The Coen brothers gave Raimi advice on shooting in snow for A Simple Plan, based on their experiences with Fargo. Raimi made cameo appearances in Miller's Crossing, The Hudsucker Proxy, and with Joel Coen in Spies Like Us. The Coens co-wrote Crimewave and The Hudsucker Proxy with Raimi in the mid-1980s (though Hudsucker was not produced for almost a decade). Raimi frequently collaborates with Joel and Ethan Coen, beginning when Joel was one of the editors of Evil Dead.
After the completion of the third Spider-Man film, he planned on producing two more sequels (although Sony Pictures planned three sequels) but could not find a satisfactory script.
Evil dead director movie#
The movie has grossed over US$800 million worldwide, spawning two sequels: Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3, both directed by Raimi and each grossing approximately $800 million.
Evil dead director series#
Raimi achieved great critical and commercial success with the blockbuster Spider-Man (2002), which was adapted from the comic book series of the same name. In the 1990s, Raimi moved into other genres, directing such films as the western The Quick and the Dead (starring Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman), the critically acclaimed crime thriller A Simple Plan (1998) (starring Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton), and the romantic drama For Love of the Game (1999) (starring Kevin Costner).
Army of Darkness, the final movie in the Evil Dead trilogy, commercially underperformed, yet on video became a cult classic. Through it he was still able to secure funding for Evil Dead III, which was retitled Army of Darkness and turned away almost totally from horror towards fantasy and comedy elements. The film was his first major studio picture, and was commercially successful, spawning two sequels. A long-time comic book buff, he then attempted to adapt " The Shadow" into a movie, but was unable to secure the rights, so he created his own super-hero, Darkman (1990). With his brother Ivan Raimi (and crediting himself as Celia Abrams), Sam Raimi also wrote Easy Wheels (1989), which parodied the Outlaw biker film genre. Raimi then returned to the horror genre with the seminal Evil Dead II (which added slapstick humor to the over the top horror, showcasing his love of the Three Stooges). Intended as a live-action comic book, the film was unsuccessful, partly due to unwanted studio intervention. He began work on his third film Crimewave (1985), which he co-wrote with the then unknown Coen brothers, shortly after. Through family, friends, and a network of investors, Raimi was able to finance production of the highly successful horror film The Evil Dead (1981) which became a cult hit and effectively launched Raimi's career. During that time, he also shot the 7-minute short film Clockwork (1978), starring Scott Spiegel, who had appeared in Within the Woods, and Cheryl Guttridge. In college, he teamed up with his brother's roommate Robert Tapert and Campbell to shoot Within the Woods (1978), a 32-minute horror film which raised $375,000, as well as his debut feature film It's Murder!.
He began to make Super 8 movies with his friend Bruce Campbell, whom he met in 1975. Raimi became fascinated with making films when his father brought a movie camera home one day. Raimi graduated from Groves High School and later went on to attend Michigan State University, where he studied English but left after three semesters to film The Evil Dead. Another older brother, Sander, died at 15 in an accidental drowning Raimi has said that the trauma knitted the remaining family closer together and "colour everything for the rest of life."
He is an elder brother of actor Ted Raimi, and a younger brother of screenwriter and physician Ivan Raimi. His ancestors were Jewish immigrants from Russia and Hungary. He is a son of merchants Celia Barbara (née Abrams) and Leonard Ronald Raimi. Raimi was born in Royal Oak, Michigan, to a Conservative Jewish family.