The King and I
He established Autolycus as one of Xena and Hercules' most popular recurring characters and helmed some of both series' finest hours. Now, Bruce Campbell has landed the leading role in Renaissance Pictures' latest series, Jack of All Trades. In conversation with David Bassom, the prolific actor-writer-director discusses his transformation from the King of Thieves to the Prince of Tides...
Official Xena Magazine: Issue 04
It was bound to happen. After regularly stealing Xena and Hercules' thunder, the King of Thieves has walked away with his own show. In Renaissance Picture's eagerly-awaited new series, Jack of All Trades, Bruce Campbell begins a life on the ocean wave as Jack Stiles, an 18th Century spy based in the Caribbean. At first inspection, Campbell's heroic adventures on the high seas would appear to have little in common with his criminal capers in the Xena-verse. But as the actor explains, the role of Jack Stiles actually represents a logical progression from his portrayal of Autolycus.
“My character in Jack of All Trades will be as though Autolycus was a hero,” promises Campbell. “Viewers will definitely see similarities between the two characters. Jack will sort of be the first spy, because he'll be working for a very early American President, and he'll have many more redeeming qualities than Autolycus. But he'll hopefully have Autolycus’ best qualities too.
“Jack Stiles won’t be like a classical leading man, because they’re a bore. Writers don’t like writing dialogue for classical leading men. So I will be an unconventional leading man if I have anything to do with it. Jack will be irreverent and have a very sharp tongue, and he won’t be as altruistic as you might expect.
“I think that the toughest part of all is to create a lead character who is as interesting as the bad guys,” he notes. “That’s my personal goal - to make that lead character one of the most interesting characters, along with my co- star, Angie Dotchin [Emelia].”
Jack of All Trades follows the exploits of Jack Stiles and his partner, Emelia, as they tackle seafaring criminals from around the globe. Together with Cleopatra: 2525, the half-hour show has been designed to fill the void left by the conclusion of Renaissance Pictures’ earlier smash hit, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. While Campbell readily acknowledges that the son of Zeus is going to be a tough act to follow, he has every hope that Jack will emerge as a worthy successor to Hercules.
“Jack of All Trades will be an entertaining, fairly family-orientated comedy,” he says. “There will be a fair amount of action in the show, but there won’t be as many special effects as there are in Hercules. It will be a little more straightforward; a little more dialogue and character-orientated.
“It will be short and sweet,’’ he grins. “And if people don’t like it, it’s only half an hour long!”
With its tongue-in-cheek mix of action, adventure and heroism, Jack of All Trades has been universally acknowledged as a perfect vehicle for its leading man. It comes as something of a surprise, then, to learn that Campbell turned down the project when it was originally pitched to him towards the end of 1998.
“I passed on this role about a year ago, because of personal reasons,” he reveals. “It had nothing to do with the show or the company. I had sort of vowed not to get back into series television ever again because of the toll that it takes. The [annual] nine-month schedule required by shows like Hercules and Xena would have driven me insane. But then Jack was retooled to the half-hour format, which made the schedule much more desirable.
“So the elements finally came together in a way [in which] I could be involved. And I’m very excited about it. I was drawn to the fact that it’s a comedy. And it's great to be working with [Renaissance Pictures] and in New Zealand, because it’s so far away [from Hollywood], you’re able to pretty much just do what you need to do. You don’t have to make a phone call about everything.”
Like Hercules and Xena before it, the relationship between Jack of All Trades' two central characters will be crucial to the series’ success. Campbell believes that Jack and Emilia will make an extremely interesting screen partnership.
“Their relationship will be very adversarial,” he explains. “It will be a question of who’s in charge. And the fact that Emelia’s a woman with a lot of capabilities in the 1700s will make Jack feel very threatened by her; he’ll feel threatened by her intelligence and her wit.
“My character will be much more streetsmart than Emilia, who will be very booksmart. But as we go on various missions, it will become clear that we need each other. She is probably going to be better with various languages and customs, and I’ll be more useful when it comes time to bash heads!”
To star in Jack of All Trades, Campbell has relocated from America to Auckland, New Zealand, where he plans to spend six months of every year the series is in production. Naturally, this epic move has been made easier by the fact that he has regularly visited the Southern Continent during the past five years, to both guest-star in and direct various episodes of Hercules and Xena. According to Campbell, his time on the two shows not only helped pave the way for his latest project, but has also proven to be one of his most memorable and important working experiences to date.
