Samuel Marshall Raimi was born on October 23, 1959 in Royal Oak, Michigan. He is an American film director, producer, actor and writer. He is best known for directing the classic cult-horror film "The Evil Dead" and the blockbuster "Spider-Man" films.
Raimi was born to a Conservative Jewish family. His father is Leonard Ronald Raimi and his mother is Celia Barbara (Abrams) Raimi. His family's original surname was Reingewertz, but was shortened to Raimi after his grandfather immigrated to the United States.
Raimi is the fourth of five children. His eldest sibling, Sander, died in a swimming accident in 1968 at age 15, while on a trip to Israel. His elder brother, Ivan Raimi, is an emergency room doctor and screenwriter who sometimes collaborates with Sam. His brother, Ted Raimi, is an actor and played J. Jonah Jameson's assistant Hoffman in all three Spider-Man movies. His older sister, Andrea Raimi Rubin, is an attorney and is not involved in the film industry. Raimi attended Wylie E. Groves High School, and Michigan State University and majored in English, leaving after three semesters to film The Evil Dead.
Raimi became fascinated in 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 $350,000. Reinvesting the profits from college-screenings and campus tours of Within the Woods, Raimi was able to finance production of the highly successful horror film The Evil Dead (1981) which became a major hit and effectively launched Raimi's career to new levels. He began work on his second film Crimewave (1985), intended as a live-action comic book - the film was not successful, due in part to unwanted studio intervention. Raimi returned to the horror genre with the seminal Evil Dead II (which toned down the savageness of the original in favour of slapstick, showcasing his love of the Three Stooges). A long-time comic book buff, he attempted to adapt "The Shadow" into a movie, but was unable to secure the rights. So he created his own super-hero, Darkman (1990). The film was his first major studio picture, and was only moderately successful, but he was still able to secure funding for Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness, which turned away almost totally from horror in favour of fantasy and comedy elements.
In the 1990s Raimi moved into other genres, directing such films as A Simple Plan (1998) (starring Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton) and For Love of the Game (1999) (starring Kevin Costner). Raimi achieved great 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 $800 million USD worldwide, spawning two sequels: Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3. After the completion of the third Spider-Man film, Raimi is slated to direct a film adaptation of The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett. 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, whose reputation at the time outshone Raimi's.
He has also worked in front of the camera with Miller's Crossing as a coldblooded gunman, The Stand as a dimwitted hitman, John Carpenter's Body Bags in an unusual role as a gas station attendant and all three mentioned roles saw Raimi dying in distinct ways, and Indian Summer in what is perhaps his biggest role as a bumbling assistant to Alan Arkin. He also produced The Grudge and The Grudge 2.
Right now, Raimi is in talks to direct the fourth installment of the Spider-Man franchise for a 2009 or 2010 release.[citation needed] Also, according to AICN, Raimi has expressed an interest in directing a film version of The Hobbit, the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Raimi is also reported to be working on a remake of The Evil Dead (1981) which is set for a 2008 release according to IMDB.com. Raimi however, won't be directing the remake and is looking for some new directing talent to bring the franchise up to today's standards.[citation needed]
In addition to film, Raimi has worked in television, producing such series as Xena: Warrior Princess, featuring his younger brother Ted Raimi and long-time friend Bruce Campbell, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, American Gothic (TV series), Cleopatra 2525 and Jack of All Trades. In 2006, Raimi agreed to direct a TV version of Terry Goodkind's best-selling The Sword of Truth fantasy series.
In his film and television projects, Sam Raimi's brother Ted Raimi and his friend Bruce Campbell often appear in on-screen roles, though these appearances are often just short cameos. The trio have been working together since their college days. Both Ted and Bruce have appeared in all three Spider-Man movies; Ted plays Daily Bugle advertising manager Ted Hoffman, while Campbell has played different roles every time.
Raimi occasionally appears on-screen in his own movies, usually in similar fashion to the cameos made by his idol Alfred Hitchcock: A silhouette behind a projection screen (Spider-Man, in the wrestling scene), a passer-by with some kind of physical interaction with the film's protagonist (Spider-Man 2, as the student whose bookbag hits Peter Parker in the back of the head), a hitchhiker in The Evil Dead. Raimi also wears a suit with white shirt and tie on-set like Hitchcock used to as another homage to the famous director.
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.
Sam Raimi has included a 1973 yellow Oldsmobile Delta 88 automobile (nicknamed "The Classic") in every film except The Quick and the Dead. A bottle of Maker's Mark also appears regularly in his movies.
Other Raimi screen-framing trademarks include:
In the Making The Amazing documentary on the Spider-Man 2 DVD, both Tobey Maguire and Bruce Campbell jokingly describe Raimi's penchant for "abusing" actors: In order to get realistic closeups of a character getting hit by debris, Raimi usually stands just off-camera throwing items, swinging tree branches, etc., at the actor who is 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.
Raimi has been married since 1993 to Gillian Deale Greene, daughter of actor Lorne Greene. They have five children. Three of the Raimis' children (daughter Emma Rose and sons Lorne and Henry) appeared in Spider-Man 3 during the movie's climactic final battle as extras.
On occasion, Raimi collaborates with his elder brother Ivan, a doctor and occasional scriptwriter. Together, they co-wrote the screenplays for Darkman and Army of Darkness. Ivan also contributed to story and script development for the three Spider-Man films.
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-80's (though Hudsucker was not filmed for almost a decade). Raimi made cameo appearances in both Miller's Crossing and The Hudsucker Proxy. The Coen brothers gave Raimi advice on shooting in snow for A Simple Plan, based on their experiences with Fargo.
