Oregon Actors Not Paid For Work As Movie Extras

MEDFORD, Ore. - The movie will play in a theater near you, but local actors say they still haven't been paid.

"Grizzly Mountain" was filmed in southern Oregon and opened with a promotional showing last week in Medford.

More than 20 people from Medford, Grants Pass and Phoenix worked as extras. But they say they were never paid the $50 to $75 a day they were promised.

"Most of us have never been in films before," said Randy Gundlach of Medford. "They came into a small town and took advantage of us."

George Furia, one of the producers from Los Angeles, said there was a problem with financing the movie but said he thought it was all worked out.

"We've got over $2.5 million into this film," he said. "If someone is owed money, we'll pay them."

It stars Dan Haggerty, best known for his role in"Grizzly Adams." It was filmed during the summer of 1994 along the Rogue River in Merlin and near Crater Lake and Eugene.

Movie scouts went to powwows and American Indian centers in southern Oregon asking for extras.

Those hired were on the set about 15 hours a day for three to five days.

Linda Lee, who owns an acting school in Grants Pass, says some businesses also haven't been paid.

"I'm not even listed on the credits and I worked my fanny off helping them get people from the area," she said.

Veronica Rinard of the Oregon Film Office, which was formed to persuade Hollywood to make movies in Oregon, said the office got a

few complaints about the companies, Mega Communications, and Grizzly Mountain Productions, after the movie was finished.

"We exchanged a number of phone calls with the producers," Rinard said. "We were assured everything was taken care of."

In January of 1996 the extras got letters from the filmmakers saying, "We've been authorized to pay the Indian talent directly from incoming revenues."

The company even sent videotapes of the film and posters, but no checks, Gundlach said.

His calls to Furia and another producer were not returned, he said.

The extras dropped the issue until last week, when they found the film was released in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

"We thought it wasn't ever going to be put out," Gundlach said.