What Do The Critics Say?

"The events of Death Defying Acts are imagined by writers Tony Grisoni and Brian Ward, and Armstrong responds to the rich material with her customary stylish flourishes (hinting at what's to come with an imaginative opening credits sequence devised with help from Oscar-winning Australian cinematographer Andrew Lesnie). British cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos worked as Armstrong's cinematographer on the film and some of the low-light scenes capturing the colour and excitement of vaudeville halls of a bygone era are quite breathtaking." Des Partridge THE COURIER-MAIL "Anchored by Pearce's expectedly charismatic performance, the film generally comes off as a watchable yet entirely unexceptional effort; director Gillian Armstrong's lush visuals effectively complement Tony Grisoni and Brian Ward's slow-moving screenplay. Yet another eye-opening performance by Ronan, who, between this and Atonement, is surely setting herself up as a major new talent within the industry." David Nusair REEL FILM REVIEWS "Lovely to look at and packed with some solid doses of charm and wit. Death Defying Acts is a perfectly passable period piece. Unlikely to win any awards, but should capably please its intended audience. Scott Weinberg CINEMATICAL "I really like the unexpectedness of this surprisingly dense film and its four stand-out performances from its leads. Thirteen year old Saoirse Ronan must surely be the most promising young talent of the year; she portrays the street savvy but innocent Benji with such grit and truth. Armstrong pulls yet another trick out of the hat with Cezary Skubiszewski's magical score and Gemma Jackson's production design is a treat." Louise Keller URBANCINEFILE

"Once you’ve loosed Death Defying Acts from the straitjackets of expectation and history, the film is free to work as a spirited mother-daughter romp and impossible romance. Zeta-Jones is radiant and warm as the plucky single mother who finds love while looking for her big score, and Saoirse Ronan adds another quiver to her bow with fine work as her wide-eyed, possibly second-sighted daughter. The chemistry between these two is the film’s heart." Michael Adams EMPIRE MAGAZINE "This film, directed by one of Australia’s foremost directors is a polished movie, tightly directed, acted and photographed. It doesn’t at all have the literate power of the 1976 movie, "The Great Houdinis", but the film bridges fact and fantasy deftly. Saoirse Ronan is a mature actress well and truly in the making." Peter W Sheehan CATHOLIC FILM REVIEWS "This very handsome U.K.-Australian co-production, which was directed by Gillian Armstrong, is rather a curious affair. The character of Houdini is so intriguing, and the character is so chillingly well-played by Guy Pearce. As she proved in "Atonement", young Saoirse Ronan is a startlingly good actor, and Timothy Spall, as Houdini’s manager, is always good to have around." David Stratton ABC AT THE MOVIES "Guy Pearce creates a complex, difficult and edgy Houdini. Ronan is sensational as the youngster who knows enough of the world to be both cynical and sardonic, without losing the exuberance and optimism of youth. Timothy Spall makes best use of his thoroughly British working class persona as the wretch who has to clean up after Harry, manage his business and stay in the background. The screenplay, a helter skelter mish-mash of fact and fiction, is like a hypothetical, but a fascinating one with a clear eye for story. Cezary Skubiszewski's score is a triumph." Andrew L Urban URBANCINEFILE

