Maybe you saw him in the "Evil Dead" movies. Or any of director Sam Raimi’s "Spider-Man" films. Or on TV, "Burn Notice", "Xena", "Hercules" or the "Adventures of Brisco County Jr". We’re talking about Bruce Campbell, who also starred in the Coen Brothers’ film "The Hudsucker Proxy", the Hallmark channel's "A Southern Family Christmas"… and if you haven’t seen "Bubba Ho-Tep," you should.
He’s got a new movie out called "Ernie & Emma".
I call it a Disney movie with drugs, alcohol, swearing and implied infidelity.Bruce Campbell
“This is a story about a guy who has been around for a while, and he's had some successes and failures. And in this particular case, he is handed a challenge that he's not ready for, which is the death of his wife,” said Campbell.
Emma sends her husband letters, telling him where to spread her ashes. So, Ernie goes on a road trip, visiting places from their past and walking down memory lane. And some of those trips are hard for Ernie to take.
“She's actually doing him a huge favor by making him do uncomfortable stuff, like go back to a crash site where they lost a son and he never would have gone back there in a hundred million years.”
I like picking characters that do not have a leg up, that they're not ready for the challenge that has been given to them.Bruce Campbell
Campbell wrote, directed and starred in the film, and he produced it with his wife Ida Gearon.
“A year or so ago, she's like, hey, dude, you're not getting any younger. When is this going to happen? So that's what led to kind of my wife sort of gave us the green light, so we produced it together,” said Campbell.
And the whole movie was shot in southern Oregon.
“What's cool is if you make a movie yourself, you don't have to make it where the producers want to make it. You can make it where it's good for the movie. This is an Oregon story,” he said.
He called in a lot of people he’s worked with before on this movie, including some of the original team from "Evil Dead" like actor Ted Raimi and composer Joseph Loduca. But he says "Ernie & Emma" is not a horror movie.
“I have to apologize to the audience, too. No chainsaws, no boomstick, no catchy one liners.”
He’s coming to the Egyptian in Boise to promote the film.
“I'm just a big fan of these themed theaters that are downtown, and they're sort of creaking at the knees, but they have great history, great bones, great stories.”
Campbell says the movie isn’t the most cheerful subject matter in the beginning, but “by the end of the movie, we feel better for Ernie. Ernie feels better about Ernie. The audience feels better about Ernie,” he says.
The Idaho Film Society is presenting "Ernie & Emma" at the Egyptian on May 15, with a special Q&A after the film.
