Entertainment
Brother ACt
The Raimi boys parlay childhood fun into Hollywood success.
C
SWAM CHESSLER
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
The Raini kids growkg up:
Ivan, Sam, Ted and Andrea.
elia and Larry Raimi do
not keep a lot of family
photos around their
Franklin home, but they
do have an unusual col-
lection of family films.
What sets their collec-
tion apart is the large
number of family-made
commercial films sharing
shelf space with the ones cap-
turing memorable events in
their personal lives.
That's because the couple's
three sons—Sam, Ivan and
Ted— have spun home-movie
experiences into colorful, Holly-
wood careers, working on a
string of motion pictures and TV
programs that showcase their
talents in producing, screen-
writing, directing and acting.
Sam, the first to display an
interest in cinema, has just fin-
ished directing Sharon Stone
and Gene Hackman in The
Quick and the Dead, an action-
filled Western that will be re-
leased this fall.
Ted, who appeared in the
home-produced adventures of
Sam's youth, can be seen every
Sunday evening as Lt. J.G.
O'Neill on the futuristic TV se-
ries "seaQuest DSV."
Ivan, who helped Sam with
his early scripts, now spends 60
percent of his working hours as
an emergency room physician;
40 percent writing and direct-
ing for movies and TV. He is
about to begin a directing as-
signment for a new TV series,
"Hercules," being shot in New
Zealand.
"My father was really my
main influence," recalled Sam,
34, whose first professional
recognition came from his Evil
Dead horror-film series. "He not
only made 16 mm home movies
of the family, which I thought
were just great, he also bought
me my first movie camera."
When Sam started filming as
a junior-high student at West
Maple, he did comedy spoofs,
many reminiscent of the Three
Stooges. Using family and
neighborhood friends to act out
his screenplays, he went on to
more dramatic pieces, one about
the Civil War, a film his dad re-
members very well.
"As I would drive
home from work, I
would find them out-
side filming theirwar
movie," Mr. Raimi re-
called. "There'd be
no horses but just
about everything else.
All the neighbors had
to wait patiently in
their cars until the
area was cleared."
Sometimes Sam
would take his crew
on location to his
parents' businesses.
These included his
father's recently-sold
furniture and appli-
ance business, Cen-
tral Outfitting, and
his mother's Lulu's
Lingerie, which she
still operates with the
help of her husband.
Dr. Raimi, 37, has
his own theory about Sam's ca-
reer beginnings.
"I think he made movies to
get out of having to do real
work," joked the oldest brother,
who performed in Sam's films
when he was in high school and
did some editing on weekend
breaks from Michigan State
University. "He would make
movies in lieu of writing a term
paper."
Andrea Raimi Rubin, 42, the
oldest of the four Raimi children,
never got into filmmaking. Now
managing her own company,
Ace Court Reporting, she was
away at Eastern Michigan Uni-
versity while her brothers' in-
terests were developing.
"I couldn't open any cupboard
or drawer in my parents' house
without encountering a fake
skull, arm, body part or
weapon," Ms. Rubin recalled.
"We had props all over the
house."
Although she was not cast in
any role, her brothers did use
her as a chauffeur and gofer to
help them with behind-the-
scenes chores until they were
old enough to drive themselves.
"When I sat down and
watched the movies, I always
thought they were quite funny
and good," she said. "My broth-
ers worked very hard at setting
up scenes, writing dialogue and
just planning.
"I started to take them seri-
ously when the rest of the world
did, when Sam made Happy
Valley Kid as a student at
Michigan State."
While at MSU together, Sam
and Ivan formed the Society of
Creative Filmmaking and
planned film festivals for like-
minded college students around
the country.
"When I first started, I didn't
know I could make films pro-
fessionally and let that be my
career," explained Sam, who
had pursued his interest
through his years at Groves
High School. "I just thought it
was something I would do until
the real world caught up with
me and made me do something
else.
"I was very fortunate to
have parents who allowed
me to drop out of the uni-
versity to pursue my
dream. I also was very
fortunate to have good
friends with similar in-
terests at an early age."
Allied with Michigan
friends Robert Tapert
and actor Bruce Camp-
bell, Sam created Re-
naissance Pictures Inc.,
the banner used for
most of his production
projects.
"For purely financial
reasons, our first fea-
ture film was Evil
Dead," Sam said. "The
reason that was a hor-
ror film was to raise
money from private investors in
the Detroit area. We had to
make a movie that would defi-
nitely play in the theaters.
"Although we had only made
comedies until that point, it
seemed that a horror film was
the best way we could guaran-
tee a return for our investors.
"Once we made that first hor-
ror film, it was easier to get
money to make another horror
film than to make anything else.
We had a proven track record in
that field. One film pretty much
led to another."
In between producing and di-
recting, Sam writes successful
films, including The Hudsucker
Proxy which stars Paul New-
man and is currently being
shown in theaters around the
country.
He earned acting credits in
Miller's Crossing, Innocent
Blood and Indian Summer, the
last depicting fictional events at
the camp Sam attended, Camp
Tamakwa in Canada.
"My most exciting project so
far was the film Darkman," Sam
said. "It was a beauty-and-the-
beast-tale that I wrote with my
brother Ivan and later direct-
ed using my other brother,
Theodore, as an actor. It was
just a great, family- oriented ex-
perience for me.
"We find working together is
a great way for us to spend time
together. We can share ideas,
get into the heads of characters
and develop story lines.
"Our writing styles are as dif-
ferent as our personalities.
A family photo of Ivan Raimi at
Niagara Falls last year.