Sam Raimi

Best known for creating the cult horror franchise Evil Dead, as well as directing the original Spider-Man trilogy (2002–07) and the 1990 superhero film Darkman.

Samuel M “Sam” Raimi, the fourth of five children, was born in Royal Oak, Michigan, the son of Celia Barbara (Abrams) and Leonard Ronald Raimi, and grew up in Birmingham, Michigan. He was raised in Conservative Judaism; his ancestors emigrated from Russia and Hungary. Raimi graduated from Groves High School and later went on to attend Michigan State University, where he majored in English but left after three semesters to film The Evil Dead.

Raimi became fascinated with making films when his father brought a movie camera home one day and he began to make Super 8 movies with childhood friend Bruce Campbell. 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!. 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 launched Raimi’s career.

He began work on his third film, Crimewave (1985), intended as a live-action comic book — the film was not successful, due in part to unwanted studio intervention. Raimi then returned to the horror genre with the seminal Evil Dead II (which combined slapstick with over the top horror, showcasing his love of the Three Stooges). With his brother Ivan Raimi (and crediting himself as Celia Abrams), Sam Raimi also wrote Easy Wheels (1989), a parody of Outlaw biker films. A long-time comic book buff, he then attempted to adapt “The Shadow” into a movie, but couldn’t secure the rights, so he created his own super-hero, Darkman (1990). It was his first major studio picture, and was only moderately successful, but through it he secured funding for Evil Dead III, which was retitled Army of Darkness and turned away almost totally from horror in favor of fantasy and comic elements. Army of Darkness, the final movie in the Evil Dead trilogy, was a box office flop, yet on video became a cult classic.

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). 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. The movie has grossed over US$800 million worldwide, spawning two sequels: Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3, both directed by Raimi and both grossing roughly $800 million each. After the completion of the third Spider-Man film, he planned on producing two more sequels but could not find a satisfactory script. Prior to directing the Spider-Man films, Raimi lobbied to direct Batman Forever when Tim Burton was ousted from the director’s chair, but was rejected in favor of Joel Schumacher.

Raimi frequently collaborates with Joel and Ethan Coen, beginning when Joel was one of the editors of Evil Dead. 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 made cameo appearances in Miller’s Crossing, The Hudsucker Proxy, and with Joel Coen in Spies Like Us. In turn the Coens advised Raimi on shooting in snow for A Simple Plan, based on their experiences with Fargo. He has also worked in front of the camera in The Stand as a dimwitted hitman, John Carpenter’s Body Bags as a gas station attendant, and Indian Summer in what is perhaps his biggest role as a bumbling assistant to Alan Arkin. The film was written by his childhood friend writer-director Mike Binder and shot at the camp that they both attended when they were younger. Raimi also produced the entire The Grudge franchise.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Raimi had an interest in directing a film version of The Hobbit, the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In 2008, Guillermo del Toro got the nod instead, with Peter Jackson as the executive producer. Raimi may direct By Any Means Necessary, the next film based on the “Jack Ryan” CIA character created by Tom Clancy. Disney also approached him to direct W.I.T.C.H.: The Movie, based on the popular comic.

Raimi directed Oz the Great and Powerful, which was released in March of 2013. He said he would not be directing the sequel.

Raimi often works with film editor Bob Murawski, a fellow Michigan State University alumnus. Among Raimi’s films edited by Murawski include the Spider-Man movies, The Gift, and Army of Darkness. Raimi also frequently collaborates with composer Joseph LoDuca, another acquaintance from Michigan who has provided the scores to most of his films.

Raimi’s visual trademarks include:

• A distinctive camera shot where the camera follows a moving object (such as an arrow or a bullet) at high speed, creating a first-person POV from the object itself;
• A rapid dolly shot to bring a far-off object suddenly into the center of the frame or to pull back from the main focal object to show what is happening around it (sometimes called a “push-pull”);
• Montage sequences with overlapping close-ups to establish a set of similar actions over time.
• Extreme closeups using a wide angle lens.

In the Making The Amazing documentary on the Spider-Man 2 DVD, both Tobey Maguire and Bruce Campbell humorously recount Raimi’s penchant for “abusing” actors. To obtain detailed closeups of a character getting hit by debris Raimi stands off-camera throwing items, swinging tree branches, etc., at the actor at the center of the shot. Scenes from the documentary show that Raimi is the one throwing popcorn at Peter Parker during the walk to the wrestling ring in Spider-Man and tossing gold coins around during the bank robbery scene in Spider-Man 2, as well as a passer-by banging their bag into Peter Parker’s head as he kneels on the sidewalk of his college’s campus being Sam Raimi.

In many of Raimi’s movies the camera itself is part of the action onscreen. One of Raimi’s most famous sequences involves a POV shot of Bruce Campbell being chased through a cabin by an unseen evil force.

Raimi has been married since 1993 to Gillian Dania Greene, daughter of actor Lorne Greene. They have five children, three of whom (daughter Emma Rose and sons Lorne and Henry) appeared as extras in Drag Me to Hell, and in Spider-Man 3 during the movie’s final battle. He is the older brother of actor Ted Raimi and the younger brother of screenwriter Ivan Raimi.

In 2007, Rolling Stone reported Raimi had donated $9,999 to the Republican Party (the maximum legal amount).