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Bruce Campbell is taking a chainsaw to the Hollywood playbook.
The “Evil Dead” star is ditching the traditional studio system for “Ernie & Emma,” his new independent film that puts him firmly in the driver’s seat after decades of navigating Hollywood — and after one early studio experience left a bad taste.
“The first studio film I ever did, I got kicked out of the lead,” Campbell told Fox News Digital. “The movie was re-edited, retitled and never came out. So, the taste in my mouth from studios is very sour.”
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Actor Bruce Campbell wrote, directed and produced “Ernie & Emma.” (“Ernie & Emma”)
That experience stuck with the cult-favorite actor, who said he has long wanted to make a project without studio executives calling the shots.
“It was time to be unbridled in my life,” Campbell said.
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The decision carries extra weight following Campbell’s cancer diagnosis, which he disclosed in March.
Campbell said earlier this month on “The Adam Carolla Show” podcast that doctors had given him an estimated five years to live, but he remains focused on treatment and continuing his work.
The actor wrote, directed, produced and stars in “Ernie & Emma,” which he made independently with his wife and longtime partner, Ida Gearon.
For Campbell, the project represents a return to the kind of creative freedom he experienced early in his career with “The Evil Dead.”
Bruce Campbell plays Ernie. (“Ernie & Emma”)
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“The very first movie we did, ‘Evil Dead,’ was the only other movie I’ve ever done free and clear of the studio system,” he said. “So, I liked the taste of it early on.”
“I wanted to do something like this for a long time, and my wife finally said, ‘Quit talking about it. Let’s do it. Let’s pull the trigger. Let’s make this movie,” he recalled.
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The actor has little interest in pretending creative control is easy to maintain when someone else is financing the production.
“Creative freedom is absolutely everything,” Campbell said. “If you consider yourself an artiste, or you’re in the arts, the only way that artists have to deal with people, outside of themselves, is to go look for money.”
Bruce Campbell appears during a memorial scene in “Ernie & Emma.” (“Ernie & Emma”)
“Ernie & Emma” marks a dramatic departure from the horror and action roles that made Campbell a genre icon.
The movie follows Ernie Tyler, a small-town pear salesman who embarks on a road trip through Pear Valley, Oregon, after his beloved wife, Emma, dies.
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Emma leaves Ernie a detailed list of instructions for scattering her ashes, sending him on a journey through grief, love and the possibility of starting over.
Campbell and Gearon filmed the movie entirely in southern Oregon, turning their home state into the backdrop for the story — and their own lives into an unconventional production setup.
Gearon, a longtime costume designer, encouraged Campbell to keep the shoot close to home.
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“She goes, ‘Bruce, we should shoot in Oregon. You should sleep in your own bed. You should [be having lunch] at the house,’” Campbell said. “And so, I did, and it was a very bizarre experience, but I’ll never go back now.”
Bruce Campbell said his wife encouraged him to shoot the movie close to home. (“Ernie & Emma”)
“Best part of working with my wife was that, for once, we didn’t argue,” he said. “We argue a lot and when we made the movie we never argued once because we had a singular goal, singular vision.”
After more than three decades together, Campbell said his relationship with Gearon has evolved into something deeper than romance.
“Boy, my wife, she is rock solid. She’s a good human being from A to Z. I trust her,” he said.
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“The other day we said to each other, we’ve been together so long we’re actually family now.”
Campbell is taking “Ernie & Emma” on the road with a nationwide screening tour at Alamo Drafthouse locations, following earlier sold-out screenings at independent theaters.
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