Finding Bruce Campbell – Part Two

Read Part One Here

Day Three: Saturday – “THIS IS JUST ABOUT THE WORST TIME FOR THIS KINDA THING”

On Saturday, we knew that the three fans, John, Michael and Emanuel would be especially busy meeting members of the cast for photo ops and signings. We wanted to follow them around, film them as they met with the actors and creators they’d come so far to see.

Emanuel had come equipped with portraits of various stars in attendance, each of them beautifully hand-drawn by his father. Steve caught a perfect shot of the fan as he gave Sarah Berry her portrait. Her reaction was priceless. She was shocked as we saw her say, “This is for me?”

Bruce Campbell wouldn’t be arriving until the afternoon but fans had already started lining up to meet him and the lines were getting ridiculously long. Fans were eventually penned into taped off areas throughout the convention floor, clusters of cosplayers and horror-lovers in various states of unrest.

While Martin filmed the fans, Steve and I wandered the con. We spoke to the Three Ladies of Evil Dead, Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Baker and Theresa Tilly. Steve had interviewed them previously and had also managed to land them as guests of the Montreal HorrorFest. He knew them well and they knew him. All three are lovely people and Ellen, who had helped get our request letter to Bruce, expressed hope that we would get our interview.

“I sent it to him,” she assured us. “I can’t say if he saw it, but I sent it.”

The Three Ladies of Evil Dead at the 2014 Horror Hound

The Three Ladies of Evil Dead at the 2014 Horror Hound

 

In addition to Bruce, there was one other cast member Steve and his team hadn’t yet interviewed: Ted Raimi. Steve decided it was a good time to speak to him, to hand him a copy of the press kit and ask for an interview. I would do the talking.

With his table between us, I made my pitch: We’re making a documentary not about Evil Dead, but about the fans of Evil Dead. We’ve interviewed everyone but Bruce and himself. All we need is ten minutes, anytime and anywhere.

Ted was gracious and genuinely intrigued but understandably non-committal.

“I really don’t know if I would have time, guys. This is just about the worst time for this kind of thing.”

Then he added, “You want to speak to Mike. He’s my manager.”

As we walked from Ted’s table, Steve said, “Mike: I know who that is.”

That morning, Steve had stumbled upon a new potential avenue to a possible interview with Bruce. He’d noticed a post on Facebook thanking Bruce and several other cast members for dinner the previous evening. One name, however, was unfamiliar and so Steve punched it into IMDB.

In addition to being Ted Raimi’s manager, this guy, Mike, was also Bruce Campbell’s assistant.

Raimi’s words confirmed it: With a little luck and investigative initiative, Steve had uncovered the Gate Keeper.

 

Be back soon for Part Three!