Bruce Campbell Talks Ash Williams, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! in New Interview
The actor isn't retiring his famous Evil Dead character completely, at least in terms of doing voice work.
By Chris Morse
You may have heard that Bruce Campbell is returning to TV, though not to reprise the roles of any kind of Deadite-killing characters. Next month, he will be making his debut as host of the Travel Channel's revitalized Ripley's Believe It or Not! series, which will arrive on June 9th. As such, the actor has made on appearance on Inquisitr to discuss the new gig as well as his upcoming book and, of course, the chainsaw-wielding Ash Williams.
In terms of Campbell's retirement as the character, he does clarify that mostly means just in the flesh. It seems like Ash and Evil Dead as a whole are still very much in play, as long as it doesn't involve him physically crawling around in blood or pretending to fight demons.
"I’m still doing video games, I’m doing voices for Ash," he explained. "I’m just not going to grovel in the blood anymore. I’m retiring from certain types of roles, ones that require looking at tennis balls on sticks."
Regarding future Evil Dead projects, Campbell doesn't know if Fede Alvarez will have another crack at it after the 2013 re-imagining, but he does specifically say there are more stories to tell in the franchise. "It’s all good," he said, "They’re going to see different versions, they’re going to be seeing more Evil Dead, too. We’re not done with the Evil Dead saga, more stories to tell."
The actor also revealed a little bit of what's new in his updated memoir, which will be released this September. Particularly, the new segments will focus on Ash vs Evil Dead and the retirement of the character, at least in live-action form.
It’s a fuller explanation of the birth, life, and death of Ash vs Evil Dead and then the ultimate retirement of that character. It’s a little more of an essay approach, it’s a little more esoteric.
Campbell also provided a bit of a deep dive into Ash as a character, offering his explanation of why he resonates with and relates to fans so much.
Because he is the fans, the fans are him. Ash has no skills, Ash doesn’t come from another planet, he comes from Michigan. He’s the guy you want in the foxhole, but he probably got low SAT scores. So people watching him, I think they root for him because they’re like,"Damn, that’s like my neighbor. That’s like if my neighbor decided to save the world from evil." Kind of like that. That’s how I look at it and that’s how we played it. That’s why it was worth bringing the guy back 48 years later to try it again… He’s the ultimate anti-hero, anti in that he can’t even get out of bed, you know?
As a bit of a footnote, the actor squashed all talk about his potential involvement in any kind of new Bubba Ho-Tep project. In fact, he was the one who kind of shot it down due to being unhappy with the script ideas. Read below for his full explanation.
Zero. I’ve retired that character as well. I’ve notified Don Coscarelli and Joe Lansdale. You know, it’s Don Coscarelli’s project, he’s more than welcome to forge ahead. We couldn’t crack the script the way I saw it and we were going to come to loggerheads. I didn’t want to do that, so I backed out because I know now if the script isn’t where it needs to be, the movie will not get there either.
All in all, this was a quality interview that offered an abundance of insight into Bruce Campbell, his past work, and what's ahead for him. You can check out the full interview over on Inquisitr and be sure to follow Dead Entertainment for all the latest on any new Evil Dead projects, which are bound to happen sooner or later based on the above comments. Stay tuned!
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