This 'Bucket of Blood' Is No Wes Craven Flick

By SUSAN KING

Nov. 30, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

You can’t judge a movie by its title. Especially in the case of “Ruby’s Bucket of Blood,” a new Showtime movie premiering Saturday on the cable network.

Despite its Grand Guignol moniker, “Ruby’s Bucket of Blood” is not some gory horror flick, but a sexy, sultry drama with a hefty dose of blues music that stars Angela Bassett--who doubles as the film’s producer--Kevin Anderson, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Jurnee Smollett. And the “Bucket of Blood” of the title is actually the name of a popular juke joint owned by the beautiful Ruby Delacroix (Bassett).

When the action opens in southern Louisiana in 1960, Ruby is in the midst of personal problems. Her handsome husband, Earl (Mitchell), works offshore and has become bored with his wife and existence in the sleepy town. Her teenage daughter, Emerald (Smollett), fights her every step of the way and can’t wait to leave.

Into the mix comes Billy Dupre (Anderson), a white man who sings “like he’s colored,” Ruby’s house-band leader, Johnny (Glenn Plummer), swears. She agrees to hire Billy and the two soon become attracted to each other. However, Billy’s wife, Betty (Anjelica Torn), is not about to let him get distracted by Ruby.

Bassett says she was initially put off by the title when executive producer Whoopi Goldberg approached her to do the movie. “I said, ‘Oh, it’s a horror film!’ I was really sort of pleasantly surprised to find out it was more of a period piece with a lot of character, a lot of sweat and sultriness.”

“Ruby’s Bucket of Blood” began about a decade ago as a well-received play. When it was performed at the San Diego Repertory Company in 1992, “we got a really wonderful review from Sylvie Drake [The Times’ retired theater critic],” says playwright Julie Hebert, who also penned the TV adaptation.

As soon as the review ran, Hebert says, at least two dozen phone calls from film production companies flooded her agent. “But at the time, I had a theater agent who I no longer have. She was going through something personal and she stopped answering the phones. It just all sort of fell apart.”

Hebert had written off the idea that “Bucket of Blood” would become a movie until she got a call two years ago from Goldberg’s company about the film rights. “Whoopi Goldberg was supposed to play Ruby in San Diego, and right before they were supposed to go into rehearsals, she won the Academy Award [for “Ghost”] and pretty much her schedule changed. She kept a copy of the first draft of the play and ultimately made an arrangement with Showtime.”

Like Ruby, Hebert hails from southern Louisiana and first heard of the phrase “bucket of blood” from her grandfather. “He was telling me stories about being a single guy in the 1920s in south Louisiana and he would talk about a bar down there called a Bucket of Blood. It was called that because these Cajuns would cut themselves up every weekend with their bowie knives [at the bar]. I thought it was a really unusual name. Then after I wrote the play and did more research, I found out Bucket of Blood is a very common name for bars. There is a Bucket of Blood in Chicago, there is a Bucket of Blood in New York, and there is a Bucket of Blood in San Diego. Showtime, God bless them, kept the title.”

“Ruby” marks Bassett’s first foray into producing. “I didn’t know what all that involved,” she says, “just trying to bring a character to life can take all of your time if you are really seriously thinking about it and doing more than reciting lines. The part of producing I really felt comfortable with--because I am such a fan of actors and artists--being able to work with some people you don’t see all the time or who are truly talented and who I thought would be just right.”

Although the film is set in Louisiana, it was shot outside Toronto because of budget concerns. “Kudos to [director] Peter Werner for the location scouting and getting that right,” Bassett says. “The look and the feel of the place I thought was so integral to the story. Louisiana is one place in our country that really has a rich history and texture and culture. I just didn’t want to lose any of that because we had to go north as opposed to south because of the budget.”

Budget constraints also meant music supervisor Jack Lenz had to write and arrange the music--nine new songs--in a hurry. “This was the first time I ever had to do nine original songs and then four cover tunes and the recording [sessions] in just two weeks,” Lenz says. As in her Oscar-nominated performance as Tina Turner in “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” Bassett’s singing was dubbed by another performer. Anderson and Plummer did their own songs. “I was so happy when Kevin came into the first meeting and I found out that he could really sing,” Lenz says.

Anderson found singing the blues “incredibly challenging” because he hadn’t sung professionally since he originated the role of Joe Gillis in the 1992 London production of “Sunset Boulevard.”

“I was a little bit scared but it was a blast to do it,” Anderson says. “I got the part and a week later I was up in Toronto and we started recording almost immediately. I was just kind of thrown into it. Jack Lenz was incredibly helpful and gave me as much information as he could so I could interpret the song the way I wanted to and as quickly as I could.”

Hebert found it “exciting and pleasant” to return to “Bucket of Blood” after so many years “and be able to reenter it. The difference between the screen and the stage is a close-up,” she says. “I can be subtler in the storytelling than I can afford to be on the stage.”

“Ruby’s Bucket of Blood” airs Saturday at 8 p.m on Showtime. The network has rated it PG-13 (may be unsuitable for children younger than 13).