Timothy Patrick Quill – We Can’t Quit Army of Darkness’ Horror Loving Blacksmith! By Brian Kirst
“Halloween is so great”, states Timothy Patrick Quill (so memorable in Army of Darkness, My Name is Bruce and for several character roles in the three Spiderman films), “You can step outside of yourself and be something else. It’s healthy to step out of your body!”
Quill should know. He has been stepping outside of his body since his Michigan high school days in the 1970’s as part of Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell and Scott Spiegel’s theatrical filming troupe. “Bruce Campbell is the funniest guy ever and Sam knew every shot, every line from the Three Stooges films! We would shoot films all week, Three Stooges homages…, and on Friday night we’d show the films in the school auditorium. The principal would let us use the school as long as we used his nephew in the films. We’d charge 25 cents a head and every dime would go into the next movie.”
Quill eventually went to business school, returning to film during the summers with Raimi and Co. While professionally going on to play roles in various television shows and in the sleeper horror hit Thou Shall Not Kill, Quill really hit his mark with his layered, enjoyable work as the Blacksmith in Raimi’s Army of Darkness.
“Army of Darkness has probably had the most impact on my career. I got my SAG card and now eternal recognition for the role.
Sam is very loyal. He brings us back for most of his movies. I am salivating to work with Sam on Spiderman 4 in March. For Spiderman 2, he played with me to loosen up the cast and crew. He told me he was going to pick on me to loosen everyone up. We were on set for 3 and 1/2 weeks for the train sequence with three trains and 200 yards of green screen.
He was having trouble with the scene where Toby gets lifted into the train – people kept dropping him. I suggested that we carry him over our heads like Jesus Christ and then place him down reverently. Sam looked at me and said, Tim thinks he’s a director now! Everyone was terrified at first, but once they realized what was going on it really broke the tension.
What he can do is really a marvel. For part three as the Crane Operator it really looked like I was 75 stories up! I had friends come up to me and ask – Were you really up that high? – Which also proves that an actor’s best friend is his editor, as well!”
Quill also remains close to Campbell and his Evil Dead co-star Ellen Sandweiss, as well. “Ellen just gave me a really wonderful part in her online series, Dangerous Women. We all shot My Name is Bruce on his (Campbell’s) property in Oregon. It was like spending 30 days with my buddies. Danny Hicks and I were in the City Hall scene and I got inspired. We’re the two toughest guys and I looked at him and said I don’t wanna quit you! It was like – okay, you two are gay for the rest of the film. My big gay role!” (Jake Gyllenhaal eat yer heart out!)
Meanwhile – “We’re all going up to Bruce’s for Thanksgiving. Hopefully to talk about future deals” – Something the horror community is surely just as excited about as the passionately and friendly Timothy Patrick Quill.
