Annotation:
B-Movie Actor, Bruce Campbell reveals “the man behind the curtain,” the dark side of the film industry, and shows that making it even as a B-actor is not as easy as you might think.
Justification for Nomination:
Bruce starts his autobiography with his childhood in Michigan, and the many adventures he had alone and with his brothers. He and his brothers burned, flooded, and other wise destroyed plastic green army men, they built forts, and shot bottle-rockets at their alcoholic neighbor. The coup-de-grace of their pranks, in my opinion, was the fake UFO they created from balsa wood, candles, and laundry bags which actually alarmed several locals. Adolescence comes not long afterwards, and he not only deals with the normal awkward teen issues, but falls in with a group of friends who have an affinity for making homemade movies.
Bruce gets bit by the acting bug while making movies with his friends that are well received by the community, and while doing local theater. His big coming of age moment is when he and friend Sam Raimi (Director of Spider-Man) procure funds, and actually make their first movie, Evil Dead. Much time is spent describing the whole Evil Dead experience. Thanks to word of mouth, and some lip service from Stephen King, the movie recoups the debt they owed. Bruce gives great details about his difficulties finding work as an actor, how difficult that really is, and the affects that this had on his marriage and personal life. After the success of Evil Dead, he had a life filled with uncertainty for several years. Despite the uncertainty of income, and livelihood, he gained roles in commercials, Coen brothers films, and films such as Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness, Maniac Cop, Congo, Mchale’s Navy, and other movies. He also describes his meetings with various actors, such as Charlton Heston, David Carradine, Tom Arnold, French Stewart, and Liam Neeson. He wraps up the book with his experiences doing TV shows, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., and Xena: Warrior Princess, as well as a summary of what it means to be an actor in that crazy pseudo-world. It’s his behind the scenes tales of movies and the people who make them.
Teens will love this book, because he starts where they have been, childhood, and then moves through his adolescence, and his change in interests. He also embarks on a quest, to be an actor and make his living by this craft. He is joined by some friends who are able to help him in this quest to become an actor. He has a coming of age moment on the quest, which is to successfully make and market his first film with his friends, and they succeed. He has failures after this, but successes too. The book is really about his ongoing quest to be an actor that can make a living, while at the same time staying sane, in an insane business. He doesn’t pull any punches, and shows that making it as an actor is incredibly tough, but rewarding in its own way. His book portrays how one man found himself, and achieved his own identity.
Bruce also depends on adults early on into his twenties to finance Evil Dead, but then later removes himself from that need. He and his friends also solve the problem of financing, making, and selling a film against steep odds anddo it successfully. The importance of his relationships with his friends is emphasized throughout his story, mainly because they usually make movies together. Finally, teens may think that becoming an actor is an easy way to make a life; sadly this is rarely the case. By reading Bruce Campbell’s autobiography teens can “try on” this life style, and see if it’s right for them, or at the very least learn more about it.
Suggestions for improvement:
In some spots his writing is confusing. At the start of one paragraph he’s doing odd jobs in Michigan, but at the end he’s a security guard in California with no real clarification as to how he had arrived there.
Genre: Auto-Biography, Film, Acting
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