Synopsis

When Eisenheim begins to perform his astounding illusions in Vienna, word quickly spreads of his otherworldly powers, even reaching the ears of one of Europe’s most powerful and pragmatic men, Crown Prince Leopold. Certain that the illusionist is nothing more than an accomplished fraud, Leopold attends one of Eisenheim’s shows, convinced that he can debunk him during the performance. When the Prince’s beautiful fiancé and companion, offers to assist the magician onstage, Eisenheim and Sophie recognize each other from their childhoods and a dormant spark of love is rekindled. With Eisenheim and Leopold vying for Sophie’s affection, it quickly becomes apparent that both men will go to any length to claim and keep her love. Inspector Uhl is charged by Leopold to intensify his efforts to expose Eisenheim, even though the magician has gained a devoted and vocal public following. Despite being under intense scrutiny from Inspector Uhl, Eisenheim prepares to execute his greatest illusion yet.

What The Critics Say

"...benefits mightily from gorgeous period design and cinematography, as well as a surprisingly effective score from Philip Glass." Andy Klein LOS ANGELES CITYBEAT "The movie celebrates magic in its many forms while testifying to the enduring power of love." James Berardinelli REELVIEWS "The Illusionist, like any good magic act, finishes with a satisfying flourish." Bob Bloom JOURNAL AND COURIER "The Illusionist has several tricks up its sleeve, not the least of which is Edward Norton's impeccable performance as a master magician in turn-of-the-century Vienna." Eleanor Ringel Gillespie ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION "It is a treat watching Norton and Giamatti play off each other." Paul Doro MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL "It's a terrific love story and a mystery all rolled into a lovely period piece, aided by the cinematography that has the look of the old-fashioned penny movie machines." Cherryl and Leigh Ann THE MOVIE CHICKS

"A richly textured and very entertaining movie that actually knows the value of telling a good story with skill, precision and excitement." Rex Reed NEW YORK OBSERVER "A bizarre story of intrigue, magic and murder in turn-of-the-century Vienna casts a considerable spell." Todd McCarthy VARIETY "You might not buy all the twists and turns here, but like a magician’s act, it’s more fun to go along with it and not to question things too much." Richard Roeper EBERT & ROEPER "This is definitely a thriller.. one that will keep you guessing until the bitter end." Jeanne Kaplan KAPLAN VS KAPLAN "The Illusionist is an enthralling, grandly old-fashioned example of storytelling magic well worth seeing." Timothy Knight REEL.COM "For a film about magic, The Illusionist doesn't depend on tricks up its sleeve. It's more about artfulness, from handsome period details and Philip Glass' urgent score to an intriguing and vibrant plot." Bruce Westbrook HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Meet The Author Novelist and short story writer Steven Millhauser was born in New York City the 3rd of August 1943. He won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for his most well-known novel, "Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer" (1996), which chronicles the life of an entrepreneur whose career peaks when he builds a fabulous hotel in turn of the century Manhattan. Time magazine described Martin Dressler as "an urban fable about civilization and its discontents", and praised Millhauser for "lowering the barrier between realism and myth." Millhauser impressed both critics and readers with his fresh approach to childhood and adolescence in his first two novels, "Edwin Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer, 1943-1954, by Jeffrey Cartwright (1972)", which won the Prix Médicis Étranger Award in France for the best foreign novel, and "Portrait of a Romantic" (1977). In a Washington Post review of Portrait of a Romantic, William Kennedy described the book as "written in immaculate prose. . .a prodigious feat of memory, with an enormous density of felt and observed life." In addition, Millhauser has published a fourth novel, "From the Realm of Morpheus" (1986), and three collections of short stories, "The Barnum Museum" (1990), "In the Penny Arcade" (1986) and "Little Kingdoms" (1993). Millhauser received the Lannan Literary Award for Fiction in 1994 and an Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1987. He lives with his wife and two children in Saratoga Springs, New York. He teaches at Skidmore College which is located in Saratoga Springs. Millhauser is a Professor of English. For those who have an inquiring mind, Millhauser's fiction often addresses the theme of a system that elaborates itself until it collapses or reaches some crucial turning point. "Eisenheim the Illusionist", for example, follows the fictional history of ever more elaborate magic shows in Vienna, shows that eventually become untenable. In the end, the most successful magician reinvents his act along minimalist lines. In another story, "The Dome," Millhauser tells the story of the invention artificial domes that cover houses. Eventually these become more elaborate, covering whole towns and cities and, eventually, the nation. In other fiction he has treated such things as fashion and retail as systems or discourses that grow more and more elaborate, sometimes being reinvented along more minimalist lines after acheiving baroque complexity. Director/ writer