Now You See Me
Short description
Four magicians are brought together by a mysterious invitation and emerge a year later as a stage act called the Four Horsemen. During their Las Vegas performances they appear to rob a bank on another continent and shower the audience with the proceeds, targeting wealthy businessmen rather than ordinary spectators. An FBI agent and an Interpol detective are assigned to work out how the robberies are carried out and to stop the group before a promised final trick, and they bring in a specialist who makes his living exposing how illusions are done. What follows is a cat-and-mouse pursuit in which the line between performance and crime is hard to draw.
The film is directed by Louis Leterrier, released in 2013 as the sixth of the ten features he has directed to date, following Clash of the Titans and preceding Grimsby. Ed Solomon, Boaz Yakin and Edward Ricourt wrote the screenplay, and Bobby Cohen, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci produced. Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco play the four illusionists, with Mark Ruffalo as the FBI agent and Mélanie Laurent as his French counterpart. It runs 116 minutes and was made for about 75 million dollars, taking roughly 352 million dollars worldwide.
Audiences rate it at 7.2 out of 10 on IMDb across some 767,000 votes, and at 7.3 out of 10 on TMDB from a much smaller pool of about 17,000. A critics' score of 5.8 out of 10 from 174 reviews sits below both, so viewers have generally been warmer toward the film than reviewers.
What's left behind the scenes
- During the interrogation, Jay Daniel Atlas shuffles cards, and a box of cards lies to his right. Literally a second later, the box of cards is in his hands, and the cards he was shuffling have disappeared.
- Jake Gyllenhaal was considered for a role in the film but declined. The role ultimately went to Mark Ruffalo.
- While preparing for her role, Isla Fisher watched documentaries about magicians. In particular, she studied the work of Harry Houdini.
- During the first trick, as the Frenchman is led onto the stage, a dialogue with Arthur Tressler takes place simultaneously. At the same time, the white trousers of the Frenchman, who is standing in the center of the circle, are visible behind the magicians. However, in the next scene, he only steps into the circle, and McKinney meets him.
- During the fight between Dylan Rhodes and Jack Wilder, the wound on the right side of Dylan's face appears and disappears.
- Jesse Eisenberg was the first actor to sign on to the project.
- The deck of cards used in the film is real and can be purchased from one of the American online magic and card stores (theory11). The deck is called Monarchs.
- The full version of the film has a runtime of 125 minutes.
- At the very beginning of the film, before Jesse Eisenberg’s character performs the seven of hearts trick, he is manipulating cards in his hands. This direction in magic is called cardistry. The goal is to spin the cards in your hands as beautifully and intricately as possible. Naturally, Jesse didn't perform this complex trick himself. Twin brothers Dan and Dave Buck served as hand doubles for him. The brothers also acted as consultants for other actors.
- Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jim Carrey, Hugh Grant, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Colin Firth were considered for the lead role in the film before the decision was made to cast a younger actor.
- The film was shot in New York, Las Vegas, Paris, and New Orleans.
- In the initial script version, there were no women among the "Four Horsemen".
- Olivia Wilde was offered a role in this film.
- Amanda Seyfried was considered for a role in the film, but the part ultimately went to Isla Fisher.
- When the Frenchman is in the money vault and is asked to place the ticket and card between the money, he places it with his right hand. When the shot switches to the helmet camera, he places it with his left hand.
- At 50:21, you can see Henley just wanting to take the rabbit into her arms, and a second later she is already holding it.
- In the first focus, the "Four Horsemen" stole 3 million EUROS from a bank, and then when Arthur Tressler talks to a journalist via Skype from a plane, the journalist says "3 million dollars".
- Andrea Riseborough was considered for the role of Henley.
- Many of the magic tricks were performed by the actors themselves. The filmmakers strived to minimize camera tricks when filming stage performances.
- To master the techniques of hypnosis and suggestion and believably portray a mentalist, Woody Harrelson studied with a real manipulative psychologist for several weeks.
- The teleportation helmet lacks a camera that would broadcast the Frenchman's face during the trick. Such a camera should be directly in front of his face, but there is nothing of the sort.
- In frame 01:14:33-01:14:34, a fly can be seen landing on the camera from the right edge.
- During filming, Michael Caine found himself locked in the dressing room for a whole night. Caine fell asleep after shooting and didn't hear when the director announced the end of the workday. Everyone thought Caine had already left, and the set was closed. Caine woke up in complete darkness and was only able to leave the room in the morning when someone heard his cries for help.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
