The Evil Dead‘s Bruce Campbell reveals why he won’t be starring in any future superhero movies after his short stint in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy.
While the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Extended Universe fight over the cream of the Hollywood crop, 60-year-old Campbell says he doesn’t want to join the likes of Michelle Pfeiffer and return to the comic book movie genre.
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Speaking with ComicBook, Campbell reflected on his time with Spider-Man and why the industry has changed since he last starred in a superhero movie. He confessed, “Big blockbuster movies, whenever I see an actor get cast in one of those, I wince, because I go, ‘Oh, that poor son of a bitch is going to be in that suit for 10 years.’”
Although Campbell appeared in all three of Raimi’s Spider-Man movies from 2002 to 2007 — and was once rumored to return for the fourth movie as Mysterio — it sounds like he only did it to team up with Raimi after The Evil Dead.
Raimi’s Spider-Man movies came before the likes of the MCU and DCEU tied actors into multi-movie contracts. Campbell revealed that it is this long-term commitment that has put him off returning to the genre: “If shooting schedule’s seven months of shooting, you get your one month in the Bahamas, and then you’re promoting for three months, then you go right back to the next sequel, back in that same f-ckingsuit.’”
While it doesn’t seem that long since Tobey Maguire swung across the New York skyline as Peter Parker, even Campbell has noticed a change in the industry. “You’re looking at tennis balls on sticks,” he said. “So, that process is actually not for me, even though Ash vs. Evil Dead was all that. It was all marks on walls, tennis balls on sticks, the monster’s going to be here, noise over here, you know, that sort of stuff, it’s a different type of acting, and modern day actors are learning new technical skills that the old-timey actors didn’t have to learn.”
Movies like Avengers: Infinity War relied heavily on CGI effects, which is something that Campbell says he can’t get on board with. “Acting with nothing. That’s what they’re doing now. Castle’s not even there. ‘Oh, we’re going to put a great castle behind you. It’s not there now, but it’s going to be amazing.’”
Fans will never know what a fourth Spider-Man movie with an expanded role for Campbell would’ve been like, but the star makes it clear that he isn’t bothered anyway. In the meantime, fans can check out Campbell’s return as the iconic Ash Williams in all three seasons of Ash vs. Evil Dead.
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