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"Thank God Comic Cons Are Not My Job" – Jason David Frank Talks Power Rangers, Bloodshot And CM Punk Ahead Of C2E2

Peter G writes talked to Jason David Frank ahead of C2E2,

G: Let me start with the Power Rangers. How much martial arts experience did you need to have when you auditioned for the show initially?

Frank: Well, twenty-five years ago, I don't know if it was necessarily needed. For example, the Yellow Ranger, I taught her pretty much in the hallway on my pre-Ranger audition callback. I was called back, and I was the only guy called back, and there were, like, ten girls out there. Saban was like, "Can you work with them and put something together?" And I was like, "Sure." But I'm not even hired — I don't know if this part is for a girl or a guy. But I just worked with Thuy (Trang). I was a national rated competitor at the time, and I think that's why, when I auditioned, there was no competition. I didn't have to go back and read with someone else, I just got a callback, and it was just me. So I think the karate aspect helped me a lot — I live and breathe martial arts at that time, I owned martial arts schools, and it was a case of going, "Do I take this role, or do I keep doing what I do?" But I continued doing both. It definitely helped me a lot. But nowadays, with the way that they can cheat it, with stunt doubles and that, a lot of guys I see on the show now, they're actors. But a lot of my friends, too, those guys were legit martial artists. I guess it just varies depending on the look they want and what they are willing to work around.

G: What was your martial arts experience at the time? How old were you when you started and what did you study?

Frank: I started at the age of 4. By the time I was hired, I was a third degree black belt and I owned a few martial arts schools. I lived and breathed martial arts — I taught fifteen classes a day. I was a national ranked competitor in fighting, brick breaking, and board breaking. So when I got hired, I was just a third degree and then I got promoted to my masters a few years later. But I started at the age of 4, and it was just a mixed martial arts. I started at a school called Red Dragon Karate — not only does it sound cool, but we had the best people around. My instructor was Chris Casamassa, who actually played Scorpion in the Mortal Kombat movie. So my school was a great fighting school, but it also had a little bit of Hollywood in it, as well.

G: Your character on Power Rangers was interesting because he actually had an arc. The original five were just five teenagers with attitude who became heroes. Yours actually started off as a villain and became a hero. Did you find that interesting? Did you see the change coming, or did you think you were just going to be a villain? What did you think of your character and the transition he went through?

Frank: I loved it, man. I have to be honest — when I was hired for that (and also hired later for Valiant as Bloodshot), it was a very limited character. I was just supposed to be in and out and that was it. I was only in ten episodes, and I was told, what I'm going to do is be evil and end up being good and leave the show. And I loved it. I loved the crossover, it had more of a variety as an actor. And I think it attracted a lot of people for the storyline. It was like a daytime soap opera for kids. And it still is — my audience is massive. I've been involved in the brand throughout the years, with Dr. Oliver and Super Mega Force and the cameo in the new movie and the Super Power Beatdown. So I have, like, three generations that are currently watching me on the show, backtracking me on Netflix to see me in the old originals. So they literally grew up with me for the past 25 years. So I'm excited for that and I'm happy that I've been with the brand from Day One. I've been going back to Dino Thunder when the ratings were bad — I couldn't get any interviews back then, people were saying, "Oh, you're still doing Power Rangers? What is that, anyway? I thought that show was over." And now people from back then are coming for interviews and standing in line to get autographs, so it's just amazing how things have progressed over the years for the brand and for me.

G: Besides your work on Power Rangers, I see…I don't want to say "dabble," because I know there's a lot of training and dedication that goes into it, but a lot of involvement with mixed martial arts. How did you get involved in that, and do you worry that it will interfere with your career? I mean, if you get a broken bone, you're not going to be able to do action scenes anymore.

Frank: Well, me and my wife skydive, I've base jumped off bridges, we've been filming the reality show "My Morphin' Life" that documented the last four years, so I feel I do a lot more dangerous stuff than fighting. And you certainly can't dabble in it, I'm glad you said that. CM Punk dabbled into his MMA career and got slaughtered, so there's definitely a difference between dabbling and training. I've been training my whole life, I got into mixed martial arts before I got involved with Power Rangers. I have an undefeated career, I broke a bone skydiving, but other than that, I remain to be bone-broken. And it's funny because I saw Haim Saban at the movie premiere, and he said the same thing, because he hadn't seen me in years. "You look good! Oh my God, there's no broken bones! You have great hair!" I hadn't seen him in such a long time, and he was impressed with that, as well. I don't think it would damage your career — a lot of these fighters are actually crossing over from mixed martial arts.

G: Were you bullied any in the MMA field? There's a lot of people like CM Punk or (I don't want to talk smack about him) Kimbo Slice, who was a street brawler that everyone was pushing as the next big thing, and all he was was a guy trying to feed his kids, but he didn't get any respect because everyone thought he was just trying to cash in. Did you have any problems like that because you were the Green Ranger?

