Rodrigo Umlaut Burn's unique 'look' was inspired by Michael Tallamy, the father of Ben Tallamy, the actor who portrayed him in the film.
When Ben was developing the character of Burn he found an old photograph of his father from the seventies, sporting a stylish leather jacket which was still gathering dust in the family wardrobe.
Michael Norman Tallamy
This photograph was to be the inspiration for Burn -a moustachioed super cop who was righteous in every sense of the word.
Unfortunately, being half-Japanese, Ben was about as likely to grow a decent moustache, as he was to sprout wings and fly.
Benjamin Akira Tallamy
The first costume test was impromptu - cheap fancy dress accessories were used, including a very itchy moustache and sideburns.
The smaller jacket was seconded by a long pimp style coat - hinting at Burn's seedy underworld connections.
Along with toy guns - this made for a disappointing first glance at Burn.
Disappointing first look
Prothstetic hair was ordered forthwith and the long coat discarded in favour of the original jacket.
Many accessories were missing but the next session proved to be more in line with look that was wanted.
Looking more like Burn
An interesting note is that although most of the clothing used in the film was actually vintage. Crash and Burn are both seen throughout sporting women's trousers. Modern flares for women were closer to the wider flare from the era.
With the addition of a few accessories - Burn was tweaked and trimmed. His hair slicked back, his face aged and moustache shortened.
Crash and Burn's Custom .357 6 inch Magnum revolvers
Other accessories included - A leather wallet, containing real US currency (even though it was never seen), lucky necklace (which broke numerous times during filming), handcuff pouch, with forensic kit (again, never used) and a tacky plastic flick comb.
The final look was thus:
Burn in front of a green screen
Costume details
Whilst shooting other episodes from the series - several 'variants' of the costume also existed:
Burn from 'Kidnapped'
Burn from 'Hangman Dangle'
Burn from 'Exploding Nuns of Fury!'
The character of Burn was initially based upon Al Pacino in Carlito's way - a reformed gangster from the streets of Spanish Harlem.
Initial accent tests were too close to the accent of the main villain Cop Killa though and so the voice was shifted to a southern drawl.
Always coming from the seedier side of law enforcement, Burn is goofy, yet headstrong. A guy who let's his fists do the talking.
He is prone to depression and alcoholism but these vices are tempered with a staunch and unwavering belief in God.
For more information on the back story of Burn, visit:
With numerous scenes featuring unique interiors, a major part of pre-production involved finding locations which would suit them.
The hunt was on and the search was tough, but the production lucked out when they were very kindly offered the use of a 70s building called Kay House, an unused part of the local university campus which was due for re-modelling.
The building was formerly a catering and entertainment block and as such contained a great variety of interesting spaces - including a ballroom, which would come in very useful later on.
After the initial tour of the building it became clear to Tom and Ben that its usage would answer many of their prayers and so, Kay House was used for the majority of the main locations in the film. Most important of which was the Patriot City Police Department itself.
The ground floor of the Kay, which would later become the lobby of the PCPD
The ground floor of Kay House held an entrance hall and a vast hallway which would quickly become the basis for the PCPD lobby.
As an added bonus, much of the furniture that remained inside the building could be used to dress the sets - Tom, Jonts, Claire and Ben, quickly rearranged the aesthetics; moving out several heavy duty catering tables and replacing them with an assortment of chairs.
This formed the public waiting area, where citizens of Patriot City and Police officers could mingle and chat.
A tidy lobby, with chairs arranged and equipment being brought in for the first day of shooting
Once the main lobby had been tidied and laid out, it needed to be dressed appropriately.
What was formerly a small shop, became the reception office; intended for public enquiries and where Patriot City criminals would be booked in.
Officer Grant Patent resting in the Reception Office
Hours were spent creating original documents and posters to litter the desk and walls of the main lobby.
Although never legible in the film itself, Tom and Ben tailored each poster specifically to try and make each other laugh. Almost all of them contain jokes and obscure references that would never be noticed by anyone outside the project.
This attention to detail was important in many ways, as it was the belief of the production team that each little thing would improve the whole and time spent scrutinizing even the smallest of props, would in turn bolster the overall quality of the production.
I also gave people new to the set something interesting to look at and much time was spent reading the scraps of paper stuck to walls.
As an interesting side note, whenever a large amount of generic text was required for files and documents, a mixture of lyrics from the theme songs of popular 70s television shows was used.
Here are a selection of posters from the lobby:
With the main lobby completed, the production team moved on to the rest of the locations - and shooting could soon commence.
