Here at The Bloody Good Horror Page, we conduct
a different kind of interview. We dig deeper, we ask
more insightful questions, all in a quest to learn more
about your favorite horror personalities. We dig into the
darkest reaches of their brains to find out what you
really want to know.
Today's subject...
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Ellen Sandweiss was
catapulted into horror icon status when she became locked in
the basement during Sam Raimi's splatterhouse classic The Evil
Dead. She took a long breather from horror and acting in
general until 2003, when she's slated to return as one of the
leads in Dante Tomaselli's Satan's
Playground. She's also busy doing appearances with
her fellow "Ladies of the Evil Dead". She did however take
some time out of her schedule to chat with us, and here is
that conversation.
The Bloody Good Horror
Page Interviews Ellen Sandweiss
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How did you get involved with Satan's
Playground? |
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Dante contacted me about being in it after we were both
featured in an issue of Rue Morgue magazine. Besides being an
Evil Dead fan and liking my work in that film, I think he felt
it was fate that we shared a magazine cover! I read the
script, e-mailed and spoke with him several times, and the
rest is (or will be) history. |
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Have you seen Dante's first film
"Desecration"? What did you think? |
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.htm) Yes, I've seen it, and let me preface my comments
by saying that personally I'm neither a fan nor an expert on
horror films - I'm an actress who was hired to act in one over
20 years ago. However, professionally, I can respect and
admire all genres of film, if they're well done. With that in
mind, I'd say that the movie was highly imaginative, visually
interesting, unique, well acted and well directed. |
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Have you met Dante yet, what were your
impressions of him? |
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Yes, after many e-mails and telephone conversations we
finally met this past October in New Jersey. He's just as nice
and down to earth as I thought he'd be. Also very smart,
focused on his work and determined to make film-making his
life's work. I think he'll do it! |
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Your costar in that film will be another
familiar face among horror fans, Felissa Rose. Have you met
Felissa yet? Or any of the rest of the cast? |
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Yes, Felissa and I have gotten together several times, and
we instantly became fast friends. She's a lovely, talented,
genuine person and I look forward to playing her sister and
spending time with her on the set and off. I've not met any
other cast members. |
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Can you tell us a little bit about your
character in Satan's Playground? |
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I'm Paula, the sister of Felissa's character Donna, on
vacation with her, her husband, son, and my child. I'm a newly
divorced mother of a small child and fiercely protective of
that child. |
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The Evil Dead was your first and only (so
far) horror film appearance, was there a specific reason why
you haven't shown up in the genre since then? Or really any
other genre since then? |
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.htm) That's a very nice way of saying "where the hell
have you been?" Basically, at the time of filming Evil
Dead I had done mostly stage work, particularly musical
theatre, and in fact was still studying theatre at the
University of Michigan. However, after finishing my degree, I
made the decision not to go into acting full time but rather
to focus on the business end of the arts, which I felt was
more suited to my lifestyle and my desire to start a family.
So I got a master's degree in arts management, which is the
field I was in before I started having children. |
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What have you been doing all of this time?
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The last 16 years have been spent raising my kids and
working part-time first in non-profit organization management
and then helping to establish and grow my husband's business.
Every few years or so, I'll still do some sort of performing,
whether it's being in a play or a singing gig, or doing
commercials or voice overs. |
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What made you want to come back?
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Now that my kids are older I'm anxious to get back into
the creative world to the extent that it won't too severely
disrupt my family. I'm selectively creeping back into the
business. |
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Can you tell us a little bit about the
documentary "Ladies of the Evil Dead: Two Sided Chainsaw"?
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.htm) First of all, that probably won't be its official
name - our director, Mike Kallio, just needed to name it in
order to list it on the IMDB. This is a work in progress -
basically right now we've been collecting all the footage we
can on the reunion of the "Ladies of the Evil Dead" ; myself
and the other two actresses from the original Evil Dead, Betsy
Baker and Sarah York/aka Theresa Tilly. It started with our
20th anniversary reunion showing of Evil
Dead in Detroit last February and has followed
along with us to our various conventions and other
appearances. It'll also show us in our home lives as well as
have interviews of Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and
others who worked on the film. Mostly the theme will be the
quite humorous juxtaposition of our current nice soccer mom
personas and our scream-queen pasts! We think it'll be
entertaining, enlightening and most of all, hilarious. |
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When will we be seeing that? |
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Hopefully within the next year. |
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Cool. It seems like the whole "Ladies of
the Evil Dead" thing seemed to pop up a few years ago. What
made you and the girls decide to get together and promote
yourselves in this way? How did you end up coming together
again? |
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.htm) I absolutely love it that everyone still calls us
"girls"! Anyway, in the last few years, each of us
independently started realizing how popular Evil Dead had become. We also were
aware of how absent we were from all the hoopla, and started
to think about re-entering the picture. In the meantime, Betsy
and Theresa, who live in LA, went to a big-screen Halloween
showing of the film, along with producer Rob Tapert, and did a
Q and A there. At around the same time, I started reading
about Anchor Bay here in Detroit, and how a lot of their
success was owing to Evil Dead.
In November of '01, Theresa and Betsy found me, called me on
the phone, and we had a great chat (for the first time in 20
years!). We decided then and there that it was time to come
"out of the cellar", so to speak, and start meeting the fans
and seeing what all the excitement was about |
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Horror fans have always remembered the
Evil Dead. But it seems only the last few years or so that
we've been able to put names with the faces on the screen.
Have you enjoyed your newfound recognition? |
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It's been a blast! Of course we had an adjustment period -
none of us had been at all exposed to the horror fan scene.
For that matter, none of us had ever been exposed to any type
of fan scene! But for the most part the fans have been
extremely nice and polite, and of course adoring. It's always
nice to be adored! |
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Have you been able to do anything that you
weren't able to do before as a result of the recognition?
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Not really - I mean let's face it, we're not walking into
restaurants and having people give up the best tables for us!
But we are getting to travel more, make a little money, and we
have been given some scripts for consideration. |
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How do you feel about celebrities using
their fame to make political statements? Is that something
you're interested in? |
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I guess it depends on the venue they choose for their
statement-making. If it's appropriate, then yes, I'm in favor
of it - why not? In terms of myself, I think I'll wait until
my celebrity status is a little higher before I start making
any political statements! |
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Finally, I always have to ask actresses
this, have you ever had a creepy or scary experience with an
Evil Dead fan? |
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Maybe a little creepy, but not really scary. Never
anything that has caused me great concern for myself or my
family. For the most part, the fans have really respected my
privacy. |
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Well hey, thanks for answering my
questions, I feel honored. You're welcome back any time, and
good luck working with Dante and Felissa. I can't wait to see
what comes out of it. |
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Thanks - I can't wait to see what comes of it either!
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This job just keeps getting
better and better. It was a real treat to get to interview one
of the stars of one of my favorite films. And I think I speak
for us all when I say that I'm looking forward to her
returning to the genre that we all love. For now, don't forget
to Buy The Evil Dead Here, and stay tuned to our
site for all things Dante Tomaselli and Satan's Playground.
More
Interviews...
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