Catching up with everyone’s favorite B-lister Bruce Campbell at the premiere of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Access Hollywood asked him what he knew of the fourth movie in the Spider-Man franchise, in which he has played a small role in the previous three, due to his longtime friendship with Spider-Man director Sam Raimi.
First, Campbell said that Raimi and the studio were hoping to begin shooting in January of 2010. Neat. Second, and maybe more exciting, is Bruce’s comment that in this film he will be playing a “major part,” although that was all that was said, which is leading to much speculation around the geekdom – with hopes by many that “major part” equals “major villain.” Now, of course, this could have just been Bruce being silly and spewing something just to get people talking, which is very possible – but on the other hand, I would not be surprised. In fact, I’ve always wondered by Raimi hasn’t used his good friend’s talents more in these movies.
Maybe it was due to my devotion to the character as a child – reading the comics, watching the cartoon religiously – but I enjoyed the hell out of the first two Spider-Man movies. They were fun popcorn fare that didn’t take themselves too serious and despite the problems, were a whole lot of fun to watch. The third, of course, is an unarguable, large in part to the inclusion of three villains and some really unbearable moments. Raimi has at times not hid his displeasure with the third movie, mostly involving the studio forcefully making him include the villain of Venom in his movie, a villain he has never been fond of in the first place (which is apparent by the throw away character that Venom was in the third movie).
With the next movie, it would be nice to have a villain that didn’t have a noble motive or a good heart deep down like every other villain explored so far in the movies. Just a nasty, asshole villain, which is why I think so many people are pulling for Bruce Campbell to take on the role of Mysterio (aka Quentin Beck), a Hollywood stuntman and special effects genius who decides that his talents could be better used as a supervillain. With his created illusions, his magician and hypnotist skills, his understanding of chemistry, and his hand-to-hand combat skills he proves to be one of Spidey’s most dangerous foes, especially after the creation of a gas that negates Spider-Man’s spider-sense.
It would be good stuff and I think Bruce would pull off the character nicely – and who wouldn’t want to see Raimi and Campbell really work together again? Keep it to one villain with no noble intentions. Begin a new, interesting story-arc for the “second trilogy.” Scrap Mary Jane (for now, at least) and bring on some more Gwen Stacy. While Spider-Man 3 left a bad taste in my mouth, if Bruce really jumps on board for a major part, and that major part happens to be a villain, I’m stoked.
I think that the Lizard would be a logical villain as well, since they’ve been prepping Conners for the last couple films. However, I’d rather Bruce be involved in this film. If it means scrapping Conners for later on, so be it. Also, I could totally see Bruce as Kraven.
The problem is that while Campbell is an awesome personality he’s not a very good actor so I think that’s why he isn’t in bigger roles, other than low budget films made by fans who are cashing in on his cult status.
And I think that “major role” is a joke. But who knows.
Like I said, it may have just been Bruce blowing smoke, which means this speculation is all useless, but it’s still fun to think about. As for his acting, I don’t think it would be a problem in a Spider-Man movie, where the villains are supposed to be somewhat cartoonish (as his acting somewhat is). Alfred Molina, of course, is a great actor, but he played the role of Doc Ock very over-the-top in a way that Bruce could play a villain very easily, I think. They don’t go for the serious, gritty Dark Knight tone. I think he’d fit in fine.
Bruce was a prominent (and awesome) voice in Cloudy with a chance of meatballs, which I saw today. It’s probably my surprise success of the year, wasnt expecting anything and it definitely rose above the usual CGI dreck you get when you wade outside Pixar and one in a dozen Dreamworks flicks. But I see after the fact why it probably worked for me – the people behind it are the very capable team behind Clone High and to a lesser extent (for me anyways) How I Met Your Mother. They were also behind pushing the Lonely Island’s pilot before they ever even took off.
So far almost everything I’ve heard about Meatballs is that it is damn good. And I’ve heard it from people I mostly trust. I doubt I’ll get out to see it, but I’m at least intrigued.
I was cynical until the second i realized that i liked it. i didnt think much of the trailer, and i didnt think much of the character designs, at least initially.
when it starts it has that ‘throw a zillion jokes around’ MO and that manic energy movement that you expect from shitty animation companies. but as it goes along and especially after the story has really kicked in, i was sailing with it. All of the seemingly one off gags and annoying catchphrases actually turn out to be clever recurring gags with actual payoffs or are just well woven back through everything the way Arrested Development does that sort of thing.
The voice work is pretty great actually as well. Hader is mostly unrecognizable actually, but Samberg really rolls with his very annoying character, James Caan sounds like Gandalfini, Bruce Campbell is a highlight as the dad, Anna Farris is always good, and Mr. T actually is in a role where he’s not just there for “Hey, its Mr. T” – his character is actually pretty cool. So they one-upped Dreamworks’ normal sense of voice casting there.
My autopsy on this thing is that its not a perfect movie or even a perfect kids movie, but that any fan of Clone High should go check it out because it’s very much along that sense of humor. On a base level it’s also a very good action movie.