Frank: Oh, no. Everything I've done is not for money. I have martial arts schools that have thousands of students from around the world, so I'm actually in a position where I'm financially secure. So everything that I did was for fun. I started my MMA career like you should — I started as an amateur and worked my way up, then went to pro. Kimbo Slice was a great street fighter, and mixed martial arts is completely different. It's an art, and you can't just take a street fighter and drop him into this fantastic martial arts thing, you have to train for it. That's sort of what CM Punk did, he went for the cash. He got paid $500,000 and he was in a video game. UFC is supposed to be something you aspire to be so great at, to be like, "Wow, I can't wait to get in the UFC." You don't get into the UFC with 0-0 experience. CM Punk had 0-0 experience, and he got paid more than most of the top fighters in the world because of his name. That was a little bit more than what I did. I had respect. I started amateur, I didn't get paid, I fought my way up. And that's something that is more respectful in the world. Even iFly — I'm an instructor up there, and I went through the instructor course. Two weeks on nighttime that I had to train to do. So everything I do, I try to let people know that this is the way you need to do it. I don't take shortcuts because of my celebrity status, and I certainly don't fight for the money. I don't do the Power Rangers stuff for the money. I'm a businessman, and what I'm doing right now is for fun. Someone told me, "Stop jumping out of airplanes! If you need money that bad…." And I'm like, "'Need money?' It costs me thousands of dollars to jump out of that airplane!"

So it's something that I'm doing for fun, like my reality show. I got offered so many different options on networks, and I was like, "Nope, nope." The stuff I do is not just to make money off of it. I started a clothing company, Jesus Didn't Tap, which was a mixed martial arts line, and that cost so much money to get started. And it's still in the red. But what I do is I do things for fun and I try to get things started. So it's one of those things where I have a hobby, and if I do something, then I like to do it. When they called me about a cameo in the new movie, I was like, "Yeah, I'm down! I'm there for my fans!" In fact, when I do these conventions, I don't take an appearance fee. I refuse to because I don't want to feel owned by a corporation, I don't want to feel like I have to sit at a table, I don't want it to be my job. I don't have to, but I take care of everyone. I've never sold out, even at my karate schools — you can't pay for a belt at one of my karate schools. Test? 8 to 12 hours. You're not going to come in and pay me for that. You have to earn your belt at my school. That's why we have some of the best black belts in the world.

I always follow my passion. I told everybody I would have fought CM Punk for $1. Check my contract, check everything, because I do things for fun. But CM Punk wouldn't fight me for a dollar — CM Punk wouldn't fight me, period. You become more powerful when you don't need things. So thank God comic cons are not my job. 90% of the people I see out there, it's their job. And don't want to be going to comic con for a job. I want to have fun. And that's like C2E2 and working with ReedPop. ReedPop puts on one heck of a show for these fans. So I'm with A-level celebrities and a promoter that knows how to take care of the fans, not a promoter who is going to rip fans off. They put on a really good show, so to be part of C2E2 in Chicago — huge town, huge fans — and I'm crossing over with the Valiant panel on Saturday at 6:45PM to do a Bloodshot panel. So they'll be able to see me and meet me and talk about the Valiant Universe, which is exciting. And every con I do, and I do a lot of them, I put 100% energy into them. And I have two things that I live by. I hold myself to high standards, and I'm going to be there until the last fan is taken care of. I don't care if I don't eat, it doesn't matter if I don't go to the bathroom, the last fan needs to be treated like the first fan. And I try to take care of all the volunteers at the show. They work so hard, the volunteers love it, but they probably get ripped off the most — they're not allowed to talk to celebrities, they're not allowed to take pictures, and they listen to the rules. So I take care of them at the end of the day. You have hundreds of people working for free because they are passionate about the comic con. It's hard, but I hold myself to high standards. I'm my own boss — I can wake up, and be like, "Nah, I'm not going to Chicago." And that's why I freelance, I don't like to be bought by people. Even with Saban, I like doing things for me that I want to do. And that's why me and my wife skydive and do the wind tunnels. That stuff costs money to do, but it's fun. It's one of those things where we just release. I know jumping out of an airplane doesn't sound relaxing, but it's relaxing for us — my wife sleeps on the way up while the other jumpers are terrified. And she's a lot more calmer than I am. I don't know how she does it, but it's relaxing. It's like our golf.

G: I wanted to talk a little about Jesus Didn't Tap. Given that Christian entertainment is starting to develop it's own cache with its own movies and such, do you see yourself starting to move in that direction, and start creating such movies and/or acting in them?

