Hollywood has a disturbing story to punish those who denounce the exploitation, something original Power Rangers Star Thuy Trang learned of the hard.
Trang and two of his colleagues Rangers OG – Walter Emanuel Jones and Austin St. John – have concocted a daring scheme to defend a fair salary when the children’s action series became a great success in its first season in 1993.
When the actors’ contracts increased for the renewal during the shooting of the second season, Trang went on stage during a presentation for the affiliates of the series of the series and delivered an incendiary speech to assert their cause.
“The owners of the stations have all come,” recalls the stunt coordinator Jeff Pruitt on “Dark Side of the Power Rangers”, the latest episode of the new Discovery investigation documentary, Hollywood demons. “Rupert Murdoch came, they released the Power Rangers. Thuy went to the microphone and started reading this speech. How much Fox Rotten was not to pay them more money, and how they all deserved more money … The owners of the station just looked like:” What is it? “”
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Pruitt recalled that “when it was over, she walked behind the scenes, and she just ran to me and caught me and started to cry, and said:” What did I do? Oh my God, what did I do? “She regretted it instantly, but it was a little too late.”
Israeli businessman Haim Saban first developed the idea for Power Rangers After catching a few episodes of the company Toei Great Series in Japan. But at the time, a children’s violence program on crime superheroes was far from being a safe bet in the American media landscape.
The first season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was a bet at its first in 1993, but in 1994, the series had become a cultural feeling, giving off Saban brands of more than a billion dollars in toy sales.
Despite being the faces of the show, Trang, St. John, Jones and their Costars Amy Jo Johnson, David Yost and Jason David Frank have seen almost none of that. “One of the things Saban said was:” Listen, I give them the chance to become stars. “But from the point of view of the actors, it was:” Well, now the spectacle has removed a DI’M still does not earn money “,” said Priitt.
Worth Keeter, a director of the series, noted that Trang, St. John and Jones “were all represented by the same agent or manager”. During contractual negotiations, “a request that was made was a percentage of toy sales, and it never happened”. They therefore degenerated a tactic that could not be ignored.
Tony Oliver, the chief writer of the series, was also in the room the day Trang made his speech. He remembered that she had “left the script and said something in the sense of:” You know, we are here by giving yourself a show, and perhaps you should be here by giving us a show, because we give you all the notes. “”
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Jones and St. John talked about their experiences in the show last December, with Walter sharing that “the experience was incredible”, it was not something that made us rich “.
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“We were mowed,” said Saint-Jean, explained, detailing extremely low remuneration on non-unionized production and the wages that left them in place of second jobs, despite an extremely demanding shooting calendar. The trio was dismissed from the program after the Trang speech, a decision that has never been directly communicated to the rest of the distribution and the crew.
“It was not too long after, I had lunch,” recalls Keeter. “I see a guy in the costume of Red Ranger. I said:” Who is it, a double cascade? “They said:” No, it’s the new red tidy up. “”
Oliver said the severe cuts had had a scary effect on the rest of the Power Rangers team. “Everyone was afraid by cutting three of the rangers, cutting them. It sent a message to everyone,” don’t even try it. We will replace you just like that. We don’t care “,” he recalls.
St. John was replaced by Steve Cardenas and Jones was replaced by Johnny Yong Bosch. Trang, who died in a car accident in 2001, was replaced by Karan Ashley. Power Rangers continued to be broadcast on television and streaming since, with Disney + announcing in March that they took the Netflix TV franchise and will produce a 31st season of the series.
“Dark Side of the Power Rangers”, the third episode of the new Discovery survey series Hollywood demonsCreated on April 7. Hollywood demons Very from Monday to April 28 from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. on the identity card and the flows on max.
