2016 took me to 9 states as well as 2 difference cities
within my own state.
A year in travel that I never thought would happen, first I finally went to Memphis,TN to film a wedding, but I finally
made it! I also had to drive in to Arkansas just to go!
Trips a side, I saw The Kills right at home in Nashville, TN for the second time with my
best friend, in which I believe I caught whatever happened to me next… Off
to French Lick Resort in Indiana it was the only “vacation” stop of the year.
They had a Wizard of Oz train ride I had to go on, plus staying in this old
resort was something we both couldn’t resist. That was followed with a trip
across Ohio, into Pittsburgh, PA for what was supposed to be a small side
project based on a super fan of The Evil Dead movies and how he obtained the
workshed from the second movies filming location. We visited his home right
outside of Pittsburgh in a small town in West Virginia. But Pittsburgh is on the
list to visit again! I got the Flu on this trip and can now say I have rode
down the interstate breaking a fever and feeling like death was hovering.
Road trips in general prove a lot in a relationship, being
super sick on one takes it to a new level and in the end proves how good of a
partner you have. Trying to make it home from Pittsburgh like that had us pit
stop in Louisville, KY for a night. As many times as I have been to Louisville
I never stayed over there, let’s just say hotwire.com is our best friend when
traveling you pay much cheaper prices and end up at Crowne Plaza’s. My problem
with these 4 star hotels is most of them lack one thing, a stoppable bath tub…
So at a lower end one like in Louisville the tub actually let me stop it and
soak, which was helpful.
So, the trip to Pittsburgh was beyond worth it regardless of
me being sick. Matthew has since became really good friends with the “super fan”
Mike and we have joined forces to dig deeper into the filming locations of The
Evil Dead movies, enter Evil Dead Uproot.
Matthew and I already had our first
documentary we were working on, our labor of love. But this idea came up and he
is such a big fan of those movies it fell into place. We thought, what if we
could interview the cast and people who worked on the movies, visit the
locations and help people who had an interest see what it’s like there
today. In one way it just seemed like
another great idea we had, seeing as we have a full length movie floating
around, tons of short stories and other ideas we think are great. But this, it
felt different.
First order of business, “If we can’t get Bruce, is it worth
it?” We just took the honest approach, sent a ton of e-mails to everyone and their
brother in hopes ANYONE would be interested in speaking to us. Mike had the
inside scoop with the owner of the Evil Dead 2 cabin and we knew the land from
part 1 would be a problem later. First e-mail back, Bruce giving us 15 minutes
in Chicago at the Comic Con, it was the closest we was going to be to
Nashville.
Off to Chicago we went in August, which we love Chicago they
have great vegan food and well hell we had our first Press Passes for Comic
Con. I won’t go into the nitty gritty of behind the curtain on this process but
will say, you must have a drive for the end result, you must be willing to be
on standby, stressed out and willing to deal with a lot.. a LOT of hoops. But,
it happened and that’s all that mattered.
There he was Bruce Campbell, sitting in front of our cameras
looking Matthew in the eye answering his questions. If everyone else told us “no’”
at this point it wouldn’t have matter, or so it seemed at the time. Our 15
minutes that Bruce said we could have, was cut to 10 minutes by Comic Con and
to be honest he seemed like he could have talked to us a little longer, so
maybe a second time will happen.
The trip home from Chicago was bitter sweet, we were wore
out from everything we went through while there again, I can’t put into words
how stressful the whole thing was. Oh I should mention Mike brought the shed,
we helped carry it in, set it up and run his booth while on “standby”. Those
conventions serve garbage food that neither of us were willing to eat yet, plus
the waits in line were up to an hour, an apple, a bottle of water and some
popcorn was all we had in 12 hour day, not to mention lugging gear to and from,
add in a mad dash into the city for a possible interview that we missed by
minutes due to traffic, parking and carrying everything 4 blocks to the hotel.
Maybe next time.
But the trip also had us on fire and ready to take this head
on!
Off to North Carolina! Deep into the woods once stood the
shell of a cabin that is now a pile of wood, it just happens to be on one of
the most inspiring, nicest, most genuinely kind mans property. Never, in my
life would I think I would be out fighting huge spiders, looking for
rattlesnakes and wild hogs all while photographing and filming a HUGE structure
that was used to make a movie. It was
beyond hot and humid, but jeans were a must. Even though it’s not standing
anymore, the size alone took me a while to wrap my head around. They built it
JUST for outside shots and run ins. The fake trees and pile of coal still there
are proof it’s not just a hunting cabin, it was for a movie. Which, its on the land that The Color Purple
was made, going into the house and see the stair case was also something I
never really thought I would be doing.
Wadesboro, was a huge success for us.
People came out and spoke with us about the movie being made there, dropped of
pictures of the set and we found every place they used in the film fairy easy.
We still will have to return to bid the cabin site a farewell and show its
removal in the spring of 2017.
On the way home from North Carolina, I realized how close we
got to South Carolina and use to always talk about going to Landrum, SC with my
Dad. So Matthew and I took a detour and I got to go. Walking around a town with
my last name on everything was strange, course I am thankful for the founding
Landrums and glad they have a town in our name. I travel with one of my Dad’s
rings so I made sure to wear it while there so he could see I made it.
Luck would have it, the rest of the cast and the special effect
guys would be in Cleveland in late September.
Holy Cow! That had to happen and
it did, not without issues but it did! You are dealing with multiple people at
one place within a few days, do the math and see how that might work out in
your head and then times that by at least 6. The ladies worked with us well, as
did the guy who played Scotty. Tom Sullivan opened up his room after hours for
his interview and brought in Bart Peirce, these two made all the fun stuff in the
movie happen. For us, listening to them would be the highlight and at this
moment I realized Bruce was not the only one we wanted to hear from. The few
hours we got to spend with them were a real look into making movies and for me
Tom is such a genuinely nice guy which great stories I could listen to him talk
for much longer. Matthew on the last day started getting sick, so things had to
happen quickly so we could get to the next hotel and rest! But, we pulled it
off and it felt great getting the cast of Evil Dead on film. 2017 has the cast for part 2 and of course Sam
and Rob are on our list, but we will make it work without them still worth a
shot in trying!
Lastly, Morristown, TN. Evil Dead was filmed there, it’s a
small town in East Tennessee and it’s a place that, NO ONE wants to talk to
you. We went earlier in the year and put fliers up; those brought a guy who
helped on the film when he was in High School, he shared his time on the set
with us and had some stories we hadn’t heard yet. Other than that, Morristown
let us down. We had very little help from the press outlets there and all the
leads we had fell flat. The owners of the property the cabin once stood
contacted us before we even contacted them to tell us we were not welcome
there. This puts a dark cloud over the film, but we plan to work around it and
not make the focus on one spot. Only
thing I would have done differently was having my gas fuel points card before
this all started and I wish Hotwire had a rewards program, also that every town
have at least a subway for those of us who like to eat grease free.