Frank: Well, with Jesus Didn't Tap, we're restructuring everything. It's an expensive hobby, but to get God out there was one of those things I wanted to do. And as far as any movies that have a message like that, that's a given for me. There's a lot of movies I get offered and I'm like, "I don't want to do that." I have such a clean image and relationship. We've all been through stuff. I haven't had a drink in six years, but did I? Oh ,yeah, I used to, but I don't do that anymore. It's an image for a 26 year old or a 28 year old. Everyone to me is like kids. If you think, "I want to go out and have a beer with my Power Ranger hero," that's not me, you got the wrong Ranger. You're going to go out and you're going to get a pep talk. It might be boring, I might be the Grandpa Ranger Of Life, but you're going to get wisdom. And if a movie like that was to happen, it's a no-brainer. It's clean, it's fun, it's something that I'm proud of. Which is different than Valiant, but I would certain love to do something like that.

G: Bloodshot in the Valiant Universe — how familiar were you with the character and concept? Was this something you had read about and you wanted to participate in, or was your audition your first introduction to the Valiant Universe?

Frank: I did some work on Super Power Beatdown with Aaron Schoenke and his dad, Sean, at "Bat In The Sun." And this is how I do things — I don't research you to find out how many fans you have, every opportunity is treated equal. And when I ran into Aaron, he said, "How would you like to do this White Ranger thing?" And I said, "Sure, man, I'll do it for you." And I had no clue what the guy was doing, I had no clue how great it was, I didn't know the strong following he has. And I said, "As long as my fans love it, I'll do it." So I did Superpower Beatdown, which I made sure was Saban-approved — I didn't want to do anything like a knockoff or a Rated R movie or anything like that. And we did that, did "Super Mega Force," and Aaron came to me and said, "We're doing this big project." Aaron got a project with the Valiant Universe. I was a comic book collector for years — I sold my entire comic collection when I was 18 to open my first karate school. I sold it for, like, $11,000. And I had really good comics. So I was very familiar with comic books, but not with Valiant. When Aaron said, "I want you to play this character, his name's Bloodshot, not in it a lot, just like Tommy was in Power Rangers, but is it something you want to do?" And I researched the character and I said, "Well, Aaron, as long as you think I'm right for the role. Don't pull favors for me. You're a great guy, but I'm not here to cash in on favors." And he was like, "No, you'd be perfect." And Valiant was like, "Yeah, you got Jason," but they didn't know how strong my fan base is. So when I got Bloodshot, it was for a very limited one or two episodes. But now? Bloodshot's part of the whole season. The fans love it, so they wrote me in more. But I was very passionate about what I did. The fight scenes are amazing, and I actually get to be a comic book character. I love comics and I've never been able to e a comic book character. Power Rangers wasn't a comic book, Power Rangers was a Japanese show. So when we first did our comic books back in the day with Hamilton, they didn't do well, but I was like, "Yes, I'm in a comic book!" And now BOOM! does the comic books, which just blew up — Kyle Higgins is the writer and he did a great story. So now we got that, and now I'm actually Bloodshot (I'm wearing a Bloodshot shirt now) because I became a fan when we were introduced. So I started researching, and everything was Valiant Valiant Valiant, because the characters alone have amazing storylines. Sony optioned the rights to Harbinger Wars and Bloodshot, and I promise you, three years from now, Valiant will be known everywhere. Just look at Instagram — a few years ago, everyone was like, "Yeah, I don't know." But now, people have the hang of it, and look at Instagram now. So I did not know, and I researched it, and now I'm a huge Valiant fan. But you've got to take time. I've researched. I've spent hours, days, weeks. If you want to start with it, you start with a book called "The Valiant" — it will introduce you to most every character that's in Ninjak Vs. The Valiant Universe. But the casting is incredible on this, and I can't wait for the images from when the show's released. I actually fit the part of Bloodshot, I look like I came right off a comic book page. So I'm really excited to be a comic book character. Yeah, Bloodshot's a violent character. But he's also a fighting machine, and he doesn't die. I'm painted and I look completely different than JDF — I say that because I don't want people saying, "Oh, Jason David Frank is fighting people and shooting people," it's completely different. I feel like a guy with sunglasses on, I can get away with a lot of things. And being Bloodshot, I'm able to take the fighting skills to the next level. We got guns and we got swords and I can fight. On Power Rangers, I was never able to kick someone in the head. Headshots, stuff we were never able to do on Power Rangers. And I never had blood on me on Power Rangers. But we got a little but of blood, we got superheroes, we got swords, we got guns, and an incredible cast that brings the characters to life and brings the fan bases in.

G: One last question: what is the strangest thing you have ever been asked to sign?

Frank: A pregnant girl's belly. Not a tattoo, just signing her stomach. Strange, but it's still fun. I try to focus on the positivity.

G: Where do you see the future taking you? Do you see, besides the Valiant Universe, is there more coming?

Frank: There's a lot of exciting things, but I don't want to jinx them right now. My dream is to something with Saban, as well. But right now, I'm just taking it step by step. There's a lot of good things in the works for my fans next year, not just Power Rangers fans, but my fans as well.

Do you like cartoons? Who doesn't? Peter G is still doing strange things in the name of art, and his new animations, like his cult series One True Pairing, can be viewed on YouTube at Sine Timore Animation Studios.

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