Denerstein: Trick is in the moviemaking

Published October 14, 2006 at midnight

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The more complex the better for Christopher Nolan.

The director attracted his first major attention with 2001's Memento, a film that began at the end, telling its story in dizzying backward strokes. The British-born director managed a difficult trick: He kept moviegoers off balance from beginning to end.

So it comes as no surprise that Nolan has tackled The Prestige, a 1995 book by Christopher Priest that made use of two first-person accounts to chronicle the increasingly dangerous rivalry between feuding magicians in Victorian England.

"I was excited about the world in which the novel takes place, as well as by the occupation of the lead characters," Nolan said in a recent phone interview. "I didn't immediately know which elements of the book to focus on. The one thing I knew was that I wanted the screenplay (written by Nolan and his brother Christopher) to be in accord with the structure of magic tricks."

Early in the movie, which opens in Denver on Friday, we learn that magic tricks follow a three-act structure: the pledge (the magician shows the audience something ordinary); the turn (the magician makes the ordinary do something extraordinary) and the prestige (the magician provides something we haven't seen before).

An example: A magician introduces the audience to a woman (the pledge), who then immerses herself in a water-filled tank that he locks (the turn). Next, he covers the tank and talks ominously about the dangers of this particular enterprise. Finally, he rips the cover off to show that the imprisoned woman is safely outside the tank (the prestige).

Those who've read Priest's novel will discover some changes. For example, Nolan has jettisoned a framing device in which the great-grandchildren of the magicians discover the past in their great grandfathers' diaries. But readers will know some of the movie's surprises.

"At the end of the day, a lot more people will see the movie than will have read the book," said Nolan. "You're attempting to expand beyond the audience of the book."

The Prestige is heavily reliant on atmosphere and period detail; in Victorian England, people found most of their entertainment in theaters. "Magicians were very popular entertainers at the time . . . Magic always has been around and always will be. But before the movies came along and ruined it all, it was even more popular."

Nolan relied on a mixture of the new and the familiar to cast his movie. Hugh Jackman plays Robert Angier, a magician who grew up in posh surroundings. Christian Bale portrays Alfred Borden, a magician who rose from the lower class. Nolan worked with Bale on Batman Begins, a movie that also featured Michael Caine. In The Prestige, Caine plays the story's narrator, a man who invents the tricks that magicians perform.

"With the casting, I wanted to bring out an important element in the script. One of the distinctions between the magicians is that Borden is a natural, but has little understanding of an audience. Angier has wonderful stagecraft and an innate sense of showmanship, but he's not a natural. I was looking for two actors who would contrast in that way.

"Christian can close his energy off from an audience. To me, Hugh is something of an old-fashioned matinee idol, and he's a great stage performer in real life.

"I'd worked with Michael on Batman. Funnily, I didn't have him in mind when we were writing the script. When I came back to it, though, the part looked as if it were written for him."

To make the movie convincing, the actors needed to look like real magicians. Nolan brought on magicians Ricky Jay and Michael Weber as consultants.

"The actors weren't going to present stage magic, but I wanted them to master the small maneuvers, things like making a ball disappear. I wanted them to have the hand movements of real magicians. Both Christian and Hugh were incredibly good at picking up the lessons."

Although it's full of surprises and bizarre twists, The Prestige tries for a deeper meaning than we might expect from a thriller.

"The theme I'm interested in is the human need to find complexity and mystery in the world," said Nolan. "That need is born out of a fear that it might not be so, that world may be very simple and dull. The striving for magic is something quite universal."

Nolan has made a film about magicians that, at least indirectly, explores the director's own intricate art of illusion-making.

"One of the reasons I was drawn to this material is that, as a filmmaker, there's a lot to relate to. A lot of the earliest filmmakers were magicians. In today's world, the function of the magician largely has been taken over by filmmakers," Nolan said.

"This probably is the closest I'll ever get to making a film about filmmaking."

Caine: 'A massive trick'

At age 73 and after appearing in more than 90 movies, Michael Caine doesn't need to work. But Caine found the script for "The Prestige" unlike anything he'd previously read. He took a few minutes recently in a phone interview to talk with film critic Robert Denerstein.

• On the new crop of young actors: "They're great. I just did a movie called Children of Men with Clive Owen, who I think is wonderful. I saw Hugh (Jackman) on stage in The Boy From Oz. He gave one of the finest stage performances I've ever seen. The new crop of actors is every bit as good - if not better - than the one I came from. They work hard. Nobody's just getting by."

• On watching a complicated movie such as The Prestige: "You've got to concentrate with this movie. I call it a 'No pee movie.' It's a massive two-hour conjuring trick."

• On preparing for his role: "I didn't learn any magic tricks; I never had to perform tricks. The character I play is an authentic character. There were guys who were famous for designing tricks and who were very secretive about what they did . . . I'm also playing an older guy who's seen and done everything. I didn't have to do a lot of preparation for that either."

• On the limitations facing an older actor: "The only thing that daunts me in a movie is physicality. I wouldn't want to do a movie about climbing Mount Everest. I also don't ever want to do a film where I have massive makeup and have to get to the studio by 5 a.m. I've done all that."

• On attending the final game of the World Cup in Germany: (In the game, Zinedine Zidane of France delivered a head butt to Marco Materazzi of Italy.) "We never saw the head butt; the head butt was up the other end. You follow the ball in a match. That's the disadvantage of being at the game. We came out of the stadium and people asked us about the head butt and we said, 'What head butt?' "

• On retirement: "In the movie business there's no need to retire. The business, when it's ready, will retire you without a qualm, a sentiment or a tear."

Working stiff

Michael Caine has been keeping busy. Here's a look at some upcoming movies:

• Children of Men (2006): Caine plays a small role in a futuristic drama from director Alfonso Cuaron (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban).

• Flawless (2007): Caine plays a janitor with larceny on his mind in this crime drama that takes place in London during the 1960s.

• The Dark Knight (2008): Caine returns to play Alfred Pennyworth, Batman's loyal butler.

• Sleuth (2008): Harold Pinter wrote this version of a movie in which Caine will play opposite Jude Law. Caine appeared in the 1972 original with Laurence Olivier.

denersteinb@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5424

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