As superheroes on screen become larger than life, sometimes it’s the little characters who completely steal our hearts and our attention. This was certainly the case with Pizza Poppa, the character played by the legendary horror icon. Bruce Campbell in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Although he had less than a minute of collective screen time, Pizza Poppa’s influence cannot be denied. He was even the focus of a game at San Diego Comic-Con called Pop-a-Poppa.
To celebrate graduation Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on the Blu-ray, Pizza Poppa actor Campbell stopped by to talk to Collider’s own employee. Perry Nemiroff about the backstory he came up with for the character, but also about working with the director Sam Raimiand legacy Evil Dead franchise.
Campbell’s appearance Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was not his first experience with Marvel, as the actor had cameos in three of Raimi’s films. Spiderman movies. Asked how the process of making Marvel films has changed over the past two decades and how it has remained the same, Campbell replied:
“Marvel movies are always difficult if you’re in them because you never know if you’re still going to be in them. For example, if I was Benedict Cumberbatch, I would be nervous about being cut from Doctor Strange because it’s a big storyline. It’s really a mini-series, all those movies. These are not individual films.
Since I’ve been talking about it, there’s a lot of explanation in Doctor Strange. I mentioned it to someone and they say I needed every bit of it. And I never thought about it that way because I didn’t know the 14 other films, the chronology. So I see how important it is for people. So people are actually, I mean, fans of these Marvel movies, it’s an army of people. If I tweet something related like I should just wake up in the morning, say “Marvel” with a picture of myself and people, they go crazy. Because Marvel has so many fans. The Evil Dead movies have a nice low, strong fandom pulse. But you know, they are small and modest. Marvel is huge. This is amazing. They really supported him for 20 years, starting with Spidey, the original Spider-Man. It’s an amazing run.”
When asked about exactly how the character of Pizza Poppa developed, Campbell said that the character was always envisioned as some kind of street vendor. But when it came to comparing the initial pitch to the final product, he added:
“It always changes with Sam because everything on the page really doesn’t hold water when you actually go to shoot. Because he will see it and then he will say, “Okay. Good. Yes, you won’t say that again. Let’s just try it this way, let’s say this.” It’s very smooth and it’s great. It’s a great way to work. Because some writers don’t change a word. And some writers are very, very tense. You will be yelled at if you want to play a little pranks. Sam throws it all out the window when you show up for work.”
But because it’s a Marvel movie, and everyone in a Marvel movie has a backstory, even if it’s only in the actor’s head. Nemiroff asked Campbell what he sees as Pizza Poppa’s backstory. Campbell jokingly suggested that there might be more to the character than meets the eye:
“I can’t talk much about it. But if you think that he is just a pizza seller, you are deeply mistaken. Good? Doctor Strange is about 45 seconds, isn’t it? He delayed him. He didn’t go further down the street. You can put whatever you want into it. I know for a fact that he saved Doctor Strange’s life for a reason. there for a reason, and it’s not because he’s a pizza vendor. He won’t just be what I call P Squared.”
Campbell had a lot to say about his longtime friend and collaborator Raimi, whom he obviously has a lot of respect for. Looking at the parts of Raimi’s process that have remained the same and the things that surprise him after all this time, Campbell said:
“Sam, he’s a technically proficient director. He seemed to be reading the American Filmmakers’ Guide. Nobody reads this nonsense. the tools I have for this camera are here? For example, what can this Canon camera do? And I think we would all know about 10% of what this camera can do. Sam would know 100% of what this camera can do and he would make him roll over and bark.
We were filming Army of Darkness and we had a scene where - it wasn’t in the finished movie - I had to hit 12 different marks on the floor without looking at them. The camera made crazy adjustments everywhere I went, and at the very end it ended up in a very close-up of my ear. I felt sorry for myself, as if I really work, I really earn my salary. I look at the guy who was focusing. He was sweating because he said, “This movie is killing me.” He says, “Every trick I’ve ever learned on set, I’ve had to use, like, the last three weeks on this movie,” because of how demanding Sam is, and it should work. I mean it was one uncut, smooth shot. It should have worked. It should have been in focus. And I saw this guy out of the corner of my eye. I mean, he was kind of twitching, trying to make sure the last close-up worked. So here’s how it works. He is very demanding. But it’s nice to look at.”
While Poppa’s Pizza won everyone’s heart, Campbell is by far best known for his role as Ash Williams in Evil Dead franchise. Most recently, he played the role for three seasons on Ash vs. Evil Dead, which he is still very proud of, although he admits that poor ratings played a role in the show’s cancellation. He said part of the reason for this was that when it aired, not many people had access to it on Starz, and it wasn’t until it appeared on Netflix that it began to gain fans.
However, when it comes to continuing Ash’s story, given that Season 3 ended with a cliffhanger, Campbell suggested that the best way to do it is through animation:
“You can make the future a lot easier with animation. I still sound like Ash, and you know, my voice wasn’t as battered as my body, so I can still do this shit. So I will still make a video game. And we’re talking about animation [series].”
Although he said they were considering the idea of an animation project, The Evil Dead Risenew film set in Evil Dead universe under the guidance Lee Cronin will be released in October this year. Campbell said that the film is completely self-contained and praised Cronin for trying to do something of his own rather than trying to emulate Raimi’s style. As for can we expect him to appear in this episode? Campbell advises listening to the voice of the priest played on the record.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness available on Blu-ray July 26.
Source: Collider
