Movies
Sam Raimi Directing “Ash vs Evil Dead” Pilot
The S-Mart employee with the legendary “boomstick” isn’t done battling Deadites just yet, and is currently preparing to do battle once again in the Starz original series, “Ash vs Evil Dead“.
Dread Central caught up with Bruce Campbell, who plays Ashley J. Williams in the cult The Evil Dead trilogy, to talk about the new incarnation that will continue the adventures of Ash, with two new sidekicks (played by Ray Santiago and Dana DeLorenzo).
The biggest news to come out of the interview is that Sam Raimi, director of The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness, will be getting behind the camera for the pilot presentation of “Ash vs Evil Dead” from a script he wrote with Ivan Raimi, Craig DiGregorio, and Tom Spezialy! Sam Raimi will also serve as series executive producer along with Rob Tapert and Campbell with DiGregorio to serve as executive producer/showrunner.
In first plot details:
We are introduced to a nomadic Ash, a figure who’s not only haunted by traumatic memories but also terrorized by the unwelcome continuance of Deadite attacks, which have followed him to the myriad Midwestern trailer parks he’s been forced to call home. In an effort to eke out an existence and in keeping with his previous choice of career, the character spends his days working at Ted’s Superclub as a stock room trainee and, in true Ash fashion, his evenings chasing skirt in roadside bars.
“I’m bringing everything to the table. It’s a feisty version of Ash, who’s grizzled and just wants to be left alone,” Campbell says of the older, (not-so-much wiser) Ash.
With ten episodes ordered, principal photography is slated for this April in New Zealand with a planned Halloween 2015 series debut on Starz.
We should all hope for a successful run as there are plans for five seasons: “It’s an epic tale,” said Campbell. “How could you not [plan for that]? I’m a strong proponent of the ‘big picture’ plan, and we are planning for five seasons.”
If they’re lucky, they’ll get their five season, much like “The Walking Dead”, a show they consider their competition.
“We are competitive with ‘The Walking Dead,’ like, ‘We’ll show those fuckers!’ [Our] Deadites are very clever. They not stupid shufflers. They can mimic people; they can drive cars. They’re a fun threat. They [‘The Walking Dead’] are right up there [though] with being responsible for the current resurgence [of horror].”
Watch for more groovy casting as it comes in.
Movies
’28 Years Later’ – Ralph Fiennes, Jodie Comer, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson Join Long Awaited Sequel
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland (Annihilation, Men), the director and writer behind 2002’s hit horror film 28 Days Later, are reteaming for the long-awaited sequel, 28 Years Later. THR reports that the sequel has cast Jodie Comer (Alone in the Dark, “Killing Eve”), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter), and Ralph Fiennes (The Menu).
The plan is for Garland to write 28 Years Later and Boyle to direct, with Garland also planning on writing at least one more sequel to the franchise – director Nia DaCosta is currently in talks to helm the second installment.
No word on plot details as of this time, or who Comer, Taylor-Johnson, and Fiennes may play.
28 Days Later received a follow up in 2007 with 28 Weeks Later, which was executive produced by Boyle and Garland but directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Now, the pair hope to launch a new trilogy with 28 Years Later. The plan is for Garland to write all three entries, with Boyle helming the first installment.
Boyle and Garland will also produce alongside original producer Andrew Macdonald and Peter Rice, the former head of Fox Searchlight Pictures, the division of one-time studio Twentieth Century Fox that originally backed the British-made movie and its sequel.
The original film starred Cillian Murphy “as a man who wakes up from a coma after a bicycle accident to find England now a desolate, post-apocalyptic collapse, thanks to a virus that turned its victims into raging killers. The man then navigates the landscape, meeting a survivor played by Naomie Harris and a maniacal army major, played by Christopher Eccleston.”
Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) is on board as executive producer, though the actor isn’t set to appear in the film…yet.
Talks of a third installment in the franchise have been coming and going for the last several years now – at one point, it was going to be titled 28 Months Later – but it looks like this one is finally getting off the ground here in 2024 thanks to this casting news. Stay tuned for more updates soon!
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