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A Fugitive Got Caught Because He Starred in a Low-Budget Horror Movie

Being a fugitive on the run from the law didn't stop Jason Stange from following his dreams.
Photo via Flickr user Steve Baker

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Everyone wants to be a movie star. It's the American Dream, right? Fame, fortune, on-set catering, and Vinnie Chase-levels of excess. So when someone casts you to play a prominent role in their horror flick, you have to say yes. Well, maybe not if you're a convicted fugitive on the run from the law trying to keep a low profile, but even that didn't stop Jason Stange from following his actor dreams.

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According to the Guardian, the 44-year-old Stange was sentenced to 117 months in jail after admitting to armed bank robbery in 2006. But he broke parole last year and has been on the lam ever since.

While most fugitives go on Odysseus-style adventures or bask in rumors about their humongous junk, Stange decided to sign on to play "an abortion clinic doctor who commits a deranged act" in a low-budget slasher film called Marla Mae. He must have figured that the police are too busy to watch movies, anyway.

Apparently they're not too busy to read the local newspaper in Olympia, Washington, because Stange was arrested last Friday following The Olympian's write-up and photo series about Marla Mae's production—a photo series that prominently featured Stange.

Now Stange is back in jail, but the timing couldn't have been better—production on Marla Mae has already wrapped, so Stange won't be missed, and US marshals even allowed him to return his costume to set before hauling him off. Plus, the people behind Marla Mae are now looking for financing to release the film.

What better way to get major news outlets covering a low-budget slasher flick than casting a runaway fugitive who gets arrested right after production wraps? Genius marketing.