinger in common and we always enjoyed talking – which was only for a few minutes at a time between signings. Stan strikes me as a guy who, back in his comic book writing swingin’ heyday, would put a jazz record on the turntable in his groovy Manhattan apartment, don his aviator sunglasses and cut the rug with some hot babes.
The Star Trek actors, being the first and the biggest, were always popular at conventions. I worked with Walter Koenig (“Chekov”) on a movie back in 1988, so we’ve been friendly ever since and I still see him at cons to this day. I think Walter is a little mystified by all the Star Trek stuff. He doesn’t really get it, but it doesn’t concern him either.
Leonard Nimoy (“Spock”) was always hugely popular, so I only met him once. At some sci-fi con, our tables were back to back with a thin black drape between us. At one point, I simply reached through the curtain, introduced myself and shook his hand. That was that.
My meeting with George Takei (“Sulu”) was just as brief. At a convention outside of London, he was getting off a freight elevator as I was getting on. We nodded, exchanged a “Hello” and “Good morning,” and we were on our way.
Shatner (“Captain James T. Kirk”) was the big fish. I had to meet him at all costs because my brother Don and I were ardent fans of the original Star Trek series. When I finally had the chance to meet the man/myth, I wasn’t going to use the Star Trek card. I knew better. I had to try a different angle. Because I had actually studied the TV show T.J. Hooker – for my own personal, mostly amusing reasons – I could throw out enough details and delights so that he would know I actually watched the show. My plan worked, and we struck up a lively, non–Star Trek conversation, which I think he appreciated.
Bill did not disappoint. Though he is in his mid-eighties, his energy is astounding. He must do twenty conventions a year, not to mention a gaggle of charity events and a one-man show. Guys such as Bill and Stan and Adam have all been a great inspiration – not just in my formative years but presently, because none of them has any intention of slowing down. Shuffling from convention to convention provides their aerobics. Answering questions onstage and having a laugh with fans keeps them sharp and gives them a needed shot of adrenaline every now and again. This is what keeps these old geezers alive and I have taken note. I doubt you’ll see me disappear from the convention circuit anytime soon.
Conventions have also been a great way to meet the fine leading ladies from days gone by, like Barbara Eden from I Dream of Jeannie and Julie Newmar from Batman. Nothing gave me more pleasure than to sneak up behind their signing tables, grab a handshake and flatter them with sexually undertoned admiration. These women gave a young mind much to think about in my formative years and each left an indelible impression.
Robert Englund and Kane Hodder, two of my horror peers from Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th respectively, make the convention rounds as well. We’ve done special photo ops together and it’s always fun to watch fans and their tormentors interact. Robert, on the one hand, brings his Freddie glove with him and holds it menacingly close to the fan’s throat. Kane, on the other hand, grabs his captives by the back of the neck with one hand and begins to continually apply pressure until the picture is taken. Look closely at the faces of fans in Kane Hodder photos – they all have a slightly alarmed expression. Kane isn’t kidding.
The modern-day bad boys of conventions are Norman Reedus, Michael Rooker and Jon Bernthal. Each guy has lots of impressive credits, but they’re all part of the Walking Dead juggernaut – a status that alone guarantees them con bookings until the end of time.
Jon Bernthal is a sweet beast of a guy. Tough, funny, open. He scowls on-screen, but he’s a lot of laughs behind the scenes.
Rooker I already knew of and worked with. His first convention appearances were because of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and now, between The Walking Dead and Guardians of the Galaxy, he’s more popular than ever. Michael did an episode of Burn Notice, so I got to witness his intense focus and approach. He’s a first-rate actor and a fun-loving guy. In shooting the bull I asked him what it was like to work opposite Tom Cruise in Days of Thunder and he replied, “It was fine, because I knew I could act.”
Ash vs. Walking Dead.
Norman Reedus is the Elvis of the convention scene. He plays a badass on The Walking Dead, but he’d walk right past you on the street. Unassuming, seemingly shy and very nice, Norman manages to beguile his fans. I’ve seen the pile of gifts left for him at each signing; I’ve witnessed the trembling hands, the tears pouring down the cheeks of mesmerized fans who finally meet their messiah. Norman manages this by hardly saying a word and never taking his sunglasses off. Neat trick!
Most actors I know will never turn down a free meal. For lonely thespians on the road, a meal with a table full of their peers is a welcome event. Over the years, a tradition has evolved whereby I invite roughly ten hooligans, ruffians and scoundrels to a Saturday night dinner in the city of the moment. We tend to take over the private room of a steakhouse – not because we think we’re cool, but so we can actually hear the conversations. On the convention floor or in a frantic greenroom, you’re not going to have any worthwhile visits – but at a slow, libatious dinner, it’s a different story.
During the evening, after ordering, we’ll go around the table and play some innocuous game, like “Tell us something nobody knows about you.” It’s a daring challenge for people in the arts and in the public eye, because many of them don’t want to reveal anything about themselves. Mystery is their friend.
