Renner as Annemann...kind of.

[Travis]

James Gray's new film 'The Immigrant' features Jeremy Renner as a magician named 'Orlando', a character based on Ted Annemann.

http://youtu.be/bV7PnPnjNYI

[Richard Kaufman]

Does that mean we know how it ends?

[Brad Jeffers]

...
http://youtu.be/bV7PnPnjNYI

I think this might be an incorrect link.

Walking with George Lucas??

[Travis]

Ha! Sorry about that! Yes, that is definitely an incorrect link (however, Walking With George Lucas is quite funny).
Here is the correct link:
http://youtu.be/ohVv5-rq-JY

[Max Maven]

Just curious: What is the link to Annemann? Other than the pencil moustache, nothing in the trailer suggests a connection.

[Bill Mullins]

The film's writer/director, James Gray, has said that Renner's character was based on Annemann.

Gray said: "And there's a library at Ellis Island where I was doing research, and I read about a concert that Enrico Caruso gave to the immigrants.

And it said that a juggler and a magician opened for him. So knowing that a magician opened for Caruso, my mind started of course to wander to who that guy would be, and I started to read about a magician named Ted Annemann, who met with quite an unsavory end, and I thought, well, that's an interesting character, and that's how he became part of the story."

So it kinda looks like the inspiration wasn't very specific.

Francis Menotti was Renner's coach.

[Max Maven]

Ah.

The film takes place in 1921, at which time Annemann was fourteen.

[observer]

The film's writer/director, James Gray, has said that Renner's character was based on Annemann.

<>
" So knowing that a magician opened for Caruso, my mind started of course to wander to who that guy would be, and I started to read about a magician named Ted Annemann, who met with quite an unsavory end, and I thought, well, that's an interesting character, and that's how he became part of the story."
<>.

Wow, he must have done several paragraphs' worth of research on Annemann!