Sam Raimi
Birthday:
23 October 1959, Royal Oak, Michigan, USA
Birth Name:
Samuel Marshall Raimi
Height:
180 cm
Highly inventive U.S. film director/producer/writer/actor Sam Raimi first came to the attention of film fans with the savage, yet darkly humorous, low-budget horror film, The Evil Dead (1981). From his childhood, Raimi was a fan of the cinema and, before he was ten-years-old, he was out making movies with an 8mm camera. He was a devoted fan of The ...
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Highly inventive U.S. film director/producer/writer/actor Sam Raimi first came to the attention of film fans with the savage, yet darkly humorous, low-budget horror film, The Evil Dead (1981). From his childhood, Raimi was a fan of the cinema and, before he was ten-years-old, he was out making movies with an 8mm camera. He was a devoted fan of The Three Stooges, so much of Raimi's film work in his teens, with good friends Bruce Campbell and Rob Tapert, was slapstick comedy based around what they had observed from "Stooges" movies.Among the three of them, they wrote, directed, produced and edited a short horror movie titled Within the Woods (1978), which was then shown to prospective investors to raise the money necessary to film The Evil Dead (1981). It met with lukewarm interest in the U.S. with local distributors, so Raimi took the film to Europe, where it was much more warmly received. After it started gaining positive reviews and, more importantly, ticket sales upon its release in Europe, U.S. distributors showed renewed interest, and "Evil Dead" was eventually released stateside to strong box office returns. His next directorial effort was Crimewave (1985), a quirky, cartoon-like effort that failed to catch fire with audiences. However, he bounced back with Evil Dead II (1987), a racier and more humorous remake/sequel to the original "Dead" that did even better at the box office. Raimi was then given his biggest budget to date to shoot Darkman (1990), a comic book-style fantasy about a scarred avenger. The film did moderate business, but Raimi's strong visual style was evident throughout the film via inventive and startling camera work that caught the attention of numerous critics.The third chapter in the Evil Dead story beckoned, and Raimi once again directed buddy Campbell as the gritty hero "Ash", in the Gothic horror Army of Darkness (1992). Raimi surprised fans when he took a turn away from the fantasy genre and directed Gene Hackman and Sharon Stone in the sexy western, The Quick and the Dead (1995); four years later, he took the directorial reins on A Simple Plan (1998), a crime thriller about stolen money, starring Bill Paxton and Bridget Fonda. In early 1999, he directed the baseball film, For Love of the Game (1999), and, in 2000, returned to the fantasy genre with a top-flight cast in The Gift (2000). In 2002, Raimi was given a real opportunity to demonstrate his dynamic visual style with the big-budget film adaptation of the Stan Lee comic book superhero, Spider-Man (2002), and fans were not disappointed. The movie was strong in both script and effects, and was a runaway success at the box office. Of course, Raimi returned for the sequel, Spider-Man 2 (2004), which surpassed the original in box-office takings. Show less «
I love the Spider-Man character. And that's what's at the heart of it. That's why I really love it. But there's another fun thing that I nev...Show more »
I love the Spider-Man character. And that's what's at the heart of it. That's why I really love it. But there's another fun thing that I never had before where you make your movie and a lot of people see it and they seem to like it. So it's like oh my god, I've always been the nerd, lame ass guy on the side, but I made something that a lot of people like. I know that won't last for long, and I'm obviously riding the Spider-Man thing. He's a popular character for 40 years. So anyone who makes a Spider-Man movie gets to make a popular movie. But it's fun to be popular, even if it's a brief, lame thing, and even though I know it's not important. I can't help it. It's really fun and I know how quickly things turn in Hollywood. Show less «
Audiences really don't go see a lot of movies - except in L.A. and New York I think, and maybe one or two other cities, maybe Chicago - wher...Show more »
Audiences really don't go see a lot of movies - except in L.A. and New York I think, and maybe one or two other cities, maybe Chicago - where there are foreign-born, foreign-speaking actors. That's just the culture we are. Show less «
And it was great making movies in college because if you made the right movie you'd get this cigar box full of $5 and $1 bills, you'd have l...Show more »
And it was great making movies in college because if you made the right movie you'd get this cigar box full of $5 and $1 bills, you'd have like 500 bucks after a weekend. And it was like oh my god, we're rich! We've got to make another picture. But if the movie bombed, you spent a lot of money on the movie, on the ads at the State news, renting the theater, lugging these heavy speakers, the projector bulbs, [and] it was a washout, you realize this movie is not making money. I'm broke. I've got to make the movie that they want to see. So it was a great learning experience. Show less «
And I do think there's a new crop of American filmmakers coming. And they're in high school right now. They're in Mrs. Dawson's English clas...Show more »
