Starz Gave ‘Ash vs. Evil Dead’ a Hilariously Pointless Note About Ash’s Gun Safety

There are a lot of reasons horror fans have spent more than four decades loving Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams, but Campbell thinks one of the biggest is pretty simple: Ash is just some fucking guy.

During an appearance on The Adam Carolla Show this week, Campbell reflected on the incredible devotion of Evil Dead fans, including the countless Ash tattoos he’s encountered over the years, before explaining why he thinks people continue to connect with the character.

“I think my theory of Ash is the everyman hero,” Campbell told Adam Carolla. “He’d be killed by a ricochet. He’s had no Army training.”

That philosophy apparently caused some confusion while Campbell and Sam Raimi were making Starz’s Ash vs. Evil Dead.

“We got a note from Starz during the middle of making the show: Ash was doing improper and unsafe shotgun handling,” Campbell recalled.

You can probably imagine how well that note went over.

“I was like, ‘Oh, wait a second. No. Ash has had no military training,’” Campbell continued. “When he shoots, he shoots it like Jimmy Cagney, like a gangster. I mean, he doesn’t know. He’s waving it in front of people all day long.”

So they did what anyone who actually understands Ash Williams would do.

They ignored the note.

“It’s like, no, that’s not who that guy is,” Campbell explained.

And that gets right to the heart of why Ash has endured. He isn’t some highly trained badass who always knows what he’s doing. Half the time, the guy is surviving despite himself.

“He’s made so many mistakes as Ash, as the character, that they go, ‘Well, I could do that.’ And they could,” Campbell said. “Almost any dude in the audience could do as well as Ash.”