Whatever the case, as long as everyone’s game some fun facts come out. An actress revealed that for the first ten years of her life she grew up mostly naked in a commune. An actor regaled us about the time his parents got married in Cuba – the night of the Castro revolution. Curious tidbits like that can jump-start other tangential stories and off you go.
One Saturday night in Chicago, we had a large, eclectic group, including Kevin Sorbo, the great director John Carpenter and Erin Gray (Buck Rogers hottie). Erin had watched the convention and pop culture world generally explode and very cleverly formed her own representation company – Heroes for Hire. Erin is smart and tough and she has built up quite the stable of celebrity clients.
That particular night, we started by going around the table introducing ourselves and explaining what we did for a living. Granted, most of us knew or knew “of” each other, but it was still fun to hear what people say about themselves. It was a long, raucous night and I became very knowledgeable about everything on the ride home. As I pontificated, a voice from the backseat stopped me cold.
“Campbell. Shut. The. Fuck. Up.”
The cool, measured voice of John Carpenter was unmistakable. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. Spare us all and shut up.”
John wasn’t a guy to mince words and of course he was right. Like a good little actor, I followed his direction and didn’t say another word for the rest of the ride.
I like to have fun and entertain my fellow actor buddies, but the guys at Wizard World Entertainment took it to a new level. Wizard started as a comic book buying guide in the early nineties, eventually got into the convention business and went public as a company. I had heard of them but never booked an appearance at one of their cons.
In 2010, John Macaluso, “Johnny Mac,” took over the company and shifted things into high gear. Wizard began to add cities left and right, so I decided to book a few dates and see what they
were all about.
The first time my right-hand man, Mike Estes, met Johnny Mac, they almost got into a fistfight. Mike is my advance man. He goes a day ahead to scope out the floor, the greenroom situation – even mapping out the bathrooms. I try to be Captain Smiley at conventions, so I rely on Mike to be Bad Cop if needed.
Wizard was new to us and likewise. We had a laundry list of how everything was to be done – the table setup, the location, blah-blah-blah. Over dozens of convention appearances Mike and I had figured out a routine that worked very well for us – and we weren’t about to change it.
“Bad Cop” and “Captain Smiley.”
As Mike was doing his prep on the floor, he happened to ask a Wizard rep how pre-sales were going. The answer was good news – they’d sold a lot of autograph tickets. In fact, based on my agreement with Wizard, they’d oversold about 250 tickets.
Mike explained this to me and, since Wizard was an unknown entity, I decided to stick to the terms of our deal. I would be happy to stay longer so the fans didn’t get stiffed, but it would cost Wizard.
When Mike told Johnny Mac the figure, that’s when the fists almost flew. He was very displeased with our number – which was calculated in the same fashion as the original contract – yet Mike remained firm. The terms were the terms. After a few more words, the tense situation diffused, all parties agreed to the new arrangement and we finished the rest of the con without incident. I’m happy to report that Mike and Johnny Mac are now good buds. I don’t want to get in anybody’s face and, for the most part, these cons are smooth as silk.
This isn’t to say that there isn’t strife behind the scenes at conventions. This wasn’t the first time guests and promoters had been at odds. What recourse does a promoter have when a headlining actor, horribly hungover, shows up three hours late for their appearance on a Saturday, the biggest day? Not much, other than not booking them ever again, which happens. Conversely, conventions are shunned by celebrities for slights, poor attendance, non-existent logistics or crappy accommodations.
Actors liked Johnny Mac because he liked them. A lot of corporate types don’t know what to say to actors, but Johnny was very inclusive and he likes to laugh and pal around. He was also a sharp and fair businessman – and you don’t always find that on the convention circuit.
Wizard, under John’s leadership, was growing by leaps and bounds. Richmond, Virginia, was a new market and they wanted to make a big deal out of it.
“Yes, of course this is my car. Check the registration. First name: Bruce…”
It can be difficult for a conventioneer to secure a solid “roster” at an “unproven” market. Johnny Mac made us all think twice with his offer of a private jet ride there and back.
Okay, twist my arm.
The jet, Jim Carrey’s former Gulfstream V, was loaded with a geek’s wet dream: Norman Reedus, Michael Rooker, Jon Bernthal, Dean Cain – and that Evil Dead guy.
It was a pretty festive atmosphere, with poker, food and hooch. After we got cranked up, about the only subject not discussed was religion. The Walking Dead alumni are all into guns of every kind.
“It’s not anything ideological,” Rooker explained with a laugh. “I just like ’em!”
Dean loves guns and politics and was happy to spar or explain his positions. Look for him on the political circuit one day.
Eventually, we landed in Richmond and poured ourselves into bed. For a flight that’s hard to remember, it’s one that I’ll never forget.
21
CRAWLING BACK INTO THE WOMB
Ash died.
That’s the one thing that everyone overlooks. In all of the questions, discussions and forums about the Evil Dead films, nobody seems to remember that the ending of the original movie wasn’t a wink, a cliff-hanger or a setup. It was a finale. The hero was killed off by an unseen demon. Case closed. We weren’t laying the foundation for a franchise; we were just trying to make and sell our first feature film.
