Pubdate: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 Source: Surrey Now (CN BC) Copyright: 2004 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc., A Canwest Company Contact: http://www.thenownewspaper.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1462 Author: Ted Colley Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/crackass CRACKASS MAKER FABRICATED STORY Marko Perkovic, the maker of Crackass: The Surrey Movie, is a scammer. Perkovic revealed this week he and an old friend got together and cooked up a scheme designed to boost sales of the movie. The friend, who now calls himself Bill, posed as Jim Eaton, a fictitious Guildford resident engaged in a one-man campaign to rid his neighbourhood of explicit posters advertising Crackass. Bill, as Jim Eaton, was quoted in the Now and the Province and appeared in a photo for the latter. Bill was also on a handful of television news broadcasts dating back to June and was a guest alongside Coun. Penny Priddy on CKNW's Bill Good Show Monday. In every interview, he slammed either the movie itself or the posters promoting it as offensive for their images of nudity and drug use. The whole thing was a complete fabrication, according to Perkovic. "I only wanted to promote my movie and I only had $200 to do that," Perkovic said. "I just wanted to make some money and give a whack (of it) to charity." Perkovic described Crackass as a serious expos, of the seamy side of Surrey inhabited by druggies, dealers and prostitutes, although so far no one has seen the movie, which he claims will be released next month. Perkovic and the individual calling himself Bill met with members of the Now news staff Wednesday when Perkovic revealed the scam. Not only did Bill, who claimed to be a truck driver in the local film industry, take part in the Jim Eaton fraud, he also appeared in the movie trailers. Asked to prove his identity during Wednesday's meeting, Bill flashed a B.C. driver's licence, with tape over most of the identification information. Asked if Bill is really who he now says he is, Perkovic swears he's telling the truth - this time. "He just doesn't want the media coming around to his house," Perkovic said. Perkovic said the two came up with the angry-resident scheme over pizza. "It was my idea. We were eating at a pizza place and it was, eating. Jim Eaton. You know, eatin' - Eaton." Perkovic apologized for hoaxing the media and said he never expected his scam to create such a stir. "I had no idea this would happen. I totally feel terrible," he said. Surrey Coun. Penny Priddy, however, just doesn't buy that. "Oh, please. If he didn't want it to happen, he would have stopped it in the first place," Priddy said. She said there was something about Eaton that made her wonder if he was who he said he was. "I said so to Robert (her husband) after the show. I guess we assumed the people at the station had checked him out. That's kind of the story here; all these media who didn't do their homework." She said the fact Eaton is a fraud doesn't change the heart of the story much. Real residents have been tearing down the offending posters and the city is still working hard to turn Whalley around. Perkovic, Priddy added, has squandered any shred of credibility he might have had and probably hurt those he claims he wants to help. "He might want to think about what damage he's done as far as people having sympathy for people with drug habits." - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin