Exclusive: Jill Marie Jones Talks ‘Ash Vs. Evil Dead’Posted by Wilson Morales
October 31, 2015
Premiering tonight, Saturday, October 31st at 9:00pm ET/PT exclusively on STARZ is the original series “Ash vs Evil Dead.”
The 10-episode half-hour series is executive produced by Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, and Bruce Campbell, the original filmmakers, and Craig DiGregorio who serves as executive producer and showrunner.
Campbell reprises his role as Ash, the stock boy, aging lothario, and chainsaw-handed monster hunter who has spent the last 30 years avoiding responsibility, maturity and the terrors of the Evil Dead. When a Deadite plague threatens to destroy all of mankind, Ash is finally forced to face his demons –personal and literal. Destiny, it turns out, has no plans to release the unlikely hero from its “Evil” grip.
The cast is led by Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead) in the role of Ash Williams, Lucy Lawless as Ruby, a mysterious figure who believes Ash is the cause of the Evil outbreaks, Ray Santiago as Pablo Simon Bolivar, an idealistic immigrant who becomes Ash’s loyal sidekick, Dana DeLorenzo as Kelly Maxwell, a moody wild child trying to outrun her past, and Jill Marie Jones as Amanda Fisher, a disgraced Michigan State Trooper set to find our anti-hero Ash and prove his responsibility in the grisly murder of her partner.
For Jones, who is best known for her role as Toni Childs-Garrett on the UPN comedy series, Girlfriends, it’s a return to being a series regular after appearing in guest-starring roles on the others such as American Horror Story: Asylum and Sleepy Hollow, where recurred on six episodes.
Blackfilm.com recently spoke with Jones about her character, getting into the horror genre and meeting Bruce Campbell.
What can say about Amanda Fisher?
Jill Marie Jones: Well, Amanda Fisher is a Michigan State Trooper. She knows her way around a gun. Doesn’t like the word “No.” She’s not very social. Work is everything. She’s one of the good ones. She fights for good. Not to say too much, but there’s a routine stop. It was her lady stop for the night and something happens in true evil dead fashion. It starts her off on a different journey and Ash’s name is all over it and now she’s on his trail. That’s my character on this amazing show.
What was the attraction to doing this series?
JMJ: I don’t know if it’s about what I have done. It’s more so about what I haven’t done. This is actually new for me. Even though on the other shows you think may be similar, I wasn’t deep into the crazy and with the show, I’m all over it. It was really for me to be a badass and fight and do all this stunt work. I had never done action before. I found out something new about myself in that I actually enjoyed it.
Had you watched the previous Evil Dead films?
JMJ: I hadn’t before but I definitely knew about Evil Dead because it’s iconic. During the process of shooting the series, I binged it and I was so excited. Sam Raimi was such a dream to work with.
Fans are expecting to see a lot of blood and gore in the series. Are you used to it now that you have shot episodes?
JMJ: I wasn’t used to it at all but I really surprised myself again. I love it. I was like, “What? Blood? Please more!” I love the horror genre and I look back at some of the things my mom let me watch when I was young. Me and my mom are horror buddies because we love the genre. I had never been able to act in the genre so it’s a dream for me to be a part of it and not just be a spectator.
Being that the series is filled with horror and comedy, does your character have any comedic elements?
JMJ: It’s really funny because the script was so protected, they didn’t want it to be leaked. I only received Amanda Fisher’s sides. I thought when it said comedy on my appointment sheet, I thought that was a typo. There was nothing funny that Amanda had going on. My character is straight and witty, but the comedy is definitely Mr. Bruce Campbell.
Have you been able to meet up with him and talk about the series?
JMJ: It’s been really great. Bruce is really amazing. He plays Ash so well. I was so pleasantly surprised. I had never met him before and he’s so funny outside the cameras. He’s a great man in general. I can say this because it’s mentioned in other interviews but we have a couple of rumbles because Amanda thinks that he’s a part of something and she wants to kick his butt. It’s been such a joy to work with him and Ash has those classic one liners. He’s like the child that never grew up. With my character being this very serious cop, he’s a thorn in her side and it makes good comedy because it’s the ying and yang, but it’s been great.
When audiences see you playing the role of a cop, what did you do to prepare for it? Did you take gun lessons?
JMJ: Yeah. It’s crazy because I’m from Texas and you would think that I have 10 guns in my purse and I don’t. I had never held a real gun before ever and I had never shot a gun before so it was very important for me to get the proper safety training if I was going to shooting with guns and they graciously did for me. I think they would have done that anyway. We have an amazing stunt department. I had already boxed before in my life. I had boxing training and it was really cool. And with the physical stuff, again, I was shocked that I would love it as much as I did. I always say that just because you haven’t seen someone do it, doesn’t mean that they are not capable. I had never been given the opportunity to do something like this. I’m quite thankful and appreciative to work another muscle.
From American Horror Story to Sleepy Hollow and now full time on Ash Vs. Evil Dead, how big a fan of the horror genre were you? What are some of your favorite films?
JMJ: I grew up on horror fan. I grew up on Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Friday the 13th. Plus The Exorcist and The Omen. Those are classics. Then I got into more gore later on in life. I’m a huge fan of the genre. Again, my mother would watch the show if I weren’t on it. The fans are going to be happy because the show did them proud. I think the new fans will love it just as well.
What’s it like getting back to TV in a regular capacity? What was it that you were looking for?
JMJ: I’m always looking for something that’s going to challenge me and I’m always looking for somethings that’s going to excite me. I’m interested in doing things that I have never done before. I’ve played wives and girlfriends a lot, so I want to be excited about something new. This was definitely something new.
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