"Ash vs. Evil Dead" guest star Lee Majors is seen at the premiere of the motion picture drama "Do You Believe" in Los Angeles on March 16, 2015. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI |
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NEW YORK, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Lee Majors admits he wasn't aware of the classic Evil Dead horror-comedy movies before he was asked to guest star in Season 2 of their television sequel Ash vs. Evil Dead.
Grilled about why he opted to play the grudge-holding father of Bruce Campbell's demon-hunter Ash on the Starz hit, the 77-year-old, Six Million Dollar Man and The Fall Guy icon told UPI at New York Comic Con: "Because I was asked. I got a phone call to say would I be interested and would I like to do it."
He went on to explain he hadn't seen the films or show before that point, so he binged Ash vs. Evil Dead to see what it was all about.
"I said: 'This is bat-[expletive] crazy. I've got to be a part of it. It is so funny.' And I think that's what draws most of the fans to this show. I wouldn't have done it if it was just strictly a horror show without the comedy. Some tune in for the gore, some tune in for the comedy."
So, once he agreed to take the role, how did he go about figuring out how to play it?
"Having watched the first season, I knew where to go with that because he has got to be a chip off the old block. So, I just came in as the old block," Majors revealed. "I came in with the same kind of attitude [Ash] had -- more or less -- and the same competition with the ladies that he has and it worked from there."
"Lee is great," 58-year-old Campbell said in a separate interview. "Lee is what you would hope he would be. You hope he would be a gentleman and very professional and very good. He's all of that because he has done too many hours of television to be crazy. You don't work that much if you are crazy. You work that much if you are a journeyman, working actor who is very professional. We like to ad lib, so he grabbed me one day and he said: 'Look, now I memorized my lines, see, so if you guys go changing your lines, you gotta tell me. I don't want any surprises.' So, we were like, 'OK, OK, OK.' So, we keep him posted. No surprises for Lee."
Co-starring Lucy Lawless, Ray Santiago and Dana DeLorenzo, Ash vs. Evil Dead airs Sunday nights on Starz. Season 2 began with Ash returning home to Michigan more than 30 years after leaving in disgrace. Just as he makes peace with his cantankerous father, the old man is run down and killed by Ash's possessed car.
Campbell originated the role of Ash in the 1981 movie Evil Dead, and reprised the part of the unlikely hero in 1987's Evil Dead II and 1992's Army of Darkness.
