Evil Dead franchise star and producer Bruce Campbell is discussing how cancer has affected his life after announcing his diagnosis earlier this year.
Campbell, who along with director Sam Raimi and producer Rob Tapert released the horror film classic The Evil Dead in 1981, went on to become a horror icon with the original film trilogy — which also includes 1987’s Evil Dead II and 1992’s Army of Darkness — with his portrayal of the antihero Ash Williams.
In addition to reprising the beloved character in the STARZ series Ash vs. Evil Dead from 2015-2018, Campbell, along with Raimi and Tapert, produced a reboot of the franchise with 2013’s Evil Dead, 2023’s Evil Dead Rise and this summer’s Evil Dead Burn.
Now, as Campbell readies himself for an Alamo Draft House tour of his new film, Ernie & Emma — in which he stars, directs and produces (along with his wife, Ida Gearon) — he’s opening up more about how cancer has changed his life since he announced his diagnosis of a “treatable” but not “curable” form of the disease on March 2.
In an interview with Michael Rosenbaum on Tuesday posted on the actor’s Inside of You podcast, Campbell said being diagnosed gave him a clear vision on setting important priorities, and he’s hopeful about what the future brings.
“I was asked the other day, ‘Hey, you know, how are you doing?’ and I was like, ‘Okay, how about this perspective: If you want to get your financial house in order from A to Z, get cancer,” Campbell told Rosenbaum. “If you want to rekindle with friends and family that you haven’t talked to in decades, get cancer. If you want to refocus your life — laser focus — only on the things that bring you joy and remove the drudgery from your life forever, get cancer.”
Campbell also noted that getting cancer also made him focus on the good things in life.
“I have these waves of gratitude. It chokes me up,” Campbell told Rosenbaum. “It’ll just hit me, and it’s overwhelming, and I’m like, ‘Wait. I’m supposed to want to jump off a bridge right now, aren’t I?’ You know what I mean? But the opposite is happening. It’s weird. It’s tough to talk about.
“I look at myself, and I go, ‘Holy s—t. I’m living with an angel, and she was sort of my b——y wife a couple of months ago, “Campbell added, cracking a smile along with a laugh. “So that’s another one, too, ‘[If you want to] rekindle a relationship with a close significant other, get cancer’ because it strips all the other crap away.”
Bruce Campbell Said The Cancer Diagnosis Took Some Time To Get Used To
During the Inside of You interview, Bruce Campbell told Michael Rosenbaum that he thinks he’s “doing as well as you can do for having cancer.”
“I go through most of my day not thinking that I have any cancer,” Campbell said. It’s a bit of a whack-a-mole life that I have to get used to.”
At first, the actor-producer admitted, the diagnosis was filled with “cryptic or bad” information.
“For breakfast, we’d have a s— sandwich with a side of what the f—,” Campbell told Rosenbaum. “That was a couple-month period where the information would come in all of it’s cryptic or bad, or whatever … It’s a lot of schooling I didn’t want to go to. It’s a lot of meetings I didn’t want to go to.”
After hosting a handful of screenings of Ernie & Emma, including a local premiere in his adopted home state of Oregon and another in his birthplace of Michigan at the Redford Theatre, Campbell will begin his 18-date Alamo Drafthouse tour of the film on Sept. 4 in Los Angeles.
In the film, Campbell stars as Ernie Tyler, a retired pear salesman in Oregon who, after the death of his wife, Emma (voice of Robin McAlpine), is given a series of letters instructing him where to spread her ashes as a way to heal his heartache. The film also stars Cerina Vincent, Ted Raimi and Emma Raimi.
Campbell’s serves as an executive producer on Evil Dead Burn, which is produced by Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert. Evil Dead Burn is playing in theaters nationwide.