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Masked refugee creates new headaches for silicone supremo
Meet the man behind the mask, behind the man who wore the mask that made a laughing stock of security procedures at a major international airport.
Randy Slusser is the founder of SPFX Masks, the company that makes the hyper-realistic silicone mask used by a Chinese national to fool airport security in Hong Kong and board an Air Canada flight bound for Vancouver using someone else's boarding pass.
The disguise he used was a full head-and-torso mask which made him look like a wrinkly, old Caucasian male. The unnamed 22-year-old male shed his second skin midflight and was arrested when the plane landed. He has since applied for asylum.
The bizarre nature of the escapade has created headlines around the world since the story broke at the weekend.
But Slusser, 39, dismisses it as unwelcome attention. "We are very proud of what we have accomplished," he said in a telephone interview. "But we are not proud about how our masks have been misused."
Authorities investigating the security breach believe that the Chinese male swapped boarding passes with a US passport holder in a scheme that was probably hatched by people smugglers.
This marks the second time this year that Slusser's masks have been used in illegal circumstances. In April, a white man is accused of having committed six bank robberies in Ohio disguised as a black man.
Conrad Zdzierak, 30, used another one of Slusser's creations to carry out the robberies, evading capture initially because police were looking for a suspect with a different skin colour.
Slusser said he was co-operating with authorities in the case of the robberies but had yet to be contacted over the asylum seeker case.
The mask used in the Hong Kong subterfuge is called The Elder and retails for $1259 with hair and eyebrows. The hairless version of the same mask sells for $689.
"It was meant for jokes and novelty use," Slusser said. "People order all kinds of things that can be misused."
News of the Hong Kong blunder leaked out on Saturday. CNN obtained an alert from the Canada Border Services Agency headlined "Unbelievable Case of Concealment" which carried before-and-after photos of the young Chinese national. The incident took place on October 29.
Slusser has been making masks for the past eight years. SPFX Masks is a cottage-industry outfit, which prides itself on realism and attention to detail.
The company employs up to 50 people creating a series of detailed masks for private use and for professional terrorisers - people who play the part of ghouls, monsters, zombies and vampires in haunted-house venues and the like.
Other masks include "realistic" models such as The Boss, Inbred, Handsome Guy and Old Woman. The masks can be augmented with matching skin-like "gloves" that extend to the elbow.
Slusser says the masks can take up to several months to make and are manufactured using high-grade silicone, which is hand painted by skilled special effects and make-up artists.
He said one of his customers had been the victim of a pit bull terrier attack and used the Handsome Guy mask to give him the confidence to leave his home.
"That's what I signed up to do: trying to make something that is beautiful. We are trying to push the envelope."
Slusser said he intended to push on and create even better masks. "My goal is to make masks that are so realistic that you can't tell they are masks at all."
He is teaming up with Academy Award-winning special make-up effects artist Greg Cannom to produce the new line of masks, which he hopes to have for sale online by Halloween next year.
Slusser says his interest in masks began at an early age. "I was a shy kid when I was young and when I put on a mask, I could be someone else. It would break the ice."
Judging from his devilishly good looks, Slusser doesn't need that kind of help any more. Unless, of course, that's the Handsome Guy mask he's wearing.
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