EL TORO : ‘Ninja’ Fans Hear Drug Message

The dozen or so adults in the auditorium looked clueless, but the excited group of about 100 children, most rocking excitedly in their theater seats, knew exactly who Keith Coulouris was.

“I was the guy, the burglar, at the beginning of the second ‘Turtles’ movie who says, ‘What are you, night security?’ and then gets all beat up,” Coulouris explained, drawing shouts of recognition from the audience of 6- to 15-year-olds gathered at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station for an anti-drug program.

Coulouris’ single line of dialogue in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II; The Secret of the Ooze,” and the sound thrashing his character got after uttering it, was enough to earn the 24-year-old actor a celebrity status among the children that lent weight to his advice to avoid illegal drugs and alcohol.

About 200 children of Marines at the El Toro and Tustin air stations attended different portions of the free, four-day program on substance abuse, which included visits from a former gang member, a police officer in the Tustin narcotics division and two UCLA football players. Participants also watched movies and an exhibition by police dogs. But Friday’s visit from three screen heroes was clearly the crowd favorite.

Coulouris was joined by Kenn Scott, who portrayed Raphael in the two “Ninja Turtles” films, and Michael Gregory, who appeared in “Total Recall,” “RoboCop” and “Beverly Hills Cop.” The three ran an impromptu softball game with the children, and then went to an auditorium to chat with their fans. Scott, who also demonstrated how screen fight scenes are staged, said he enjoys making appearances for good causes, although he can always predict the line of questioning from the youngsters.

“ ‘Does it get hot in the costume?’ ‘Do you really hurt each other?’ ‘What’s the third movie going to be about?’ I could write them all down ahead of time,” Scott, 25, said. Besides the usual answers (yes, no, and it’s a secret), Scott recounted his personal losses: the two college friends who were killed several years ago in incidents involving drugs and alcohol.

“I wish they could be here today to tell you all to avoid the stuff, but they can’t, so I’ll have to tell you for them,” he said. “I’m not telling you about them to scare you, I’m telling you because they’re true stories, and I think you should know about this stuff because you are going to have to make decisions about this stuff.”

While the three actors lined up to shake hands with each child, Jason Reed, 11, of Irvine stood off to the side and watched. “It was nice to meet these guys, but my favorite part was the gang member that came,” he said, referring to Dallas Stahr, who lectured Thursday on the dangers of gangs.

“He showed all his scars and talked about how they beat you up so you can prove you’re tough enough to get in the gang,” Reed said. “It was scary. I ain’t never going to be in a gang or do drugs. I learned that, that’s for sure.”