It looks like magicians are coming back into fashion again. Back in 2007 Christopher Nolan and Neil Burger (“Limitless“) had competing magician films in “The Prestige” and “The Illusionist” (though for our money Nolan’s film is far and away the victor there) and more recently Darren Aronofsky signed on to direct the pilot for HBO‘s “Hobgoblin,” about a group of magicians and con men fighting Hitler in WWII. Back in February we broke the news that there would be another film joining the ranks, this one a heist-thriller from “The Transporter” director Louis Leterrier. The film follows a crack FBI squad in a game of cat-and-mouse against a super-team of the world’s greatest illusionists, who pull off a series of daring bank heists during their performances and showers the profits on to their audiences.
This original concept from writers Boaz Yakin (“Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,” “Fresh“) and newcomer Edward Ricourt sounded like a good opportunity for the French helmer to work outside of an established property for a change. And though his recent films “The Incredible Hulk” and “Clash of the Titans,” were both hits, they were less critically beloved. An impressive cast was said to be circling the project with Jesse Eisenberg and “Beginners” actress Melanie Laurent officially signing on a few weeks ago. Now two more actors have come aboard the project: Amanda Seyfried and (somewhat coincidentally) the actor currently portraying The Hulk in next summer’s “The Avengers,” Mark Ruffalo. Our interest is definitely piqued.
According to Variety Ruffalo is signing on as the lead FBI agent and Seyfried will play “a master technician who builds contraptions to aid in the illusion of the heists.” The film is being produced by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, whose track records are fairly spotty but we’re holding out hope for this one. Summit Entertainment will be releasing the film which so far has no start date but we’d imagine we’ll probably be seeing it sometime late 2012.