“I think Hercules and Xena are pretty obvious highlights of my career because, as far as television goes, they’re the most successful things I’ve been involved in,” he states. “I also believe Autolycus is probably my best-known role right now. Herc and Xena have certainly been able to snag a generation of viewers who didn't even know things like [Campbell’s earlier hits] the Evil Dead movies existed.”
Campbell originally became involved with Hercules and Xena through his longtime association with Executive Producers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, both of whom began their careers with the aforementioned Evil Dead movies. For his first trip to Ancient Greece, Campbell actually donned his director’s hat to helm the first season Hercules episode, The Vanishing Dead. It wasn’t until the show’s second season premiere, The King of Thieves, that he made the first of what was destined to be a series of appearances as Autolycus.
“Autolycus started off with a one-time deal,” recalls Campbell. "Rob Tapert called me and said, ‘I’ve got a part for you that’s perfect.’ And I just went, ‘Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard that before.’ But then I read it and thought, ‘Yeah, he’s right. It's perfect.’ So I agreed to do it.
“After that, we kept it on a very casual basis. My function was to add some spice to the main course, and to provide back-up when Kevin [Sorbo, Hercules] was not up to speed or if Lucy [Lawless, Xena] was injured. I would just fill-in until they got back on their feet. It wasn't until 1998 that I finally signed a contract to do a certain amount of episodes.”
From his earliest appearances, the King of Thieves stole the hearts of even the most cynical Hercules and Xena viewers. Campbell believes that the reason for Autolycus’ popularity is obvious.
“I think people will always have a little place in their hearts for scoundrels,” he says. “Autolycus doesn't have to do the right thing. But at the end of the day, the audience also knows that he will do the right thing. Autolycus always winds up working for Hercules and Xena for various reasons, and he never gets away with it. I don’t think I’ve ever stolen anything that I didn’t give back or forfeit!”
Following The King of Thieves, Autolycus went on to become a regular fixture on both Hercules and Xena, and notched-up some 20 appearances across both shows. This gave Campbell a unique opportunity to regularly switch between the two productions and observe their development.
“The dynamic was very different on the two shows,” he notes. “I got along very well with Kevin and Michael [Hurst, lolaus] on Hercules. It was the guy show, so there was a lot of male bonding going on. And Xena’s obviously the girl show, so instead of male-bonding, it would be a question of trying to work out if Autolycus had eyes for Xena or Gabrielle.
“As an outsider, it was fun to watch the two shows change. They used to jokingly refer to Xena as ‘the little show', because it was a spin-off. Its crew used to be really goofy and casual and carefree. They used to shoot in 16mm. But then Xena became number one in the numbers, and all the joking stopped. It became much more serious while the Hercules crew became much more relaxed, because they didn’t have to carry the ball any more.”
During his five year tour of Ancient Greece, Campbell has found himself at the centre of some of the franchise’s strangest and most ludicrous events. First there was the Xena episode The Quest, which required him to “explore his feminine side” and play an Autolycus possessed by none other than the warrior princess herself. Then there was his “pretty outrageous” portrayal of Autolyca - otherwise known as Autolycus in drag - in Hercules' hilarious Some Like It Hot spoof, Men in Pink. But most ridiculous of all, says Campbell, was Hercules’ notorious Autolycus- lolaus showcase, One Fowl Day.
“One Fowl Day was probably the most outrageous episode I’ve done, because of all the physical things Michael Hurst and I went through: wearing goofy teeth and funny hair, and being chained together naked and slogging through the mud! It was probably the most fun I’ve had being miserable.”
Another of Campbell’s most unusual tasks came with the high-concept Hercules tales Yes, Virginia, There is a Hercules and For Those of You Just Joining Us.... Set in the present day at Renaissance Pictures, these episodes see Campbell portraying his friend and boss, Rob Tapert, as an abusive lunatic who’d rather be fishing than heading the production of Hercules and Xena!
“That was great,” laughs Campbell. “My job was to make Rob Tapert the biggest idiot on the planet!
“It’s so absurd because it’s so totally not Rob Tapert. The only thing that’s even vaguely similar is all the red hair. Rob doesn’t have red hair any more, but when he was a kid he used to, so that’s why I dyed my hair red.”
More recently, Campbell has played a key role in the sixth and final season of Hercules. After proving himself as one of the franchise’ most reliable directors, he landed the prestigious assignment of helming the series finale, Full Circle.
