Burn Up
The 'Trojan Horse' thriller
An introduction by Simon Beaufoy, Stephen Garrett and Christopher Hall
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"There isn't a more important issue in the world than global warming. Even the Cold War and the Bay of Pigs crisis were a notional threat. A warming planet isn't just a threat – it's happening. The idea of
concealing the potentially indigestible politics of climate change in the 'Trojan horse' of a thriller
seemed a good way to engage an audience. Whether it works, we're about to find out..."
Simon Beaufoy, writer of Burn Up.
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Stephen Garrett, one of the co-founders of production company Kudos Film and Television, and
executive producer on Burn Up, has known writer Simon Beaufoy for 20 years.
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He says: "Simon and I
worked together a long time ago when I was an executive at Channel 4 and I commissioned a short
film from him when he was still a film school student.
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"I had always wanted to work with him again and
so I would pester him from time to time and nothing happened.
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"Then about three years ago he told me he wanted to write for television. I was excited and I didn't
care what he wanted to write about - I figured if he wanted to write about a subject it would be
good. That's when he said he wanted to write about... waste."
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Simon Beaufoy had been trying to write about the environment for many years and had been
researching the shady waters of international recycling/rubbish transfers across the globe.
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During his
research, he came to realise that there was one massive environmental story that everybody was
pretending wasn't happening. And this was the complex issue of carbon dioxide emissions and
global warming.
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Explains Simon: "This in itself was interesting. Even when I was trying to get commissioned to write the
script, the commissioners would look at me and say, 'this isn't REALLY happening, though, is it?' And
this was three years ago.
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"Nobody wanted it to be true. They still don't. In my view, the denial industry
has played beautifully on this and has created a world where even now, 10 years of research from
all over the world is called into question.
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"This apparent manipulation of the facts led me quickly down
the path of a thriller."
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In order to engage a television audience with such a complex subject in a two-part drama, Simon
came up with a political and environmental thriller about greed and personal responsibility, starting in
the western desert of Saudi Arabia, where a small failed covert operation sets off a chain of events –
including murder – which culminates at the Kyoto 2 conference, fictionally set in Calgary, Canada.
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Simon Beaufoy was intent on making the facts that appear in Burn Up as accurate as possible. He explains:
"I did a huge amount of research. I talked to people ranging from the CEOs of oil companies to the
Head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and all stops in between. Greenpeace,
Friends of the Earth, the UK Government, even – in fact, especially – the denialists.
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"I also went to the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Montreal to watch the political horse-trading,
which informed the way I dramatised the conference in episode 2.
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"For example, the tactics
of the non-governmental organisations are also all based on facts, right down to the note-passing,
threats of funding withdrawal, stalling and leaflet drops.
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"Concerning climate change, there isn't a fact in the script that hasn't been double checked. This is
very important to me," says Simon, adding: "It's fiction, but fiction based, wherever possible, on cast
iron facts."
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Burn Up has the look and feel of an epic story. It has scenes in Saudi Arabia, in an Inuit village in
northern Canada, in London and in Calgary, Alberta, the Canadian city with a population of one
million people that coincidentally is home to the head offices of many oil companies.
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The province of Alberta has many different terrains, and within a few hours' drive from Calgary there are deserts complete with shifting sands and frozen lakes that resemble anything to be found in the Arctic – thus the decision was made to shoot the majority of the production in
Calgary with the remainder shot on location in London.
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When it came to casting, Stephen Garrett was thrilled to have American actor Bradley Whitford in the key role
of Mack.
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"For me, Bradley is a spine-tingling piece of casting," says Stephen. "As a long-standing fan of The West
Wing I have been an admirer of his from afar for a long time. He has a huge fan base, but what
thrilled us about casting Bradley is he usually plays the good guy.
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"We wanted someone who was
both Machiavellian and a person of integrity. Mack is not an evil man. We needed someone who
could portray that sincere belief system that this powerful man possesses and in Bradley Whitford we
have an actor who brought that to the table. His performance is stunning."
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Spooks star Rupert Penry-Jones was cast as Tom McConnell, the head of a large oil company, and
Mack's best friend.
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Says producer Christopher Hall: "Rupert is ideal casting for the role of Tom,
who is a man tormented. You really see the struggle he goes through in changing from a diehard,
pro-oil businessman to a fervent environmentalist. And he has to ask himself – is his affair with Holly
affecting his judgement, or is this really all about the science? Rupert portrays that internal battle so
convincingly."
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Neve Campbell is cast as Holly, a woman whose working relationship with Tom McConnell starts to
drive a wedge between him and Mack.
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She is also the cause of friction between Tom and his wife
when Tom finds himself falling in love with his co-worker.
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Says Stephen Garrett: "When someone is cast well it
seems like no one else could have played that role and that is the case with Holly and Neve
Campbell.
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"I knew she was a wonderful actress, having seen her in other projects and, for the
purposes of this production she was ideal – a Canadian actress living in the UK who is widely known
around the world, particularly to North American audiences.
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"She couldn't be more perfect and she is
a delight to work with – she is passionate about the script; she loved it from the get go and we are
incredibly lucky to have her."
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Marc Warren, who plays Philip Crowley, is best known for his role as Danny Blue in Hustle, but Stephen
says the fact that Rupert Penry-Jones is from Spooks and Marc Warren is from Hustle (both Kudos dramas) is a
complete coincidence.
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"It is one of those odd flukes of the world," he says, adding: "I mean they do
happen to be two of the best British actors of their generation so it is no surprise that we should have
worked with them before. I only hope that audiences won't be confused and think Burn Up is some
weird fusion of Spooks and Hustle, because nothing could be further from the truth!"
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So what are the team hoping Burn Up will achieve? Concludes Christopher Hall: "We thought that by bringing a
hugely exciting, entertaining and star-studded drama to the small screen that maybe people would
be seduced into watching something about a subject that really matters.
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"We wanted to make a
powerful and entertaining drama that would contribute in some way to the crucial debate in climate
change."
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JP3/PPR
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