Ready to ditch horror for humor, we went back to our goofball comedy roots with our second film, but the Crimewave experience was a horror itself. We were desperate to reclaim the thrill and pride we had while making Evil Dead, so we did it again.
Is Evil Dead II a sequel or a remake? Is there such a thing as a “requel”?
Ash was supposed to die, not live on for decades in comic books, video games, action figures and tattoos. I never set out to become a B movie actor, but fake blood doesn’t wash off so easily. Ash has been very good to me and I’m thrilled at the longevity and the loyalty that our films have cultivated.
The End … or so we thought …
During the twenty-five years after Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness – the third and last of the series – I zigzagged my way across the country, going to horror, sci-fi and fantasy conventions of all stripes. At each one, the same thing occurred – questions about another Evil Dead. It was hard telling fans over and over that their beloved movies were finite in number and that they were only going to get three of them. It wasn’t something fans would or could wrap their collective head around, so they never stopped hoping.
Somehow, time and technology became our friend. DVDs made it possible to shove huge amounts of content on the disc and the image and sound were much better. This prompted a lot of “revisiting” on the part of video distributors to go back through their catalogue, pull out the golden moldies of yesteryear and reissue them. The Evil Dead films fit the bill.
Anchor Bay, a company in Troy, Michigan, of all places, sub-licensed all three of the Evil Dead movies. In a groundbreaking repackaging, they shot new interviews, recorded commentary tracks, found deleted scenes, put together “making of” documentaries and assembled obscure photo galleries – a fan’s wet dream, all in one package.
Whatever Anchor Bay did, it worked. Fans loved seeing the sausage being made and it put Evil Dead back on screens in home theaters for the first time in decades. Naturally, this reemergence fueled plenty of interest at conventions and the questions continued, unabated: “When are you going to make another Evil Dead?”
THE ROAD TO REMAKE
The possibility of expanding the Evil Dead universe took an interesting turn when filmmaker Fede Alvarez made a short film from his home in Montevideo, Uruguay, and posted it on YouTube. The short was called Panic Attack and it was a beguiling story about giant robots attacking a city, with a small boy looking on in wonder. There wasn’t much of a story, but the sophisticated special effects and clever assemblage made a very positive impression on Hollywood – and very quickly.
“I was in front of Steven Spielberg two weeks later,” Fede explained, still amused at the recollection. “I basically met everyone in Hollywood all at once about developing Panic Attack or whatever. Sam Raimi was one of my stops because I wanted to meet him.”
Sam was very impressed, like most of Hollywood, and the two hit it off immediately. Fede opted to let Sam and Rob Tapert’s company develop Panic Attack into a feature, with the short acting as a de facto calling card since Fede had never directed a full-length film before.
It didn’t take long before Panic Attack got the Hollywood treatment known ruefully as “Development Hell.” The idea was bandied about at numerous studios, got bogged down with needless baggage (everyone wants to be part of a “hot” project) and got stuck in the creative mud.
Welcome to showbiz, Fede!
Sam must have seen the signs that Panic Attack was fading out, so he offered Fede the opportunity to direct an Evil Dead remake. Honestly, Rob and I were surprised that Sam would bite on such a proposal since the Evil Dead franchise was his “baby,” but Sam was a big champion of Fede and we got on board.
Sam may have been intrigued by recent trends in the world of horror filmmaking. Some of the most iconic horror franchises ever produced were getting rebooted for “modern audiences.” Suddenly the same slashers, freaks and zombies that had terrified audiences in the 1970s and ‘80s were too dated or old-fashioned. All of Evil Dead’s peers we
re getting remade, including The Hills Have Eyes, Piranha, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Because the Evil Dead movies had a worldwide “brand,” albeit a humble one, it wasn’t hard to assemble a modest budget for the remake, between Sony Studios and foreign sales advances. Rob thought it best to take Fede under the Kiwi wing and shoot it with his TV crew in New Zealand. It was a great decision, because it meant that filming would move at a decent pace. As producers, schedule and budget mattered to us.
Once we got the green light to shoot, we had to find a new, five-person cast. As a producing trio, we’re not interested or good at every aspect of filmmaking, so we tend to focus our efforts where we can have meaningful, constructive input.
Rob has always been the budget and money guy – Mr. Hands-On. Sam is the Grand Poobah from on high, who makes sure the overall project stays true to the original material. As for me, I’m an actor, so I’m always involved on the acting front and I love the world of post-production editing and sound.
I was curious to see how Fede was going to handle and run auditions. As an actor, I hate auditioning. I find the process uncomfortable, sometimes humiliating and not always the best way to showcase my talent. So, whenever I’m on the producing or directing side I always make actors feel at home auditioning. I was also watching Fede, because at auditions directors do give actors direction between takes. I was curious to see what his notes would be, how he communicated them to the actor and whether the notes led to a better subsequent performance.
In every case, Fede’s words to the actors were reassuring, insightful and successful. By the end of the first day of casting, I knew he was going to be just fine at the helm. The cast he chose, led by the very unique Jane Levy, all did a great job.
Hail to the Chin Page 24
