Bruce Campbell interview: Cooking with Chef in The Last Kids on Earth

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SITGES, SPAIN – OCTOBER 12: Bruce Campbell poses during a photocall at the Sitges Film Festival 2016 on October 12, 2016 in Sitges, Spain. (Photo by Robert Marquardt/Getty Images) /

Grill Like the Devil

1428 Elm: You have a great scene where you are having a pizza cook-off with Dirk. It was very amusing. Besides being able to cut bananas diagonally, do you have any culinary skills like Chef?

BC: I can make a mean salad because my mother effectively closed our kitchen when I was in high school. She announced that she was done cooking.

1428 Elm: Okay…

BC: And I’m like, Wow, Mom. You’re timing is perfect. I have two older brothers; at that point we never ate more food in our lives and she closes the kitchen. I’m like are you just being mean? It just seemed like a mean thing to do.

Not that she really cooked that much, you know. But I learned how to do salads, so I can make a real mean salad. I can chop anything. I don’t have the style or finesse of holding my fingers in a certain way, or using certain equipment. Give the average schlub a good set of knives and away you go.

I’m pretty good at grilling. I’m a good little griller. I grill like the devil.

1428 Elm: What does that mean?

BC: Here’s how you cook like the devil. 6,6 and 6. You do 6 minutes on each side of your steak and then you let it rest for 6 minutes. So, if you want it to taste heavenly, you cook like the devil.

Notes for Young Actors

1428 Elm: Do you have any advice for young actors that want to get into animation?

BC: Look, its important for actors, if they’re not retiring to work. And I enjoy audio work because it keeps my voice up and running, I like how clean it is.

I can still interact and participate in the business, 30 minutes from my house. It’s all pretty nice. Young actors coming up, it’s a great way to go.

The only thing that they have to struggle with now, is there is more of a tendency to use name actors. And the only problems arise is when that name actor has a lousy voice, its either obnoxious or not quite right, or it doesn’t have enough variation or they’re still just playing a version of their own persona.