14 DAY TRIAL // “The Purge: Anarchy” came out second at the US box office this weekend, and partly responsible for this success is the amazing promo campaign launched months ago. Though not essential to the larger story arc, one character in particular stood out in trailers and posters released many weeks in advance.
He is Ghoul / Skateboarder and is uncredited in the film, but he is featured heavily in posters like the one above, splattered all over the US and in all corners of the Internet.
Underneath the heavy makeup and the hoodie is young actor Emmanuel Howell, who tells TMZ paparazzi (video embedded below) that he wasn’t even informed that his face would be included in the national ad campaign.
He explains that he was on set for 5 days and that he was told he would only be featured briefly in the background. For this job, he made less than $1,000 (€740) but he would have asked for much more if he’d known just how important his character was, if not to the narrative, to the marketing of the pic.
Howell insists that he was robbed and says he’s exploring his legal options because the only answer he’s gotten so far from producers is that he should be “proud” he was picked for the posters. In the eventuality his case doesn’t go to trial, he says he will add the posters to his portfolio and consider his lesson learned.