(Laughing) I’m not schizophrenic, I don’t see rabbits, [and] I don’t travel through time. I think that you make stuff up for a living. That’s what we do, we tell stories. But at the same time, it is personal. I think good art should be personal.
The lead character in a film is often a variation of the filmmaker. Certainly there’s probably a lot of me in that character. I got in a fight with my gym teacher about the ‘Fear and Love Lifeline.’ Yes, that happened. There really was a Grandma Death. My brother and his friends stole her mailbox because she used to wave to the cars. I think you tell stories and I think that the intention of the film was to create a character based on people I remember who were friends, who were put on a lot of medication. I was never on any medication but I had a lot of friends who were – Ritalin and who knows what else. “Attention Deficit Disorder” – the plaque of our time.
How did you get to use “Evil Dead?”
In the script, they went to see the movie “C.H.U.D.” But our friends at 20th Century Fox Archives told us it would take 8-12 weeks before they could process the paperwork to begin to tell us whether or not we might be able to use the footage from “C.H.U.D.” We needed to know in a week, and it wasn’t going to happen. Linda McDonough at Flower Films is close friends with Sam Raimi’s producing partner. Sam Raimi and his partner own “Evil Dead.” They own the negative so there isn’t a sludge of bureaucracy associated with getting “Evil Dead.” You’ve got to call up Sam’s partner, and he’s cool. He’s like, “Yeah, sure you can use it.” We could get it and it became so much more appropriate.
There’s a whole thing with “The Last Temptation of Christ” on the marquee. There was originally a scene written where Donnie goes to see that movie and a woman behind the counter tells him that the film is evil. The film was banned in my town when it came out. It’s like relating to the censorship of the Graham Greene book. Then it became, “Well, if we can get ‘Evil Dead,’ Donnie’s going to go see ‘Evil Dead.’” (laughing) Sam Raimi gave it to us for free. He let us do whatever we wanted.
Do you want to hear a real freaky coincidence? There’s actually a lot of these. When we were shooting that marquee on Montana Street in Santa Monica, Sam Raimi drove right by – completely coincidentally – with his kid. His kid was like, “Daddy, is your movie playing with ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’?” It was completely a coincidence, right when we were shooting that. It was really bizarre.
Are you working on anything right now?
Yes, I’ve been in prep on my next movie for about 600 years. It’s never getting made (laughing). No, it is. We’re going to start shooting early next year. There’s still some legal entanglements that have to be worked out before we can begin production. It’s called “Knowing” and I can’t say anything else because I’ll jinx it. I’ve written a lot of scripts for a lot of other directors in the meantime. I’m excited to see what another director will do with one of my screenplays. That’s exciting to me.
It’s definitely been harder for me to get my second movie off the ground because it’s at least a $15 million film. The more money you’re asking for, the more control they don’t want to give you. It’s tough, but you’ll get there if you stick it through.
I’m really excited to direct again. I would have already directed another film if this had made money when it was initially released. It’s hard to ask someone for $15 million when your first film that cost $4.5 million grossed a whopping $500,000 at the domestic box office. There are a lot of people in this town who all they care about is the bottom line. They can’t recommend to their stockholders that they invest $15 to $20 million in a filmmaker whose first film made less than they spend on their dog food. But it’s done well; it’s made a lot of money. I’m very excited to try to make a film that can stand alongside this. Maybe I’ll never make something that people will like as much as they like this film, but I’ll certainly try – until they run me out of town and I’ll just direct infomercials.
As for other directors directing my material, I don’t sell my material that I’m going to direct. I don’t relinquish control of it until there’s a guarantee that it’s going into production. The scripts I’ve written for studios for hire are jobs; those are jobs. A script for Tony Scott, a script for Jonathan Mostow – I’m happy to do that. I love their films. I love these filmmakers. The great power that you have as a screenwriter or as a filmmaker is your ownership of your material and not relinquishing control of it. Once you do, once you take a dime for it, it’s not yours anymore. They own it and they can do anything they want with it. They can cast Carrot Top, and you’re f**ked.
