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Hooray for Hollywood? ... Well, not so fast Actor travels from 'Brisco County' to Jacksonville By BILL VARBLE Bruce Campbell's Hollywood book is not one of those things in which the star thanks the little people. "If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor" is a bleacher-seat view of the entertainment industry. "Who are the little people?" Campbell says in a phone interview. "We are the little people. The little people are working their butts off." It's perhaps telling that the busy actor ("Xena," "Hercules," "The X-Files") moved to tiny Jacksonville in 1998 - a long way from Los Angeles. "If I were a movie star and talked about, 'Oh, the pressure of it,' why would anybody care?" he asks, talking from Los Angeles. "Get outta here. I wanted to write something the average guy could understand. I've got a Detroit sensibility." Campbell hails from Royal Oak, Mich., a Detroit suburb actually, where he started making cheeseball super-8 pics with future bigshot director Sam Raimi in high school in 1975. He says he never once thought of doing anything else. "We never said, 'This is crazy,' but everyone was telling us that." The two made a low-budget movie called "Evil Dead" in 1979. The picture was a hit in England, got raves from Stephen King and was picked up for U.S. release by New Line Cinema. After the sequel was grabbed by Dino DeLaurentis, Campbell moved to Los Angeles and made small-budget films, another "Evil Dead" picture and Warner Brothers' "The Hudsucker Proxy." He moved into television with roles in "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.," "Lois and Clark," and "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" (where he reprises the role of Autolycus, the King of Thieves), as well as "Xena: Warrior Princess." He's appeared in "Ellen," "Congo" and "The X-Files." At age 42, for what he calls no apparent reason, he wrote an autobiography. Maybe it's another place to rant. Campbell is an admitted ranter. He's a proponent, for example, of a tier of Academy Awards that would honor independent pictures. "We should have the Hollywood Academy Awards and the Indie (Independent) Academy Awards," he says. A typical Hollywood picture now costs $30 million-plus, has two stars, one of a few popular story lines, product tie-ins. "They're going crazy with the marketing and the packaging," he says. "Movies used to be commerce masquerading as art. Now it's just kind of naked. "When you have Johnny Depp in 'Donnie Brasco' explaining 'fuhget about it!' and rolling a can of Budweiser on his forehead so you see the label ... They have whole lines of people who do nothing but product placement!" Raimi, Campbell's old pal, has entered the echelons Campbell rants against. "In horror films, actors are chess pieces," he says. "Now he's dealing with Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman." Campbell pals Joel and Ethan Coen ("Fargo," "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"), on the other hand, have found a perfect world, making pictures that aren't big bucks by studio standards and keeping control. Ethan Coen was an assistant editor on the first "Evil Dead" movie. Campbell says the brothers' sets differ sharply from the Hollywood norm. "They have rehearsals," he says. "It's very quiet, a close set, an ideal atmosphere." So really, how bad is it in Hollywood? "In television, you have to negotiate your contract in advance before you have an audition. Each of four finalists has to negotiate a five-year contract with a one-in-four chance of getting the job. "I can't tell you how many times I've had lawyers draw up big contracts. They don't even want you yet, and you have to act like you have the job. "We'd be shouting at each other. Hardball. Or there's an envelope you have to sign before you walk in and audition." Despite everything, this is clearly a guy who loves movies. "The book is not to expose the industry," he says. "It's more like, here's the inside stuff. "In the land of fantasy, there's a hell of a lot of reality." Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail [email protected] A selection of Campbell-isms On acting: "Every time I hear somebody say they're doing something as a backup to acting, I know he's not gonna make it." On directors: "How miserable am I gonna be, and does he know what he's doing?" On stardom: "I don't see why everyone has it in their pea brain they've got to be Bruce Willis." On Hollywood: "Why the hell was I living there?" On integrity: "What's the price of your soul?" Book signing Who : Bruce Campbell. What : Book signing, "If Chins Could Kill." When : 7 p.m. Monday. Where : Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Medford. For more on Campbell and his book, try a visit to brucecampbellbook.com. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.