Here are some pictures from the production, featuring many of the talented crew and actors that so kindly graced our sets.
Chief Rappappaport looks out on the lobby
Two diligent PCPD officers
Patriot City's finest
Extras on set
Marty McFeathers takes a beating
Tom with some of the cast
An improvised Dolly, made from a tea cart (note: wood gaffa taped to wheels, to stop them swivelling)
Cop Killa being released from custody
The Lobby, as seen from inside Chief Rappappaport's office.
A week before principle photography began, Crash and Burn's costumes were ready and rehearsals were underway. However, it was suddenly clear that an iconic emblem of Patriot City was missing - the Shields themselves.
Shield of Justice
Up until this point, Crash and Burn had been wearing silver star badges that looked tacky and cheap. The original idea was that it would be funny to have the main characters sporting such naff props. With the overall upscaling of the costume however, it was clear they would not cut it.
Initially the idea was to order some pre-made replica badges from a professional company, however cost was an inhibiting factor - the other officers in the PCPD would need badges too and it would be preferable to have a unique badge for the actors to wear.
An emergency meeting was convened in a local pub were Tom and Ben Decided that the best option would be to cast their own badges in polymer resin.
Several ideas were knocked about, all reflecting the Totalitarian imagery they wanted Patriot City to reflect.
Stars and stripes, eagles, cityscapes and statues of justice were all popular themes, but it was a simple design Tom had scrawled on the back of a receipt that they settled on.
Ben took the rudimentary sketch and refined it into a scale technical drawing.
Ben's original drawing.
He then carved a rough template out of a block of insulation foam. Shooting had already begun now and most of the work was carried out in the ungodly hours of the morning.
At this point, Ben wasn't sure if it would work.
At this point, Ben still wasn't sure if it would work.
Okay, looking better.
More detail.
Blurry shot of it at the end of step one.
Alongside the foam negative, two more rough badges were hewn out - intended for use as stand ins for any distance shots Crash and Burn might appear in. These still appear in the finished film, barely noticeable at distance from the real thing.
The foam base was then coated in modelling clay and many hours were spent shaping it into the basic shape of the badge. Unfortunately the clay used wasn't the most suitable and the process involved much swearing and some blood.
I hope this isn't Chris's blood!
Sculpty sculpty.
more sculpting.
Looking better
Adding windows
Finally there.
With the clay model finished, Ben sealed it with a thin coat of varnish to waterproof it.
He then prepared to mix up the RTV Silicon from which the would would be made.
Ready to mix up some toxic goop!
The negative was attached to the base of a plastic tray with some double-sided tape and Ben painted a thin layer of Vaseline onto the model to act as a release agent.
Ben was really worried that it wouldn't work.
As usual with mould making, an ideal situation would be to remove air from the silicone using a vacuum.
However, Ben didn't have the necessary equipment and with filming taking place the next day, he instead improvised - applying the first layer of silicone with a syringe - squeezing it into the detailed areas and forcing out the air.
Once the first layer was done, the rest of the silicon was poured in to make the rest of the mould.
One of those moments in life that proceeds potential failure.
Is that good? Is it meant to look like that?
After the silicone had set, Ben nervously removed the clay model from the negative.
Well, both survived.
One bubble, but impossible to tell if it worked yet.
A small batch of epoxy resin was mixed up to test the mould with, ruining at least one perfectly good teacup. The mould was then sprayed with CIL release agent before casting commenced.
Polymer resin - don't eat it!
After a few minutes (and once the resin was all lovely and warm) Ben removed the casting from the negative. Hallelujah! It worked!
One nasty bubble, but easily repaired.
Crash and Burn's badges, fresh from the mould.
The badges were given a quick clean up to remove any flash, before being dusted with some gold paint.
Shiny!
The badge backs were then clumsily constructed from card and leather-effect PVC.
This would eventually get dropped in a toilet half-way through shooting.
With filming only a few hours away now, Ben went to bed - stinking of thinner and silicone.
A finished shield.
The next day several more badges were cast and painted on location, as extras were getting ready.
The badges were also lacquered to give a deeper shine to them, though oddly this didn't translate well onto film. After the first shoot Ben took the badges home and gave them a dark 'wash' of paint - pulling up the detail. They were then drybrushed with gold, silver and bronze - before having a green/blue wash and another coat of lacquer.
This cartoony look, came out much better on the screen.
Crash and Burn with their finished 'Shields of Justice'.
