Timothy Quill is known best for playing the Blacksmith in “Army of Darkness”. Timothy has also co-starred with Bruce Campbell in “My Name is Bruce”. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Timothy about working on the series and what he has planned next.
Mike Gencarelli: Tell us how you became involved with the film “Army of Darkness”?
Timothy Quill: We actually need to take a couple of steps back. It started in the early 70’s I went to high school with a couple guys you may have heard back, Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, Scott Spiegel and Ted Raimi. Back then we were making those super 8 classics way back then. I went to business school and you know what those guys did. It just so happened I shot this movie called “Thou Shall Not Kill” int he 80’s. I let Sam Raimi know I was interested in coming out to California. I moved out to California and he brought me to the set of “Army of Darkness”. He told me “You shave your head and I will give you a role”. I told him “Sam, I will shave anything to be in this movie.” I figured it was a couple of days worth of work, so I agreed. I go to wardrobe and I had this long blond surfer hair. The girl said maybe we can just grease it back. Sam said “Nope, off with the hair”. I thought he was going to shemp me, make me show up on the set and put a helmet on me [laughs]. I showed up on the set and this was a real movie Sam Raimi actually built a castle in the desert. It was a far cry from those super 8 movies, with a real budget. Sam is up in his crane and he sees me with my bald head and the prosthetic mustache on. He comes down next to me and screams “Perfect”. He shows me this storyboard and it looks exactly the same as I do. So he says “Your hired!”. So the next thing I know I was working on the film for two and a half months.
MG: Would you consider the production to have been easy to work on?
TQ: For me it was just a new experience. I never hung around my trailer. I was always on the set wanting to learn and see what was going on. Right in the middle of the movie, he decided he wanted to make it a full blown comedy and wanted to make the movie more campy than it already was. Sam always has a great attitude on set. He gets a lot out of his cast and crew because of it. You learn to take care of cast and crew and the rest falls into place.
MG: Have you seen your character is in the recent “Army of Darkness” video game on the iPhone?
TQ: I just had a gentleman Scott contact me and I just signed like 200 cards. With every purchase of the game you will get a picture of me looking over the death pit, when the hand flies onto the guys face [screams]. So I think I am talking about the same thing you are. So go out and buy that game and get an autographed picture.
MG: Tell us about working again with Bruce Campbell in “My Name is Bruce”, which he also directed?
TQ: Wow, it was really off the charts. Danny Hicks and myself play the two tough guys in the film. We were two farmers. We didn’t really have any lines Bruce just wanted us to come and work on it. Bruce is always like that their is a lot of ad libing. He is a super director and producer. He would take that hat off and become Ash [laughs]. Dan Hicks and I were just sitting in the courthouse. We asked Bruce if we could throw in some lines because we really don’t like you in the film. Danny says “I am going to brag about my character in “Evil Dead 2”. I said “Hey I want to talk about the Blacksmith. Of course Bruce says just go with it. All the sudden Danny screams out “I would have gotten Jake from Evil Dead 2” and I screaming “How about that Blacksmith from “Army of Darkness”, that is one stud”. Bruce gave this cock to his eye and said “Stud?”. I gripped Danny’s hand and said “I don’t wanna quit you” and Bruce just started laughing. Bruce really liked it and said “You guys are going to have more to say…but…you are both gay and walked away”. So that is how we became gay characters the rest of the movie. It went from 4 days on the set to a month.
MG: You continued to work with Sam Raimi on his other films like the “Spider-Man” trilogy, what was it like appearing in all three?
TQ: It has been very loyal to me since and I have appear in a few of his projects. Those were great. Bruce (Campbell), Scott Spiegel and myself were in all three of those. If he found a part for you he would bring you back. We were really fortunate. I am next hoping to work with him next on “Oz: The Great and Powerful” this September.
MG: How did you get involved with working with Michael Kallio in “Paranormal, Burbank”
TQ: It was really cool. I have worked with Michael Kallio on and off. He was a lot of the behind the scenes on “My Name is Bruce”. As we speak I have a new company called TheGreenManSolar.com, he is actually making our commercial. We are doing a spot for Time Warner. After all these years we are working together again on a project.
MG: What do you have planned next?
TQ: I have a script I am working on right now called “The Shemps”. You know what a fake shemp is obviously. It is about three gentlemen and all they inspire to do, in their 50’s, is to be a fake shemp. They want to be just someone in the background or talking the background. It is a very funny movie. It is something that Sam is too big to do and Bruce is too busy to do. So it is left for someone like me to do. Then in September, fingers crossed, I will be appearing in “Oz: The Great and Powerful”. Shooting that in Detroit right in our home town.