Bruce Campbell had a hard time picturing Julie Bowen in a horror series when producers first approached him about casting the Modern Family star in Hysteria. However, he quickly realized that her background in comedy might help her more than he initially thought.
Campbell, along with actress Anna Camp and executive producers Matthew Scott Kane and David A. Goodman, stopped by DECIDER’s studio to talk about their new Peacock series, which takes place amid the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. As the town reels from the murder of a local high school student, Bowen’s character Linda Campbell slowly begins experiencing paranormal activity. When she becomes possessed by the end of the season, Camp’s character Tracy Whitehead performs an exorcism on her in front of their entire town.
Campbell, who plays Chief Dandridge in the series, is no stranger to a supernatural scene or two. The actor is best known for his role as Ash Williams in Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead trilogy and even reprised his character in the Starz series Ash vs. Evil Dead, which aired from 2015 to 2018.
When we asked Campbell if he had any notes for Camp and Bowen’s big exorcism scene, he admitted that he was initially hesitant about Bowen’s ability to execute given her long-standing background in comedic projects.
“Well, the producers came to me and asked me about Julie Bowen, and I said, ‘Well, it seems like an odd pairing,’ at first,” he recalled.
However, Campbell had a change of heart when he realized “the roots of comedy are pain, suffering and torment.”
“The underbelly of all comedy is horror,” he added. “So she didn’t really have to do that much. She just had a reach down into her dark soul and bring it.”
With a second season already in mind (even though it hasn’t been confirmed by Peacock yet), Campbell said he “[needs] more scenes with Julie Bowen.” He even suggested getting their characters together for tea.
Campbell, who likened Chief Dandridge to Evil Dead’s Ash if he “retired as a normal citizen,” also opened up about why he decided to take on another genre piece so long after starring in Ash vs. Evil Dead.
“When you get into the horror world, I have a higher bar because I’ve done a lot of it. So it’s the writing,” he explained. “And I know now from having done a lot of crappy movies and a lot of crappy scripts, I know a crappy script. And this was not.”
The actor also liked the way his character was “well-rounded” for a cop, rather than the stereotypical “alcoholic butthead” who “beats his wife.”
“[Chief Dandridge] doesn’t even disrespect the teenagers,” Campbell said. “There’s some actually nice scenes with him and teenagers like, ‘Dude, come on.’ Like, trying to reason with them. And a lot of modern cops, you wouldn’t expect that out of them.”
“But I think small town, ’88, Michigan actually would have cops like that,” he added. “That was back in the days if you were drunk, they’d go, ‘Hey, sleep it off, pal.’ … So itâs a little different now. But that’s what appealed to me â that he was a human being.”
Hysteria is currently streaming on Peacock.
The post Bruce Campbell Initially Thought It Seemed “Odd” To Cast Julie Bowen In ‘Hysteria’ — Until He Realized “The Roots Of Comedy Are Pain, Suffering, And Torment” appeared first on Decider.