The Inside Story Blending fact with fiction, the drama Death Defying Acts is set in 1926 and around the triumphant tour of Britain by revered escapologist Harry Houdini who is on the last leg of a triumphant world tour. The script was developed over a number of years by co-writers Tony Grisoni ("Tideland") and Brian Ward ("The Interpreter"), and at the outset was not a film about Houdini. "It started from the idea that at the centre of any magical act there’s always an audience that’s desperate for the magic to be real, the audience want there to be something extraordinary about what’s going on. They don’t want it to be like everyday life. We started with the relationship of a mother and her daughter; Mary and Benji McGarvie, and Houdini came into it much later," Grisoni said. "The main characters were originally in more of a travelling circus rather than a music hall and one day Houdini just dropped into the story and from that we developed the story about people who were sublimating love, in Houdini’s case literally tying himself up with ropes and chains. There was a kind of denial of love in him and when we found that out about him, it seemed to fit very well into our story. But it was also always a story about the idea that there is magic out there if you want to believe it," adds co-writer Ward. The script first came to executive producer Dan Lupovitz ("Simpatico") who recalls the scriptwriters "sent me their screenplay with a view to my producing it. I thought it was a fantastic script, but it turned out they were actually going to make it as a small Scottish movie and they needed to have a Scottish producer. As an American I couldn’t participate. So, disappointed, I let it go. And strangely enough, very magically, two years later an agent sent me the same script. And I read about three lines of it, I said, I remember this screenplay, I loved it. They hadn’t managed to get the film made in Scotland and so they were interested in doing it as a more international film. And I was now able to get involved. I was thrilled." According to Lupovitz, the ideal person to helm "Death Defying Acts" was 1971 Swinburne Art School graduate, Melbourne born director Gillian Armstrong. "Gillian is somebody whose work I’ve been a big fan of since "My Brilliant Career". She has a very distinct voice as a director, a strong visual style, is a good storyteller, a good director of actors as well as someone who works well in period; making it come to life through interesting detail, without resorting to cliché. In addition her work always has strong characters and this script has very strong, complex, interesting leading characters." 1999 AFI Best Film Award winner Marian Macgowan, who produced Gregor Jordan's "Two Hands" (starring Bryan Brown, David Field, Rose Byrne and the late Heath Ledger), agrees with Lupovitz's assessment. "Gillian has a very strong visual sensibility, but most of all she’s interested in the human drama, so she’s able to tell an emotionally powerful story in a very visual way." Armstrong needed little persuasion. "When I first read the script I really loved it. It was such an original take on a famous icon. His love/hate relationship with psychic beliefs and the afterlife was really interesting." Another part of the story that particularly appealed to Armstrong was the contemporary relevance of Houdini’s super fame. "Thousands of people would flock to streets or bridges, wherever he did his stunts. The thing about Harry that interested me was that it was not just about his act but about how he sold his act. He was a great self-promoter and very clever at branding and at working the press. He worked out how to make himself stand out well above every other act with his witty and clever concepts and he captured the world’s imagination. He was the world’s first superstar. But behind the fame was a very complicated, troubled man." Australian actor Guy Pearce who grabbed the attention of cinemagoers when he appeared in "L.A. Confidential" as Det Lt Edmund Jennings 'Ed' Exley, was cast as Houdini. Lupovitz explained why he was perfect casting. "We were very fortunate to be able to attract Guy Pearce to play Houdini. I couldn’t think of a more perfect actor. He has the visceral, physical style of acting that matches very much who Houdini was as a person and also as a performer. And Guy Pearce has that really unusual unique blend of being a leading man with the diversity of a character actor." "There are a lot of layers to the story for Guy as a performer to work with, but what Guy also brings is a great physicality. He performs with a strong sense of his physical being," Macgowan notes. 1995 Women in Film Crystal Awards winner Armstrong (Dorothy Arzner Directors Award) says, it was Pearce’s ability to immerse himself in a role. "He’s just such an incredible actor. The thing I love about him is that he’s a chameleon. He can change completely. He also has great depth and intelligence as a performer. I knew that Guy would do everything possible to be as fit and credible to play Houdini. He had lessons with a magican, he worked in a gym for months to get the physique Houdini would have had and by the end of the scenes underwater he could hold his breath for longer than our stunt man. He learnt to get out of a strait jacket, hanging upside down. That’s how passionate he was about the role. He can do half of Houdini’s act for real now!" Pearce revealed he was initially reluctant to take the role. Why? "I had just played Andy Warhol in a film where it was important to stay factually correct," he said. "So a part of me was saying do I really want to take on the role of a self promoting megastar?" When he did accept the role he faced a number of challenges. "The physical side was a challenge. I had to do a lot of preparation, learning to hold my breath for a really long time, to hang upside-down for a long while. It was astounding the stuff that I learnt as far as what we can actually do to ourselves to transform. I had quite a serious physical routine." Academy Award winning actress Catherine Zeta-Jones ("Chicago") was cast to portray the ficticious Mary. "When we thought about casting Mary, Catherine just seemed the most perfect choice," says Armstrong. "As well as being a great actress, in a lot of ways she’s close to Mary. She also has a lovely sense of fun and I think great vulnerability in this role. When she read the script she just said, this is me, I have to do this role." "As soon as I read it I thought wow this is such a great character with many levels, completely different to the one I was playing at the time," says Zeta-Jones. "I also thought it was a fantastic opportunity to work with such a great director as Gillian. I hadn’t worked with a female director before and so I was interested how that dynamic would work. As soon as I met her I loved her and I knew it was going to be great." The co-stars had never worked together before. "Putting Guy and Catherine together has been like watching a great chemical reaction, they have great sparks on screen," says Lupovitz. "We worked hard, but we had a great time, we laughed and had fun," Zeta-Jones recalls. Pearce agrees that they had a great working relationship. "I found Catherine delightful. She’s completely professional and really good at what she does and she’s also warm and got a great sense of humour so we all had a lot of fun." Twelve year old rising star Saoirse Ronan (pronounced SEER-shuh RO-nuhn) was cast as Mary’s daughter. "Before I started I was thinking, oh great, I’m going to get to work with Catherine Zeta-Jones! I loved working with her as besides her being a great person, she’s so fantastic at what she does." Once again, as she did in "Atonement", Ronan steals the show. "Saoirse was breathtaking at her first audition, I saw a lot of talented young actresses, but she just stood out a mile above anyone else," Armstrong said. "She’s an amazingly accomplished actress," Lupovitz says adding, "for any age but particularly for the age of twelve. She understands her craft. She can repeat what she’s done take after take. The camera loves her. She holds the screen really well, and she’s been completely delightful to work with." Catherine Zeta-Jones was very impressed with the talent youngster. "She is a talent that everyone should watch, I would equate her with a young Jodie Foster. She came straight off another film, threw herself into it, gave us cuddles every day and just incorporated Benji in a wonderful kind of ragamuffin tomboy way with a tenderness to her, which is just beautiful on screen. She’s a star." Guy Pearce notes, "She’s just an absolute delight, a remarkable child far older spiritually than she seems physically. Every day she would say something that just stunned you as to how switched on she is." The final addition to the team was Timothy Spall O.B.E. The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art graduate was cast as Houdini’s manager and friend Mr Sugarman. "I really enjoyed the script and there was something about the story that I really liked. When you read a script it’s a bit like when you first hear a song you’ve never heard before, you think there’s something attractive about this, you realise it’s an original idea. I thought the four main characters were really interesting and it’s a three-way pull on who’s going to get to hang on to Houdini. It’s rare you get a script like this." The legend of Houdini has fascinated generations. As Executive Producer Marcia Nasatir ("Vertical Limit") suggests: "Eighty years after his death, the great escape artist remains a subject of conversation and controversy on millions of sites on the Internet. And the name Houdini continues to be synonymous with magic." The most celebrated performer in the world during his lifetime, the lure of Houdini continues to this day. Synopsis

