Line #11 Creator/SamRaimi


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6	[[quoteright:346:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/samraimi_3050.jpg]]
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8	Samuel Raimi (born October 23, 1959 in Royal Oak, Michigan) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor.
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10	He is best known for creating the ''Franchise/EvilDead'' series and directing the ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy''. He has the distinct honor of being one of few big-name directors believed by many to successfully pull off making films that are campy ''and'' scary at the same time.
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12	Raimi is also no stranger to television, as he executive produced the syndicated shows ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'', ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'', ''Series/LegendOfTheSeeker'' and ''Series/SpartacusBloodAndSand''. He executive produced the TV adaptation of his ''Evil Dead'' films, ''Series/AshVsEvilDead'', the {{pilot}} of which he also directed.
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14	Early on in his career, he was a frequent collaborator with Creator/TheCoenBrothers: Joel was an assistant editor on ''The Evil Dead'', the three of them wrote ''Crimewave'' and ''Film/TheHudsuckerProxy'' together, Raimi had cameo apperances in ''Film/MillersCrossing'' and ''Hudsucker'', and Raimi directed a montage sequence in the latter.
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16	He reunited with Creator/MarvelComics to direct ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness'' (based on the equally long-running ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange'' comics), a sequel to the [[Film/DoctorStrange2016 2016 film]] that serves as part of Phase 4 of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. Fittingly enough, this film is also a direct companion to ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'', which integrated Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy into the wider MCU [[TheMultiverse multiverse]].
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18	He has a younger brother, Creator/{{Ted\|Raimi}}, who is also an actor and director.
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20	!!Filmography:
21	[[index]]
22	* ''Franchise/EvilDead'' series
23	** ''Film/WithinTheWoods'' (1978)
24	** ''Film/{{The Evil Dead\|1981}}'' (1981)
25	** ''Film/EvilDead2'' (1987)
26	** ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness'' (1992)
27	** ''Series/AshVsEvilDead'' pilot (2015)
28	* ''Film/{{Crimewave\|1985}}'' (1985)
29	* ''Film/{{Darkman}}'' (1990)
30	* ''Film/TheQuickAndTheDead'' (1995)
31	* ''Film/ASimplePlan'' (1998)
32	* ''Film/ForLoveOfTheGame'' (1999)
33	* ''[[Film/TheGift2000 The Gift]]'' (2000)
34	* ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy''
35	** ''Film/SpiderMan1'' (2002)
36	** ''Film/SpiderMan2'' (2004)
37	** ''Film/SpiderMan3'' (2007)
38	* ''Film/DragMeToHell'' (2009)
39	* ''Film/OzTheGreatAndPowerful'' (2013)
40	* ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness'' (2022)
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42	!!Other Work
43	* ''Film/ThouShaltNotKillExcept'' (1985, actor)
44	* ''Film/TheHudsuckerProxy'' (1994 - co-wrote with Creator/TheCoenBrothers and served as second unit director.)
45	[[/index]]
46
47	!!Sam Raimi and his works provide examples of:
48	%%As with all Creator/ pages, trivia tropes about the creator specifically are to be posted here, not a Trivia/ page, as they technically are InUniverse in the case of the person's career.
49	%%However: As with all Creator/ pages, items that could go on a specific work's trivia page go there, not here.
50	* AssociatedComposer: Music/DannyElfman has composed the majority of Raimi's works since ''Darkman''. They had a brief falling out during the production of ''Film/SpiderMan3'', but Elfman later returned to score ''Film/OzTheGreatAndPowerful'' and ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness''.
51	* AuthorAppeal:
52	** He's very fond of old pulp comics, from superhero to horror, so references pop up a lot if it's not a straight-up adaptation.
53	** You can also expect references or homages to ''Film/TheThreeStooges''.
54	* BloodyHilarious: He's famous for making very brutal violence extremely comical.
55	* CreatorBacklash:
56	** He seems to agree with the consensus that ''Film/SpiderMan3'' was the worst of the trilogy.
57	** After ''Film/TheQuickAndTheDead'' flopped, Raimi admitted that he was "confused" and thought himself to be a "dinosaur".
