Jill Golden, USA WEEKEND staffer and Bruce Campbell fan, screened the Burn Notice star’s new movie, My Name Is Bruce, and interviewed him afterward. Here’s her report:
If you were in Washington, D.C., on Sunday and thought you saw Burn Notice star Bruce Campbell (at left) riding a Segway around town, you were probably right. Campbell, 50, who screened his latest movie, My Name Is Bruce, at the E Street Cinema Saturday night, told me he was looking forward to seeing “all the greatest hits,” including the Smithsonian and the National Archives (“Archives are totally my favorite”).
In My Name Is Bruce, a not-too-scary horror film, he plays “Bruce Campbell,” a jerky, self-absorbed version of himself. It’s kind of silly (townsfolk enlist the horror-film star to help them defeat the Chinese god of war), but the inside jokes and general goofiness are plenty to keep fans laughing.
On this multi-city tour, Campbell is doing Q&As with audiences. After the movie ended, he announced, “You just watched The True Bruce Campbell Story!” then took questions for about 20 minutes. He’s playful, mock-mocking — and everybody eats it up. He got questions about everything from his recent Old Spice commercials to that perennial favorite, 1981’s Evil Dead. Will there be an Evil Dead 4, one fan asked, in which Ash would train a young person to take his place, Indiana Jones-style? That launched Campbell into a hilarious impression of what he imagined Harrison Ford was like on the Indy set — and he doesn’t really want to take Ash there.
Click on read more below to learn what designer Campbell likes best, if he’ll direct an episode of Burn Notice and what else he’s working on.
Q: You mock yourself mercilessly in this movie…
That’s a PR person’s worst nightmare, this movie!
Q: Any jabs you were particularly sensitive about?
No, most people wince way more than me. It’s just a premise for a comedy. It has sometimes been misinterpreted as an ode to myself. I’m like, “Come on! Do I have that low self-esteem?” I’m not even sure if it was a good idea to call [the character] “Bruce Campbell.” It could have been “Dash Riprock: The Fighter of Monsters.” Some people read more into it because I am saying it’s me. [We thought calling him] “Bruce Campbell” would just add another strange, confusing element.
Q: Will the DVD, out in February, have lots of extras?
These days, you make a movie that’s an hour and a half long, and the extras are 17 hours. We have a massively extensive making-of. We did everything we could. An Easter-egg bonanza. A trailer for Cave Alien 2 [the movie inside the movie] — on and on.
Q: Your wardrobe in this movie is kind of like Sam’s on Burn Notice. Are you a Tommy Bahama kind of guy in real life?
I am. I’ve worn Tommy Bahama for years. They’re finally sponsoring the show next year. So I’m like, “Whoo hoo! More Tommy Bahama!” I used to have to pay for them. Maybe I don’t have to pay for them now.
Q: Sometimes Sam has to wear a suit as part of his cover. When you see that in the script, do you go, “Ugh!”?
Yeah, I do! It means I gotta shave and put more clothes on.
Q: Burn Notice returns Jan. 22 (it airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on USA Network)…
We’ll be on the air with six new episodes. After another smaller break, we start filming in March. I think the new shows will be on the air again in June.
Q: Do you want to direct an episode of Burn Notice?
No. I have a very good relationship with the star, Jeffrey Donovan. I’m a very bossy director; I want what I want. I directed Hercules and Xena, and we had a lot of leeway. Under other circumstances — they want you to do what the show is. They don’t need any reinvention. It’s fine. That one I’m gonna let go. I’m just gonna be a good little actor boy, say my lines and hide for eight years — behind Jeffrey Donovan. I’m just there for supporting. It’s a good situation.
Q: You’re still getting Evil Dead questions nearly 30 years later…
That’s mostly OK. You can’t blame somebody for wanting to know. But I keep trying to talk people out of [doing Evil Dead 4] because, you know — look, what’s the plot of Friday the 13th, Part VI? Does anyone know? No. The more you do, the more convoluted it gets. What are you gonna have, Ash in New York City? You have to always come up with some big, huge idea.
Q: Is it coming up with an idea that you don’t like more than not playing Ash again?
Sequels I’m only gonna be so excited about. Period. Evil Dead was never meant to have a sequel. Ash was killed. Then Crimewave [the next movie he did with director Sam Raimi] died a thousand deaths, and we went, “OK, he’s alive again!” We created the series out of thin air. We couldn’t get the rights to the original movie for recaps, so we reshot it with different actors, and people thought that Ash was dumb enough to go back to the cabin with new friends. “Hey, that last time was so much fun! Come on, let’s go back to the cabin!” You get continuity and logic problems when you create sequels that were never meant to be.
Q: So I’ll skip the Evil Dead 4 questions that I had prepared…
The only way to explain it is that Sam [Raimi] has got a couple more movies to make. I’ve got a minimum of a five-year deal with Burn Notice. So it’s just logistics. Honestly, Sam and I have not sat in a room and gone, “Man, we gotta make another one of these movies!” Physically, they’re a nightmare. So I can’t get that excited about something that physically destroys me.
Q: In the Q&A, you mentioned you’re “noodling” with something. Is it a book? A script?
A book. The rough working title is Vagabond: The Gypsy Life of an Actor. It’s a batch of hopefully humorous travel stories related to going to strange places to make movies.
Q: Will you get to be home for Thanksgiving?
No, but I’ll be with enough family to make it worth it.
Q: Any particular food you’re looking forward to?
We’re just tired of restaurant food. Any home-cooked meal would be great. We’ve avoided fast food, though. We’re relatively good little boys.
(photos courtesy Image Entertainment)
