Q: It seems like Baum’s looneyness would be compatible with you. Do you see the same sensibility as a Drag Me to Hell applying to Oz?

Sam Raimi: Well, Drag Me to Hell was like the worst nightmare. I tried to make a big nightmare for the audience and with the help of my brother and the cast and crew. Baum’s book and a half that I’ve read are so filled with wonder and marvel and in fact a lack of nightmarish things that I’d hate to compare my work to his because his is so pleasant and uplifting and heartwarming.

Q: Do you relate to his surrealism?

Sam Raimi: I love those surrealistic elements that he has, those absolute fantasy elements but what I really like are the characters at his center who are good and learn a lesson about the power and the strengths within themselves that was always there. So far that’s the lesson I’ve read in the first book. I’ve only gotten halfway through the second book.

Q: Have you started Spartacus again?

Sam Raimi: Very soon. Very soon we’ll start.

Q: Are you surprised it’s taken off?

Sam Raimi: My partner Robert Tapert who’s really down in New Zealand producing the show, I’m here in Los Angeles and help whatever way I can but in a more limited fashion.

Q: Congratulations on winning for Drag Me to Hell tonight.

Sam Raimi: Thank you. I’m so surprised and thankful to the Academy of Science Fiction Fantasy and Horror. I’m thrilled. We really wanted to make a horror film that entertained and shocked and scared the audience. It’s a great validation to win an award like this, especially from this group, especially in front of all my peers. So many great filmmakers like Zack Snyder or Richard Donner in the audience, or great actors like Leonard Nimoy in the audience. To be honored amongst your peers that are so highly respected is incredible. It’s a very humbling experience. It’s not something that puts you up on a pedestal to feel great about yourself. I’m not sure I deserve this. It makes you want to really improve your game and be worthy of something like that.

Q: You’ve been gracious ever since the early horror movies and through all the Spider-Mans. How do you maintain that in this industry?

Sam Raimi: Well, I’m an entertainer and I want to entertain the audience. You want their approval. You know they’re buying a ticket to see the show. You want them to laugh and scream and jump and not to feel ripped off or let down in any way. It’s a relief when you feel like you’ve entertained them. So when you get an award like this, it’s a way of your peers telling you that you entertained them that time. You get a pass on that one.

Q: Would you return to a horror movie after Oz or Warcraft?

Sam Raimi: Well, if I have something that excited me, if I think I can really bring something to then yes. If I don’t, then no. That’s how I know how to direct a picture. If it excites me and I love it, I get to the set and I know how every scene should be, I know where the camera should be. I know what to tell the actor is important about this moment because I understand it and I’m in love with it. If he misses it, I can describe it to him very specifically. If I don’t love something, if I don’t understand it thoroughly, I really don’t know how to direct the scene because I don’t know what it is that’s so great about it or what it is that’s supposed to be highlighted or diminished in some way. I can’t explain to them about a hidden meaning in something if I don’t really love it.

Q: Would we ever see a fourth Evil Dead?

Sam Raimi: I’d love to make one but I just don’t know what the future holds on that.

Q: Is there a horror movie you think can’t be remade?

Sam Raimi: Well, I love so many great horror movies like Robert Wise’s The Haunting.

Q: Do you see yourself ever making another horror film?

Sam Raimi: I don’t know. I don’t know what the future holds for me. I just want to make pictures that I feel passionate about, that I think I can really bring something to, that I have some real connection with. I think if I do that, quite simply I know how to direct the movie. On set, I know what to tell the actor. I know where to put the camera. If I’m not connected to it in a really intimate way, it can be a very difficult job.