58	** He hasn't exactly considered ''Crimewave'' one of his proudest works, given the production problems surrounding the film.
59	* BeingGoodSucks: His central theme of his Spider-Man trilogy is that Peter must do what is right no matter what, at the cost of all of his personal relationships and happiness. Downright ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne for Ash, as from ''Film/EvilDead2'' onwards, he comes to realize that his life is cursed to always be haunted by the Deadites.
60	* CreatorsPest: He's ''not'' a fan of ComicBook/{{Venom}}, stating that he despises the character's "lack of humanity." This is the reason for his [[TakeThatAudience unflattering]] portrayal of the character in ''Film/SpiderMan3''. For what it's worth noting, he originally wanted to use ''the Vulture'', but studio mandates made him choose Venom instead.
61	* CreatorThumbprint: "The Classic," a yellow 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 that Raimi has had since before he began directing. He tries to get it into every one of his movies, to the point that Bruce Campbell claimed in his autobiography that the car was in even more movies than he has been. Its most famous appearances were as the car for both [[Franchise/EvilDead Ash Williams]] and [[Film/SpiderMan1 Benjamin Parker]].
62	** Crosses over into TheseusShipParadox: in Creator/BruceCampbell's memoir ''If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor'', there is a section entitled "You Will Never Kill My Classic", which focuses on The Classic and describes its extensive onscreen appearances in Raimi's films from his homemade Super-8 films to modern blockbusters, and several cases of the car having to be stripped down, modified or rebuilt with new parts, either due to Raimi's filmmaking needs or, in one case on the set of ''Crimewave'', as a prank by Campbell himself, prompting Raimi's stubborn insistence to Campbell that "you will never kill the Classic". By the time of the shooting of ''Evil Dead 2'' [[TheAllegedCar it no longer ran]], but Raimi insisted on its inclusion, even if it meant maintaining the vehicle at his own expense, which he did on all subsequent appearances of it. Campbell later teases Raimi in a quote about how much of the Classic consisted of original parts, with Raimi cagily insisting the body and chassis, dash and steering wheel are all original, that the rest of the car contains [[{{Understatement}} "some" new parts]], and that the Classic currently resides [[SecretGovernmentWarehouse "in a warehouse somewhere in Southern California."]]
63	** Adores torturing Bruce Campbell in his movies. Most recently, his cameo in ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness'' had the titular Doctor curse Campbell into punching himself in the face for ''days''. Sam has jokingly said that the best way to get a good performance out of Bruce is to poke him with a stick.
64	* DisproportionateRetribution: Part of the central theme for many of his horror movies and arguably even ''Film/ASimplePlan''. You go to a cabin in the woods and play some weird tape deck? '''Everyone dies.''' You turn down an extension on a loan? '''Burn in Hell for all of eternity.''' Find a plane that has a briefcase full of money? '''Kill everyone and burn the money.''' Though, what does separate Raimi from other filmmakers is he's much more empathetic to the characters and deconstructing audiences desires to see said characters be severely punished for wrongdoing.
65	* DutchAngle: Used prominently throughout his filmography, to the point of almost being a CreatorThumbprint in itself.
66	* FakeShemp: TropeNamer when it came to the ''Franchise/EvilDead'' films. Based after the technique [[TropeCodifier codified]] in [[Film/TheThreeStooges Three Stooges Shorts.]]
67	* GenreRoulette: Raimi has made an effort to be diverse as possible with his films. Accordingly, he has directed a incredible number of genres and often blends them in the ''same'' movie. To that end, he's regarded as one of the Founding Fathers of the modern HorrorComedy genre (along with Creator/PeterJackson), and ''Film/SpiderMan1'' is credited for marshalling the modern age of comic book movies (along with 2000's ''Film/XMen1''), although he's also successfully dabbled in straight drama, crime and supernatural thrillers and even ''Westerns''.
68	* POVCam: He often likes putting the camera from the point of view of some evil force stalking or attacking the characters. See: [[Franchise/EvilDead Deadites]], [[Film/SpiderMan2 Doc Ock's tentacles]], [[Film/SpiderMan3 the Venom Symbiote]], and [[Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness the Scarlet Witch]].