And I do think there's a new crop of American filmmakers coming. And they're in high school right now. They're in Mrs. Dawson's English class! They've got new tools, they've got computers and the video cameras, which are the equivalent of our super-8mm training ground. It's even better because they can shoot for free. We had to gather up like four bucks, five bucks to buy a roll of film, another three bucks to process it, and that was a very limiting [thing], in high school you've gotta rake leaves for three hours to shoot a roll of film! So these new filmmakers have these advanced editing tools with the incredible manipulation of imagery available on a standard computer." Show less «
I think if people love the source material, and that's really whey they're making the movie, then that's a natural outcome. That the things ...Show more »
I think if people love the source material, and that's really whey they're making the movie, then that's a natural outcome. That the things we all love, and work with the creators of the movie to save the things that were so effective. I think it's situations where people don't love the material, they just say, oh that was a big hit, it could be a big hit here. It's just generalizing. Things got lost if you don't understand why people like a thing. When you love something, it's easy to say, 'That's my son, cut out his heart? No, he needs the heart.' It's harder when you don't love the thing yourself. Show less «
At every step of the way wanted to be careful to make sure that what they thought worked in Japanese horror got translated into this. [Taka ...Show more »
At every step of the way wanted to be careful to make sure that what they thought worked in Japanese horror got translated into this. [Taka and Shimizu] didn't want to have solid explanations for everything. That was the challenge, to somehow make it acceptable to the American audience, rules being one of the many things we talked about but not lose what make it striking and unique. [on The Grudge (2004)] Show less «
In an American horror film, you usually have a character and a shot of them. Then their point-of-view moving down a hallway, approaching a d...Show more »
In an American horror film, you usually have a character and a shot of them. Then their point-of-view moving down a hallway, approaching a door and they're coming closer to the door. And a hand reaches for the knob, and you know, the moment or the moment before or the moment after, based on the timing of the editor and the director, there'll be a big moment of an attack or a scare. What Shimizu does is a moment where Sarah Michelle Gellar is opening this closet, to see what's inside, and we Americans think something is going to jump out, there's nothing in the closet but darkness. And then you start to realize, within that darkness, you see a shape. Is it a knee? Oh, yes it's a knee, and there's a face in there. That's always been there. That I can just perceive within the blackness. And it unnerves me in the freakiest way! And in a completely different way than the sledgehammer technique of some of our cruder American directors. [pause] Such as myself!" Show less «
I look at myself as an entertainer, more than anything else. I wanted to make the movie a little more different than the previous films. ......Show more »
I look at myself as an entertainer, more than anything else. I wanted to make the movie a little more different than the previous films. ... That was less about me growing as a craftsman. That was more about me trying to provide an element to the audience that I thought they might need something different, that came from a different place. Show less «
The Dark Knight (2008) was brilliant, and the audience seemed to love it, and I think it rightfully raises expectations for the other superh...Show more »
The Dark Knight (2008) was brilliant, and the audience seemed to love it, and I think it rightfully raises expectations for the other superhero pictures, which is a great thing for everybody, for the filmmakers, for the audience. Show less «
[on undertaking Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)] I didn't want anything to do with it. I really had so much respect for the original movie ...Show more »
[on undertaking Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)] I didn't want anything to do with it. I really had so much respect for the original movie that I didn't want to even read it. [But later] I actually fell in love with the characters in the story and I realized this does not dishonour the original 'Wizard of Oz' movie. It's a love note to the works of Baum. Show less «
After I made The Quick and the Dead (1995) - which was the ultimate "style-fest" for me - I felt very empty. And I felt that I cannot contin...Show more »
After I made The Quick and the Dead (1995) - which was the ultimate "style-fest" for me - I felt very empty. And I felt that I cannot continue down this road of style. I need substance. So, I took a break from the movie business for a couple of years and I said that I wanted to find a picture where the script is the movie and the acting is the movie. And my wife showed me "A Simple Plan," the book from Scott B. Smith. And I loved it and it's a brilliant screenplay. And that's where I was then -- I was all about being invisible as the director, with no style and letting Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton and Brent Briscoe and Bridget Fonda do the heavy lifting. And I loved it -- it reinvigorated me and reminded me of why I love the movies. Show less «
[on Crimewave (1985)] I wanted it to be the ultimate picture of entertainment. To thrill, chill, make the audience laugh, cry, scream... The...Show more »
[on Crimewave (1985)] I wanted it to be the ultimate picture of entertainment. To thrill, chill, make the audience laugh, cry, scream... They screamed for their money back. Show less «
Sam Raimi's Photos
