3 Questions with
Sam Raimi

Believe it or not, Sam Raimi has another movie besides Spider-Man. The Evil Dead auteur has also directed The Gift, a small-scale Gothic horror tale co-written by Billy Bob Thornton and starring Cate Blanchett as a Georgia psychic who becomes embroiled in a murder investigation. The restrained, supernatural story is yet another change of pace for the filmmaker, who started his career with the outrageous Evil Dead films, won acclaim for the tense character-driven drama A Simple Plan, and is now working on bringing Marvel Comics' favorite web-slinger to the silver screen. Wicked magazine West Coast editor Gina McIntyre recently talked to the soft-spoken Raimi about both The Gift and Spider-Man.

Cinescape: Why did you sign on to direct The Gift?

Raimi: It was too good to pass up. I really enjoyed Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson's screenplay. It really told me that they had lived in this town and that they knew these people and had an ear for how they sounded. Somehow, being great writers, they were able to translate that into a dramatic piece and capture it. It was so vivid when I read it that I wanted to be involved with telling the story. In fact, I was driven away from it because of its intense darkness. I put the script down and told my wife, "This is too awful, too dark and miserable. I just don't want to read any more. It's not really what I want to do." She said, "Pick it up and keep reading it." I didn't for some time, and she finally got on me and I did finish it. And I came out the other side O.K. It was my own fear of it and reluctance that somehow intrigued me. Why am I afraid of it? What's so awful about it? I felt redemption at the end. It was somehow a love/hate relationship I had with the thing.

Cinescape: What frightened you about the story?

Raimi: I don't like violence. You wouldn't think that, but it's because I'm the biggest coward of them all that I make those pictures. I will say, The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II, those early horror movies I made, were about trying to show the supernatural as an outrageous, funny, bold, exciting and terrifying force. In this movie, the point of view is so different because the goal was to service the screenplay and the actors' performances and try and present the supernatural as something that was real.

Cinescape: Are you nervous about embarking on Spider-Man?

Raimi: I'm terrified. I feel like I'm in a tidal wave and I'm currently upside down, and I don't know which direction is up. It's frightening because there are so many kids who Spider-Man means so much to. I've got a grave responsibility on my shoulders because he is their hero, so I have to decide what lessons in the movie does he learn that exemplify what it means to be a hero. As a father, I feel a great deal of responsibility of pulling off the character for that reason. These kids are going to look up to whoever Spider-Man is, so [so the question is,] what shall he be?

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