Ted Raimi, who loves sci-fi/fantasy -- as a reader, viewer, and actor -- happened to guest star on two genre shows in the same week. He spoke with me about the great time he had doing both shows, and why Legend of the Seeker was like, and yet unlike, his days on Xena: Warrior Princess.
This week you're guest-starring on both Legend of the Seeker and Supernatural. How weird is that?
It's fantastic! It is a weird coincidence, for many actors -- not for me, sci-fi is my bag, you know, and aura. So I would call this, not a bizarre week but a fantastic week for me. Just last night I was on Supernatural for The CW ["Wishful Thinking," as nerdy guy Wes], and Saturday night I believe, in Los Angeles anyway, it will be Legend of the Seeker ["Bounty," as Sebastian the mapmaker]. [See this page for stations and air times in your area.] It's a good sci-fi week for Ted Raimi.
Also this week I'm in My Name Is Bruce, a new horror-comedy starring me and Bruce Campbell, which is making its rounds right now in key cities.
I saw that. But Bruce Campbell doesn't need any more publicity, right?
[laughs] That's right! Doggone Bruce, let's talk about me! And other bizarre subjects.
You've known Bruce for years -- is it true he actually babysat you?
It's true. He'd come over all the time to hang out with my brother Sam [director Sam Raimi]. Sam went away to college for a while, so they said to Bruce, "Look, if you're going hang around here all the time and eat dinner, you'd better do some chores around this place. Go pick Teddy up from cello lessons, make sure he doesn't burn the house down when we're out of town." So yeah, that's how we got to know each other, I remember him from about a million years ago. We've known each other for 30 years, something like that.
It's nice to know he's done some good things in his life.
[laughs] I've known him too long, that's the problem.
Did you think earlier this year, "I need to get some TV gigs for the fall," and line up a bunch of things?
Yeah! More or less. I really wanted to do some TV, and as happens with this universe that we live in it just happened like that. And I got a call from [Legend of the Seeker executive producer] Rob Tapert, my old buddy Rob Tapert who also put me on Xena: Warrior Princess, and he said, "Hey! Do you want to go down to New Zealand?" And I thought to myself, "Well, let's see, I'm not doing anything at the moment, so -- Yeah! That sounds like a good idea."
And in a weird mind trip, it was not too dissimilar to the trips I had taken years ago to do Xena [co-starring as Joxer, 1996-2001]. So flew down there in the same plane, the sets were kind of similar, some of the same crew guys were there, so it was mind-blowing.
But that's where the similarities ended, because the show is completely different from Xena -- other than it being fantasy. It's a whole different deal. The vibe is different, the writers are different, the stories are different, the acting is much different. So it was quite a challenge, but I had a great time, and I'm very glad I did that.
So even though it brought back memories, it was a totally different situation.
Yeah. I was really excited, those actors down there were great. The girl and the guy [Legend stars Craig Horner and Bridget Regan] are fantastic actors. Most of my scenes were with Bruce Spence [who plays Zedd], whom a lot of your readers might best know from his work on Mad Max [2] as the helicopter pilot.
But Bruce has done a thousand things since then. He's one of those actor's who's just so good, that just being around him for a day or two, you become a better actor. He's one of these kinds of guys who's both generous and talented. That's a rare combo.
He seems comfortable in the role, and seems to communicate that comfort to the cast.
Oh yeah, he really does. And I was just lucky to have a full day of acting with that guy. It's one of those "check it off your list" things. After, you know, "Find a million dollars on the street in a briefcase," "Fly my own jet," "Attend a Playboy party," "Act with Bruce Spence." That's definitely on there. So I was a lucky guy.
That's quite a list, I think he's be flattered to be in that company. [Ted laughs] The funny thing is, I did some cross-referencing, and some of the other cast of Legend of the Seeker also did Xenas with you -- Jay Laga'aia [Chase on Legend, 3 Xena episodes with Ted], Craig Parker [Darken Ruhl on Legend, 2 Xenas with Ted], and David de Lautour [Michael on Legend, one Xena with Ted].
Oh yeah! Those kids have been around a while. Those Kiwi actors -- every show that goes through that town, it's a very small talent pool. I believe that before us, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and a few other pictures were shot up there in Auckland. So they make their rounds.
And Craig Parker was in Lord of the Rings down there [as Haldir of Lorien].
Right.
So it's like Vancouver. Is this guy Sebastian likely to crop up again?
I don't know. I'm not sure if he's going to crop up again. They didn't kill me off. If Rob calls me up and asks me to come down again, I'll surely say yes because it was a fantastic experience down there. It's one of these great kinds of shows that comes around once in a long time for sci-fi -- like Supernatural. I was in my two favorite shows just by chance this week. And believe me, I've done a lot of TV in my life, and I could easily say a lot of the stuff I've done is stuff I would not normally watch -- that I happened to think was quality TV but I wouldn't really watch it.
Supernatural is -- my girlfriend turned me on to that, it's one of my all-time favorite shows. I actually gave Eric Kripke, the producer, a call and said, "Please, please, put me on your show!" [laughs] That's the only show I've ever done where I was running a fine line between being a fanboy and an actor. I was blown away! I was like, "Geez, I'm in the Chevy! I'm in the Chevy!!"
