They're Getting Closer to Making a Film of Kalush's The Secret Life of Houdini

[Richard Kaufman]

Today on Collider.com, in an interview with producer Frank Marshall:

Lets talk about those three or four other things. What is bubbling up to the surface for you, besides a Jurassic Park sequel?

MARSHALL: Well, thats one of them. The Secret Life of Houdini, thats at Summit or Lionsgate, or whatever theyre calling themselves now. And thats pretty cool. Im a big fan of magic; you probably know that from my past. I think thats on the front burner. ...

Jumping into the Houdini thing. A number of years ago, in the same year, were The Illusionist and The Prestige. Both of which were great. One of which was made for 15 million if that, and one of which was made for a lot more money. Both did incredibly well at the box office. Obviously people love magician stories, why is it so hard to get these made?

MARSHALL: Well, its funny because when you say magic because everybody expects everything, when you can do anything, now people think that a magician fakes them. It only works when youre live. So to come up with a story, particularly that takes place in the thirties and forties, you need to have more meat to the story. And there was a book written called The Secret Life of Houdini which takes the premise that Houdini was actually a spy. I love that combining magic and spydom, my two favorite things. If he was an athlete, it would cover everything. If he was a runner that would be it.

Yeah, I would say you have a hit. Are you aiming to put in the supernatural or are you aiming to make this a very realistic movie, but the one thing is he was also a spy?

MARSHALL: Its a little bit of everything. If you know of Houdini, he was out there to debunk spiritualists and mediums. But, then we add in the kind of the Sherlock Holmes of it all. The reality of this case thats going on, and the fact that hes a spy and what hes doing. Its going to be a big action adventure movie?

Who wrote the most recent draft?

MARSHALL: Noah Oppenheim.

Do you currently have a director attached?

MARSHALL: Not attached yet, but were in negotiations with one.

Is it a name that I would know?

MARSHALL: Yes. If you look it up, youll see there was an announcement.

SO, there you go. It looks like this might actually have a shot at getting made.

[Evan Shuster]

If Gary Ross takes on the role of director then you can be assured that this project will have an adequate budget attached to it. Great news!

[Matthew Field]

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy than Bill K.

Matt Field