69	* PrimaDonnaDirector: Parodied as seen in behind the scenes footage. A recurring joke throughout the making of the ''Spider-Man'' trilogy is how Raimi [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV1r9OyjasA regularly abuses his cast and crew]], including tossing crap at Creator/TobeyMaguire if he has the chance and literally shown to be poking Bruce Campbell with a stick while directing his cameo in ''Spider-Man 2''. He also has a habit of sarcastically threatening to throw people off the set if they piss him off.
70	-->'''Tobey Maguire''': Sam, I won't be spoken to in that manner!\
71	'''Sam Raimi''':...You talking back to me?
72	** Per his memoir ''If Chins Could Kill'', Raimi once weaponised this on the set of ''Film/TheQuickAndTheDead'' against a visiting Bruce Campbell, pressganging him into appearing in a cameo and verbally berating him in front of the cast and crew, all in order to placate Creator/PatHingle's request for a specific scene where he avenges the honour of his character's daughter... [[SnipeHunt which Sam never intended to use in the finished film anyway]].
73	* ProductionPosse: Hire Sam Raimi, and you're pretty much certain to also be hiring his brother [[Creator/TedRaimi Ted]] as well as Creator/BruceCampbell and occasionally Creator/LucyLawless.
74	** He was also tangentially part of the Coen Brothers' posse early in his career, as noted above, and Music/DannyElfman is also responsible for scoring most of his films.
75	** Behind the scenes, he has frequently worked with editors Bob Murawski and Arthur Colburn, and cinematographers Bill Pope and Peter Deming. His brother Ivan has also served as a co-writer on a number of his films.
76	* PromotedFanboy: He was a big fan of ComicBook/SpiderMan before being tasked with directing the film trilogy.
77	** He's also stated he's a fan of Doctor Strange and Batman - he lobbied to take over directing duties for the original Batman film series after Creator/TimBurton left, and created ''Film/{{Darkman}}'' as a compromise when Warner Bros turned him down. He would later wind up taking over directing duties for the second ''Doctor Strange'' film.
78	* RousseauWasRight: With the exception of Eddie Brock/Venom, the villains in his Spider-Man movies all have sympathetic backstories that make them quite human.
79	* RuleOfCool: Raimi could give Creator/JohnCarpenter a run for his money with how the ''Evil Dead'' series turned out over time.
80	* SignatureStyle: His most notable trademark is blending horror, drama and camp, particularly with gross BodyHorror swinging wildly between both. He makes highly stylized audience pleasing films meant primarily for entertainment value.
81	* {{Slapstick}}: Physical comedy is pretty present in a lot of Raimi's films, especially directed at Creator/BruceCampbell. Even though it's present in his horror films and PlayedForHorror, there's still a lot of BlackComedy to be had about something like Ash getting slapped around by Deadites in order to drive him insane. You can even see some of the Three Stooges influence in his ''Spider-Man'' fight scenes with how much Spidey gets the shit kicked out of him.
82	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Despite how goofy and campy his films tend to be, Raimi is generally pretty far down on the cynical end of the scale, with ''Film/DragMeToHell'' in particular being infamous for its brutally mean-spirited tone. That said, the ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'' is well-noted for its overall idealistic, heartfelt nature, despite how much it loves putting its characters through the wringer.
83	* StartMyOwn: His failure to take over directing ''Film/BatmanForever'' from Tim Burton resulted in him creating and making ''Film/{{Darkman}}''.
84	* ThemeMobile: Most of Raimi's films feature a [[https://www.filmbuffonline.com/FBOLNewsreel/wordpress/2013/04/09/the-classic-sam-raimi-and-the-1973-oldsmobile-delta-88/ '73 Oldsmobile Delta 88]] at some point. Raimi is said to have four basically identical ones.
85	* VertigoEffect: This is used frequently, particularly in his earlier works and perhaps most prominently in ''Film/TheQuickAndTheDead''.
86	* WorldOfHam: His most famous films throw subtlety out the window in favor of everyone unironically reciting intentionally corny lines and giving over-the-top deliveries.

Context Creator / SamRaimi