Bruce Campbell trivia: Revisiting Gary Green, the captain of Lodge 49

Bruce Campbell had a 3-episode arc on the wonderfully quirky dramedy, Lodge 49 on AMC last year. Since the show is currently filming season 2, we decided to go behind the scenes with some trivia.

The Captain of Long Beach

Bruce Campbell surprised his fans last year by doing a 360. The actor best known for his genre-based material, appeared in 3 episodes on AMC’s delightfully offbeat comedy-drama, Lodge 49.

His character, Gary Green was an unseen presence on the show but frequently talked about in reverential hushed tones. Only known as “The Captain,” he was a mythical figure in Southern California. A king with a kingdom stretching all the way to “certain parts of Baja.”

Green was a real estate developer and a wealthy one at that. Accustomed to getting his way, his deals were legendary and his success was something that the average citizens of Long Beach aspired to. However, behind that go-getter façade was a man who was falling apart.

Living in a “moral grey area” he was always one step away from incarceration. This willingness to straddle the line was causing him trouble in his personal life. Campbell’s Green could be the poster boy for “Be careful for what you wish for.”

When we first “meet” Gary in the episode entitled, The Solemn Duty of the Squire, he is lying in a kiddie pool, wasted and chugging Bloody Mary’s. No one in the history of television has made an entrance quite like that.

This was a triumphant return to the small screen for Bruce after the cancellation of Ash vs Evil Dead at STARZ. Despite the fact that he was initially reluctant to take on the role of Captain, we are definitely glad that he did.

With filming for season 2 underway, what better time to go behind the scenes of season 1 and look at some trivia. If we’re lucky, maybe Bruce will do another guest spot on Lodge 49 reprising Gary. Fingers crossed!

Trivia Time

Here are some interesting bits of info and observations about Bruce Campbell’s stint on Lodge 49.

• The man that fans need to thank for casting Campbell in the series is actor Paul Giamatti who is the executive producer of the show. At one time, the pair were going to work together in a prequel to Bubba Ho-Tep. Giamatti was going to play Colonel Tom Parker to Bruce’s Elvis.
• In episode 8, Something from Nothing, Bruce, Wyatt Russell and Brent Jennings are in a restaurant that features Flamenco guitar. The three men are discussing their dreams. Gary reveals that he wanted to be an astronaut who goes to the moon. Oddly enough, in the movie Moontrap, Campbell portrayed an astronaut named Ray Tanner. He also portrayed one in Alien Apocalypse.
• Bruce spends quite a bit of time in a kiddie wading pool. Judging by the attire of the crew, the shoot must have been held on a very brisk day. Campbell stated that they kept the water warm for him.

BTS, Bruce Campbell as Captain, Director Michael Trim – Lodge 49 _ Season 1, Episode 8 – Photo Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/AMC

• He based his character of Gary Green on the fathers of friends from his youth who were successful developers but not necessarily happy people.

Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t seen the series yet, don’t read this particular piece of trivia.

• Bruce likes the cinematic way his character met his fate on the show. For those of you that are familiar with the scene, Green gets impaled on a narwhal statue in his swimming pool.

Campbell had this to say about the way the sequence was handled:

"“If you shot that in an action movie or horror movie, you’d have handhelds whipping back, the harpoon would go off. Aaahh. You’d see it go through the eye, he’d stumble back, and he’d crash through a plate-glass window, flip over the railing. You’d see all of it. But the way they do it in this show is so you have to imagine a lot of it. You see the end results and put it together.”"

If you haven’t had the chance to catch Bruce in Lodge 49, it is streaming on Hulu. Stay tuned because Campbell is the new face of the reboot of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for the Travel Channel. The 10-episode series will premiere in the summer.

Did you see Bruce Campbell in Lodge 49? What did you think of his performance? Tell us what you think in the section below. We want to hear from you.