Neil Burger based his screenplay for the "The Illusionist" on Millhauser's short story, "Eisenheim the Illusionist". More on Millhauser including book covers can be found here The Inside Story "The Illusionist" is a film with pedigree. For a start it is an screen adaptation of a short story by Pulitzer Prize winner Steven Millhauser. It's production team includes producers Michael London ("Sideways"); Cathy Schulman and Bob Yari ("Crash"); EMMY Award winning production designer Ondrej Nekvasil (TVs "Anne Frank: The Whole Story"); Oscar® winning costume designer Ngila Dickson ("The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"); and Academy Award ® nominated composer Philip Glass("The Hours"). Then there's the cast. It includes two time Academy Award ® nominee ("Primal Fear" and "American History X") and Obie Award winner Edward Norton ("Burn This"); SAG Award and Broadcast Film Critics Best Supporting Actor Award winner (Cinerella Man") Paul Giamatti; 1993 London Critics Circles' Best Newcomer Award winner ("Making It Better") Rufus Sewel and, Esquire magazine's "Sexiest Woman Alive" (2005) Jessica Biel who, although she hasn't hasn't won a major award, is delightful as Sophie von Teschen. Combine all the aspects of a candelstine love affair with the intrigue of 'how does he do that' illusions, captured by 2007 Academy Award nominated D.O.P all in a screenplay by director/writer Neil Burger and you have a very entertaining film. When Neil Burger first read Pulitzer Prize-winner Steven Millhauser’s short story "Eisenheim the Illusionist" (published in the collection The Barnum Museum), he was duly impressed with the story. "It’s a beautiful gem of a story, lyrical and transcendent," he recalls. "The images and tone of it are quite cinematic, but the story itself is more of a fragment and somehow, not a film. I loved the story, but it wasn’t immediately clear how to solve the narrative puzzle and transform it into a full-blown movie." Later, during the editing of his debut (and award winning) feature, "Interview with the Assassin", he mentioned to the film's producers, Brian Koppelman and David Levien, the difficulty of depicting magic on-screen. "I mentioned there was a short story I had always wanted to make into a film, and they both finished my sentence by asking, 'Is it Eisenheim the Illusionist?' They knew the story well, but admitted to being unsure about how to make it into a film. Bluffing somewhat, I assured them that I knew exactly how." Koppelman and Levien then set about obtaining the film rights to the story. The rights would come with a challenge. 'We were delighted to find the rights were available, but there was no time to lose. We called Neil and told him there was good news and bad news. The good news was we had the rights; and the bad news was that we had a short option period," says Levien. How short? "The script had to be written in six months," he recalled. Faced with many challenges Burger came up with a way to preserve the beautiful and mysterious story. He would have Inspector Uhl tell the tale of "Eisenheim the Illusionist". "The question was, how do you tell the story of Eisenheim, a man who is an enigma, a mystery?", says Burger. "How do you get inside his head without giving away his secrets? I decided to tell his story from Inspector Uhl’s point of view. Everything we see is something Uhl has witnessed or one of his agents has told him. At other times, his story becomes conjecture, what he imagines might have happened, and not necessarily true at all, but still loosely from his point of view. He's creating the legend even as he tries to figure it all out. It’s a subtle but fairly rigorous organizing principle for the storytelling." Burger went beyond the call of duty with "The Illusionist", including those remarkable illusions. "Most of the tricks that ended up in the film are based on real illusions done at the time, and the characters I invented are also based on real people," he revealed. "I wanted it all to be as believable and honest as possible, all the more so since the story examines the idea of how we perceive truth and illusion…and blurs the boundary between those two concepts. If you’re going to exaggerate certain elements, to have it be dreamlike or surreal or uncanny, you have to make sure that the rest of it has a rock solid foundation in the period." And there was more. "There’s a quote in the story that says, 'Stories, like conjuring tricks, are invented because history is inadequate to our dreams.' That goes for the art of cinema in general and "The Illusionist" in particular. My goal was to have the film completely inhabit that realm of dream and mystery." Unlike many other writers and producers, Burger reveals another twist in his approach to the film. "I don’t tend to write with actors in mind for some reason, but I knew I needed someone who could embody the mystery, as well as the romantic side, of Eisenheim. Edward Norton, of course, is a powerful presence, extremely intelligent and passionate about his craft, as well as life in general. Just like Eisenheim. And I hadn’t seen Edward in too many romantic roles, and certainly not in period. I liked the idea of seeing him in a new role and I knew he’d bring a fresh perspective to the part. In general, it was a pretty easy choice." "I knew he’d be great," he said, noting "he always is." Norton is exceptional as Eisenheim. "I became aware of the story through this project, and I was attracted to it because I thought it was a compelling, romantic