Jack Nicholson Inspired Bruce Campbell To Get Stoned While Shooting EVIL DEAD
Sam Raimi's Evil Dead is hands down one of the greatest low-budget horror films ever made. It launched a crazy awesome and blood-drenched franchise that fans are still enjoying today. In a recent interview with Conan, Bruce Campbell revealed that he and the cast were inspired by Jack Nicholson to try and shoot the movie while high. The actor explains:
"We did, in fact, smoke marijuana because we had heard, in the famous Jack Nicholson movie Five Easy Pieces -- no, Easy Rider -- that he smoked like 47 joints before he shot that scene. And I thought, if he can go on to become a very famous, notable actor, we can do the same thing. And I had never smoked before. I was 21, and... we also found out that the weed in Tennessee was pretty good, apparently. And so we did not really film the scene successfully."
I think it's hilarious that Campbell thought that if he got as stoned as Jack Nicholson while shooting Evil Dead, he would give an equally as impressive performance. Campbell didn't take certain things into account, though. I'm sure Nicholson had a lot of experience smoking pot prior to starring in Easy Rider, and the pot in Tennessee might have been more potent than the pot Nicholson was smoking.
Regardless of all that, Evil Dead turned out to be one hell of a fun classic horror film.