Fans from all across Massachusetts gathered at Mt. Holyoke College this weekend to catch a glimpse of actor Bruce Campbell in action.
The event was held this past Sunday at the Chapin Auditorium and included a book/memorabilia signing after the presentation. Campbell, renowned B-movie actor of the cult movie classic Evil Dead was on hand to promote his new book If Chins Could Kill, Confessions of a B-Move Actor. It was sponsored in part by the Mount Holyoke College Film Studies and the Odyssey Bookshop of the Village Commons, off College Street in South Hadley.
“No matter what I wrote, people will always be tortured,” Campbell said during the presentation, making the light note that he has added writing to his already large repertoire as an actor.
A documentary film that focused on the Campbell fan base preceded the event. It gave the audience a different perspective of not only Campbell’s fans, but also fans of other sci-fi convention genre. Narrated by Campbell himself, the documentary shed some light on the little known facts of fan-ville.
“Why are people fans?” he asked in the film. “Why are they fans to the extent that they’re going to spend forty weeks in making a costume that they will walk across the stage with in four seconds? That’s fascinating.”
Fans were put into the spotlight and ranged from the “mildly obsessive” to the “fanatical.” Examples of the “fanatical” are acts such as altering names and having surgery done to look like their favorite actor/actress. According to Campbell, the extremely “fanatical” involves “lawsuits” and “police.” He even hinted to the fact of being stalked by a couple of fans on more than one occasion.
The main point that Campbell tried to emphasize in the film is that the fans “expect that person to be that character.” He is trying to lift the shroud that covers this gray area. Ted Raimi, a fellow actor, makes the point that, “they want a certain thing in you. That’s what they’re paying for. We as actors run a very fine line of giving them what they want, but not giving too much away.” In one scene, Bruce decides to go in a Maritinee shirt because he wanted to be more approachable and also for the fact that “unfortunately, these maniacs can drink during the show.”
Convention goers who felt chastised for what they like, had the opportunity to be at a place where they wouldn’t be ostracized for their race, religion or belief. It made a difference in their lives and gave them an outlet to have fun. Campbell recognized the interests of his fans and tried to empathize with them.
“They’re still holding on to being a child,” said Harry Knowles, a convention goer. “It’s a way to get away from all of their day-to-day problems.”
“I am who I am,” said Campbell. “I sit with them, tell jokes and sign autographs. Actors have an obligation to the fans to acknowledge them, to interact to some degree. And fans have to realize as part of their yin and yang that they cannot always be able to crawl into the head of the person that they watch on television, because they’re not that character. And sometimes they want to be left alone, so as long as the yin and yang find a balance, then everything’s groovy.”
After the video, Campbell walked onstage to begin the second half of the presentation. He began reading a passage from his book on the Chapter of Fanalysis and compared his idolization with icons such as Dough McClure and Steve McQueen.
“As a seventeen year old kid fresh out of high school, I had my first brush with celebrity as a theatre apprentice,” Campbell read. “There I met a number of ‘famous’ people and worked among them for three months. Meeting actors in person who I idolized as a kid was both a thrilling and horrifying experience. More than anything I learned that celebrities aged just like normal people. Weird, isn’t it?”
As Campbell continued, he reminisced about how his fan base grew. He remarked how that it wasn’t until The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. that he began to capture a wider range of viewers than those who followed the three Evil Dead series. More regular viewers meant more fan mail, and more fan mail meant a wider range of fan appreciation. He began to see at conventions different aspects of fans converging and inspiring one side of “cowboys,” to another side of “leather clad, spiked deadites.”
After a few more passages, he went to answer a few questions from the audience. The questions ranged from, “what it’s like recording voice-overs for video games?” to “what was easier to do, movies or TV shows?” Every time an audience would ask a question, he would go into an anecdote about everything and anything. There were no questions asked that Campbell did not reply to with a comical answer.
“It’s just hard to get excited,” replied Campbell, regarding his reaction to the recent release of the Army of Darkness toys, “when they come out ten years after the movie was made.”
After answering more questions, it was time for the book signing. Long lines of fans, brandishing his new book and memorabilia, formed immediately after the announcement was made. There were people that came from as far away as New York, just to meet Campbell up close and personal and have their picture taken with him.
“I liked it a lot,” said Anders Rasmussen, a student of the University of Massachusetts in Boston. “I had no idea of what to expect, but he was funny and had a good sense of humor. His personality was what I expected it to be.”
