Ash Wednesday: Bruce Campbell and that ripped Army of Darkness poster
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the last film in the Evil Dead trilogy, Army of Darkness. Recently, Bruce Campbell was on the Allegedly Podcast talking about THAT poster.
“Everybody’s ripped, so you start working out at four in the morning and eating egg white omelets.” – Rob James-Collier on Beverly Hills
Bruce Was Allegedly Cut and Shredded
Twenty-five years ago, Army of Darkness was unleashed upon the world. It was to be the last movie in the Evil Dead trilogy. Most people remember the film with fondness. Some enjoy the famous one liners.
Others remember THAT poster. You know the one I am talking about. Bruce Campbell is wearing ripped jeans like a 1990s Grunge band god with hottie Sheila clinging to his inner thigh?
Ash Wednesday – Bruce Campbell -Cut and Shredded- AOD 1 – Courtesy of Dino De Laurentis and Renaissance Pictures
While the face is a decent rendering of his smirk and his eyebrow raise there is something decidedly, well, different about the picture. Campbell looks like he has been hitting the gym hard because he has a stomach that you can bounce quarters off of.
Then of course, there is the OTHER poster. This one depicts Bruce head back, arms raised with chainsaw and boomstick in the air. It would appear that someone has kidnapped the actor and replaced him with a Schwarzenegger wannabe.
Ash Wednesday – Bruce Campbell -Cut and Shredded- AOD 2 – Courtesy of Dino De Laurentiis and Renaissance Pictures
I know certain contingencies drool over these shots but personally I would have used the real Campbell and not this facsimile that looks like he is pumped on roids. After all, the idea behind the character of Ash is that he is “every man.”
That being said, he should look like an ordinary guy thrust into extraordinary circumstances and not a renegade from Muscle Beach in Venice, CA. So, who’s idea was it in the marketing department to use these posters for their ad campaigns?
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Bruce recently appeared on the Allegedly Podcast with Theo Von and Matthew Cole Weiss where he was asked a random fan question of “How accurate to scale were your muscles in the Army of Darkness poster?”
As usual, Campbell’s answer was witty and brutally honest. “They were never accurate. Here’s the thing. Here’s what they did for that poster.” “Hey, Bruce! Saturday come to North Hollywood. We’re going to take a shot of your face doing kind of a smarmy reaction. That’s what they’re looking for.”
He went on to say, “Then they just take your head and the whole thing is like a Frank Frazetta poster. Dino De Laurentiis went even crazier because he handled the foreign sales so I’m Schwarzenegger.”
“What jerk producers like that don’t realize is that most of the world will think it’s me going, hey man, can you pump those muscles up a little bit? Help a guy out. I get blamed.” “He worked with Schwarzenegger so he knew what sells. He did Conan the Barbarian. The guys with big muscles sell movies.”
Next: Ash Wednesday: Bruce Campbell welcomes back Fangoria