story," Norton says. "There were also a number of different elements that appealed to me. Eisenheim is darkly romantic, an enigma. He is mysterious and withholding, but at the same time, he is an incredible showman." They weren't the only factors he found attractive. "I am really also a big fan of magic and it was fun to contemplate the idea of learning all that. Also, the story is a love story, and I hadn’t done anything that was directly a romance before." For the role of Inspector Uhl," says Burger, "I wanted someone a bit different, unexpected. The investigating detective is a pretty common role in movies and I though Paul Giamatti could put a different spin on it." "He has been one of my favorite actors for a long time, and even back in those college days, Paul was tackling roles way beyond his years," says Norton. "The script came to me in the normal way, through my agent," remembers Giamatti, "and then I met Neil Burger. I thought the script was great—an interesting period, and the setting is fascinating. I was very excited about doing this and although I have played Americans on the stage during this period, I have never done anything as European as this before." When Neil Burger met British actor Rufus Sewell, he immediately knew he was the one to play Crown Prince Leopold. "I have to say that I don’t see Leopold as a villain," Sewel offers. "When I first read the script, I realized the function he serves in the story is to be the ‘villain.’ But the more I read it, the more I didn’t believe that to be true. Although I hate the term, it is about his journey and he changes quite a bit during the course of the story, and it was a very interesting and worthwhile role to play." Norton admits to having long been a fan of Sewell's. "I always love working with Brits; they are all such studied professionals. They are blasé about their professionalism in some ways. Eddie Marsan (who plays Eisenheim’s manager, Josef Fischer) was the same way. It was a great cast and it was fun for me working with people who are peers. Rufus, Eddie, Paul and I had all been through a lot of years in theater and worked our ways into film, so there was a lot of common ground." "Edward is an actor I have always admired very much indeed, and I found him very easy to work with. Jessica is fantastic, a real natural, a good actress and a very nice person. Paul Giamatti is also a fabulous actor as everyone knows, but he is also a very nice, very funny guy, and I really enjoyed myself," says Sewel. But here's a sneaky twist. Prince Leopold and Sophie weren't in the original short story. And how did Biel get the role? "One day, out of the blue, I was asked to audition, and soon I found myself reading with Edward and it was a bit of a whirlwind actually! Suddenly, I found myself in Prague," she recalled "It was all last-minute and very, very exciting." The Verdict "Blessed with a supeb cast, excellent cinematography and a genuine bygone era feel, "The Illusionist" will keep you guessing right to the end. The story is filled with intrigued, cunning visual deception and of course, some incredible illusions. Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti are a class act, Jessica Biel is convincing as Sophie and Rufus Sewel is instantly unlikeable as Crown Prince Leopold. Despite all the film throws at its audience, including a beautiful score by Philip Glass, in the end, it's the illusions that will leave you wide-eyed with amazement. Go with the flow in this magical story of undying love. Don't fall into the trap of trying to work it all out, just sit back and soak up the magic of "The Illusionist". Excellent entertainment. Very recommended. 4 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "THE ILLUSIONIST" stars .......
Golden Globe Award winner Edward Norton ["The Score", "Red Dragon", "25th Hour", "The Italian Job" and "Kingdom of Heaven"]; Jessica Biel ["The Rules of Attraction", "Cellular", "Stealth" and "Elizabethtown"]; Rufus Sewel ["A Knight's Tale", "Extreme Ops", "The legend Of Zorro" and "Tristan + Isolde"]; Edward Marsan ["Vera Drake", "V For Vendetta", "Mission: Impossible III" and "Miami Vice"], Ellen Savaria ["The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", "EuroTrip", Hellboy and "Running Scared"] and Independent Spirit Best Actor Award and New York Film Critics Circle winner Paul Giamatti ["Big Fat Liar", "American Splendor", "Sideways", "Cinderella Man" and "Lady in the Water"] as Inspector Uhl.
"THE ILLUSIONIST" was .......
directed by Neil Burger ["Interview with the Assassin"]; screenplay by Neil Burger ["Interview with the Assassin"]; original story by Lannan Literary Fiction Award winner Steven Millhauser ["Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer" and "The Sisterhood of Night"] production design by Ondrej Nekvasil ["Thanks for Every New Morning", "Indian Summer", "Bringing Up Girls in Bohemia" and "Passage"]; director of photography by Dick Pope ["The Air Up There", "Topsy-Turvy", "Nicholas Nickleby"Vera Drake" and "Man of the Year"]; original music by Philip Glass ["Secret Window", "Taking Lives" and "Notes on a Scandal"]; costume design by Ngila Dickson ["The Lord Of The Rings I, II & III", "The Last Samurai", "Without A Paddle" and "Blood Diamond"]; edited by Naomi Geraghty ["Mandela", "Cop Land", "In America" and "Hotel Rwanda"]. Run Time 109 minutes Rated M [AUST] Copyright ©2007 - Yari Film Group - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2007 - Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved