That Time Bruce Campbell Almost Co-Starred In PHANTASM
The year was 2000 in Austin, TX and PHANTASM creator Don Coscarelli broke the news. Bruce Campbell was going to co-star in the new PHANTASM film.
Can you imagine Bruce Campbell teaming up with Reggie?
Lets take a trip through the Tall Man’s space gate back to the new millennium. March 2000 to be exact. Almost 21 years ago today.
Austin, TX author Stephen Romano and Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League joined forces to put on the first PHANTASM festival. It was called PHANTASMANIA and would take place at the original Alamo Drafthouse at 409 Colorado, Mar 30-Apr 1 at midnight. Reggie Bannister, Angus Scrimm, and Don Coscarelli would be in attendance. All 4 PHANTASM films were screened with Reggie Bannister even performing some live music in-between showings. There were PHANTASM costume and trivia contests and some rare PHANTASM trailers shown. Best of all, the Alamo Drafthouse was the first theater to serve liquor in America so there were buckets of Dos Equis on ice to drink while watching the films. The most passionate PHANTASM fans from all over the world had flown in to be there.
A front page article in the entertainment section greeted the cast in Austin, TX
Website Feoamante.com covered Phantasmania. Visit their site to see the full photos and write up.
These incredible photos above from website Feoamante show how much fun PHANTASMANIA was. Please visit the site here for more.
Meanwhile, Pulp Fiction-cowriter and Academy Award recipient Roger Avary had been hard at work on PHANTASM: 1999 A.D. for Coscarelli to direct. This epic PHANTASM sequel had been in the works over the previous 5 years. (read more about this in our History of PHANTASM section). There was a role in the script for the commander of a military suicide squad named Sgt. Heckleman that they thought would be perfect for horror star Bruce Campbell to portray. Avary and Coscarelli met with Campbell in 1999 and Bruce signed on.
Photo of the original Alamo Drafthouse where PHANTASMANIA took place in 2000. Photo found at Cinema Treasures.
Cut to opening night of PHANTASMANIA. It was the first time the cast and crew of PHANTASM had been in the same room since wrapping PHANTASM: Oblivion over 2 years earlier. During the Q&A session the topic of the long rumored PHANTASM sequel PHANTASM: 1999 A.D. came up.
Don Coscarelli took the opportunity to announce that he had some exciting news. He then proceeded to tell the sold out audience that Bruce Campbell had signed on to “team up” with The Reg Man himself, Reggie Bannister for this kick ass sequel.
The crowd went wild. Dreams of Bruce and Reggie shooting down bad guys in a new PHANTASM film was too much awesomeness to handle.
News hit the internet after the screening and lots of film sites couldn’t contain their glee with this potential pairing. There was a renewed interest from Hollywood but ultimately PHANTASM:1999 A.D. was never financed and ultimately shelved. Never to see the light of day.
Interestingly, Mr. Bannister and Mr. Campbell would soon appear on-screen in a very different form in the Coscarelli classic Bubba Ho-Tep. While a very different movie than PHANTASM: 1999 A.D. it was great to see these legends of horror finally together in a film.
Can you pack more cool in one shot? This production still from Buibba Ho-TEp includes Reggie Bannister, Bruce Campbell, and Ossie Davis. PHANTASM TRIVIA! The actress Cean Okada, portraying a Shady Rest nurse is married to PHANTASM 2 cinematographer Daryn Okada.
Bruce Campbell even paid tribute to the great Angus Scrimm when he passed in 2016. It is definitely fun to think about Bruce and Angus sharing scenes in a PHANTASM movie.