It is 1926. Harry Houdini is the most famous performer in the world. Audiences flock to watch him perform death-defying acts. The 'man behind the performer' is a different story. It has been thirteen years since his mother passed away. Houdini's greatest regret is he was not at his mother's bedside when she died and did not hear her last words. This haunts Houdini, so much so that he offers a $10,000 reward to anyone who can contact his mother from beyond the grave and reveal her dying secret. Enter Mary and her young daughter Benji. Poor and uneducated, they live in the slums of Edinburgh. To survive, Mary uses her feminine wiles and deceptive ways in a psychic act that is part burlesque and part occult. Benji gathers information on audience members any way she can, by stealing, breaking and entering, or sneaking into public records, then Mary uses this information to convince the audience that she can communicate with their deceased loved ones. When Mary and Benji learn of Houdini's cash reward, they set their sights on the world's greatest escape artist as their ultimate target. Can Houdini escape the clutches of these con-artists?

The Verdict "Taken on face value, that this is after all, a mixture of fact and fiction, "Death Defying Acts" provides reasonably good value for your money. Pearce certainly looks the part and gives a credible performance as the legendary Harry Houdini. Zeta-Jones, beautiful as ever, is convincing as the scheming Mary even though there isn't much onscreen chemistry between her character and Pearces. Spall as always makes the most of what really is, a minor role. Never the less, as he showed in "Gettin' Square", no matter how small or how large the role is, Spall's contribution is noticeable. The outstanding contributor (cast-wise) to "Death Defying Acts" is young actress Saoirse Ronan, who, even though she was only twelve years old at the time of filming, once again produces a memorable, and it must be noted, another extremely credible performance. Well worth a look at. 3 1/2 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "DEATH DEFYING ACTS" stars .......
Guy Pearce ["Memento", "The Hard Word" and "The Proposition"]; 2003 Evening Standard British Film Award winner Catherine Zeta-Jones ["Traffic", "Intolerable Cruelty", "The Terminal" and "No Reservations"]; Saoirse Ronan ["I Could Never Be Your Woman", "The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey" and "Atonement"]; James Fiddy ["The Magic Flute" and "The Oxford Murders"]; Frankey Martyn ["How's Business", "The Bill" and "Finding Fortune"] and Timothy Spall ["Gettin' Square", "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events", "Enchanted" and "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"] as Sugarman.
"DEATH DEFYING ACTS" was .......
directed by Gillian Armstrong ["Fourteen's Good, Eighteen's Better", "Not Fourteen Again", "Oscar and Lucinda" and "Charlotte Gray"]; screenplay by Tony Grisoni ["Queen of Hearts", "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and "In This World"] and Brian Ward ["Tabloid" and "The Interpreter"]; art direction by Anja Müller ["Paradise Mall", "Taking Sides" and "My Wife Maurice"]; production design by Gemma Jackson ["The Winslow Boy", "Iris" and "Finding Neverland"]; edited by Nicholas Beauman ["The Last Days of Chez Nous", "Cosi" and "My Mother Frank"]; cinematography by Haris Zambarloukos ["The Birthday", "Terrible Kisses" and "Venus"]; original music by Cezary Skubiszewski ["La Spagnola", "The Rage in Placid Lake" and "The Book of Revelation"]. Who's Who?

Catherine Zeta-Jones Guy Pearce Timothy Spall Saoirse Ronan Jack Bailey Aaron Brown MacKay Crawford James Fiddy Martin Fisher Tim Frost Miles Jupp Silvia Lombardo Cloe Mackie Holly Mackie Frankey Martyn Aileen O'Gorman Dodger Phillips Chris Wilson

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Mary Harry Houdini Sugarman Benji The Red Haired Pilot Sugarman's Assistant Young Reporter American Assistant Concierge Tap Dancer Ventriloquist Usherette Psychic Twin One Psychic Twin Two Rose Effie - Elderly Seamstress Voice Of The Press Reporter

Run Time 97 minutes Rated PG [AUST] Copyright ©2008 - Dendy Films - All Rights Reserved ©2008 All Rights Reserved. Impact Internet Services & The Movie Pages. Protected by Australian, International, Copyright & Trademark Laws.