In this age of grand illusion…
Touchstone Pictures today announced that they will release
The Christopher Nolan film stars David Bowie, Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Piper Perabo, Andy Serkis and Ezra Buzzington. (See full credits
Bale and Jackman will play rival magicians in turn-of-the-century London who battle each other for trade secrets. Here’s a bit from the synopsis of Christopher Priest‘s book:
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In 1878, two young stage illusionists, the aristocratic Rupert Angier and the working-class Alfred Borden, clash in the dark during the course of a fraudulent seance. From that moment on, they engage in a bitter and deadly feud and vie to outwit and destroy one another.
Working in the gaslight-and-velvet world of Victorian music halls, both men prowl edgily in the background of each other’s shadowy life, driven to the extremes by a deadly combination of obsessive secrecy and insatiable curiosity. At the heart of the row is an amazing illusion they both perform during their stage acts. The secret of the magic is simple, but both have something more to hide than the mere workings of a trick.
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Apparently the title refers to the residue left after a magician’s successful trick.