10 Genre Directors Who Stepped Out Of Their Field (And Failed)
4. Sam Raimi Loved Baseball, Apparently
Sam Raimi had just turned 20 when shooting began on The Evil Dead, a production he considers his "rite of passage." He had certainly dedicated his first 19 years to it. He and friend Bruce Campbell had grown up together shooting movies on Super 8mm film. It wasn't long before the two set off to the woods with a few others to shoot Within the Woods, a 20-Minute proof-of-concept short that would serve as the basis for his landmark horror film.
Raimi's career since has been primarily indulging other fantasies from his teen years. He grew up loving comics, and wanted to direct an adaptation of the radio program The Shadow. When he couldn't secure the rights, he created his own with Darkman. When he finally did try his hand at a superhero that was licensed, many of the same shots were recycled in Spider-Man.
His sense of humour is equally teen-inspired, notably drawing on his love of The Three Stooges' slapstick. The 90s are filled with examples of Raimi trying his hand at various genres to differing levels of success. He mastered the crime thriller with A Simple Plan and even directed a Western with 1993's The Quick and the Dead.
But no Raimi film turned out to be as abject a failure as For The Love of The Game. He'd never attempted a romance before, and while the baseball sequences are handled well, the love story is as dull as...well, baseball, really.