“I felt a big obligation to wrap things up appropriately,” he says. “And I think it does. The episode gives Hercules a better relationship with his extended family, including Hera and Zeus. And it gives him a good relationship with lolaus at the very end. I think it will be a satisfying end for viewers.”
Following the completion of Full Circle, Campbell promptly leapt back in front of the camera to play Autolycus in Hercules, Tramps & Thieves, the final Hercules adventure to be shot. Much to his delight, the actor shared the episode’s closing scene (and last scene filmed) with the son of Zeus.
“It was very emotional,” recalls Campbell. “Kevin tried to give a speech and he just couldn’t do it. He cried like a baby! It was great to be there.”
Reviewing his time on both Hercules and Xena, Campbell finds it hard to select Autolycus’ finest hours and insists there are too many to mention. However, he does point to Full Circle and Revelations as two episodes he’s particularly proud of as a director. And he’s happy to discuss the secret of his success behind the camera.
“Communication, I believe, is the key to good direction,” he says. “I always try to be sympathetic and patient with the cast and crew - and very demanding with myself. The only thing I won’t tolerate is actors who don’t learn their lines.”
While Hercules and Xena remain his best- known projects to date, they actually account for a tiny fraction of Bruce Campbell’s output during the past 20 years. Born in Royal Oak, Michigan, the man who would be King of Thieves made his acting debut at the age of 14, in an amateur dramatics production of The King and I. A series of further local stage shows followed, as did an abortive theatre course at Western Michigan University.
In 1979, Campbell teamed up with his high school pal, Sam Raimi, and fellow film enthusiast Rob Tapert, to topline and Co-Executive produce Renaissance Pictures’ first movie, The Evil Dead. Shot over the course of four years with a meagre budget of $350,000, the film became a smash hit and immortalised its leading man as the zombie-buster, Ash. Campbell subsequently reprised the role in two sequels, the hilarious Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn and the Medieval shocker, Army of Darkness: Evil Dead III, after which time he was keen to move on and explore new creative frontiers.
“I don’t really think about those films today,” says Campbell of the Evil Dead trilogy. “They’re so far removed from my everyday life.
“But I do look back at them very fondly,” he insists. “There’s a misconception that I don’t like those movies and it’s so untrue. I can trace everything back to the first Evil Dead movie in terms of what opportunities it created... But then your challenges are trying to get into other aspects of the business that aren’t just horror or genre, and that takes a long time.”
In the wake of the Evil Dead movies, Campbell worked hard to establish himself as one of America’s busiest and most versatile actors, as well as a distinguished writer, producer and director. Besides featuring in such diverse movies as Crime Wave, Congo, The Hudsucker Proxy, Running Time and La Patinoire, he has been seen on the small screen in everything from Homicide: Life on the Street and Ellen to Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and The X-Files. He also toplined Fox's short-lived comedy western, The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
Although Jack of All Trades would seem like a logical step for his career, Campbell is quick to dismiss such talk. “I’m not a career guy,” he shrugs. “I’ve never thought about it and I hope I never do... When I chose projects, the only thing I ask myself is, ‘Am I going to have fun?"’
In addition to Jack of All Trades, Campbell has a number of other “fun” projects currently in the works. These include his autobiography, Confessions of a B-Movie Actor, and a 20-minute documentary entitled Fanalysis, which offers an affectionate look at the world of fandom.
Campbell certainly takes his fans seriously; he personally replies to every single piece of mail he receives and attends conventions whenever possible.
“I enjoy interacting with fans much more than the average actor,” he says. “I think they deserve the personal touch. And as silly as it sounds, I think a lot of it goes back to when I was 12 and wrote a letter to Steve McQueen, and he never wrote back. I probably sent it to the wrong address, but I was still crushed.”
Despite his seemingly endless enthusiasm and energy, Bruce Campbell fears that his commitment to Jack of All Trades will sorely limit - or perhaps even preclude - any involvement with future Xena episodes. However, if he did manage to shoot an episode deliberately designed as Autolycus’ swan song, he already has a rough idea how he would like to conclude the King of Thieves' adventures.
“I’d probably like to see him giving up the whole thieving thing and getting into a new line of work," he declares. “Autolycus is a guy with a lot of skills. So if anything, I’d have him run a security company for some rich guy who could keep him well-paid for the rest of his life. Autolycus could spend the rest of his life fighting criminals, because he would know how to do it. I think that would be a fitting end for him.”