The Illusionist

The Illusionist (2006)

Timing: 1:50 (110 min)

7.297/10
5272

8.007/10
321148

7.5/10
385839

All about film

Video 2

Photo 41

Actors and characters

Release date

2006-08-18

Country

United States

Production

Contagious Entertainment, Michael London Productions, Koppelman-Levien

Genre

Fantasy, Drama, Thriller, Romance

Budget

$16 500 000

Revenue

$87 892 388

Website

Director

Neil Burger

Actors

Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel, Rufus Sewell, Eddie Marsan, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Eleanor Tomlinson, Jake Wood, Tom Fisher, Karl Johnson
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Bob Yari, Brian Koppelman, David Levien, Cathy Schulman, Michael London, Tom Nunan, Joey Horvitz, Jane Garnett, Ted Liebowitz

Operator

Dick Pope

Composer

Philip Glass

Artist

Audition

Deborah Aquila, Nina Gold, Tricia Wood

Editing

Naomi Geraghty, Vaclav Eisenhamer
All team (66)

• To fully immerse himself in the role, Edward Norton became an apprentice to the famous illusionist James Friedman. Despite this, in some scenes we see Friedman's hands, not Norton's.
• Some of the filmed scenes did not make it into the final version of the film, including a scene featuring Robbie Kay.
• Although the film is set in Austria, it was mostly shot in the Czech Republic. The city of Vienna, where the main events unfold, was filmed in the Czech towns of Tábor and Prague. The village where Eisenheim grew up was filmed in Český Krumlov. Prince Leopold’s castle is Konopiště Castle, located near Benešov, where Franz Ferdinand – the Austrian Archduke – lived. The remaining episodes of the film were shot at the Barrandov Studios in Prague.
• The key tricks (the 'Orange Tree' and 'Butterflies') were invented by the famous 19th-century illusionist Robert-Houdin.
• The love scene was filmed exclusively by the light of kerosene lamps. By the end of each take, the room was so filled with smoke that visibility was noticeably reduced.
• Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who plays young Edward at the beginning of the film, actually learned to perform the ball trick.
• Although the story of 'The Illusionist' is fictional, some of its details are based on the biography of Austrian Crown Prince Rudolf, son of Emperor Franz Joseph. The portrait that Eisenheim depicts using a trick in the palace is, in fact, a portrait of Franz Joseph. The bodies of Rudolf and his lover, Baroness Mary Vetsera, were found in his hunting lodge in Mayerling on January 30, 1889. The imperial family shrouded this event in mystery for many years.
• In the scene where Prince Leopold shoots a rifle, Inspector Uhl approaches him to report on the secret meetings between Sophie and Eisenheim. In their subsequent dialogue, the word 'adulterate' replaced the word 'Fucking' so that the film could achieve a PG-13 rating, which excludes words beginning with 'F'.
• The method of summoning spirits shown in the film consisted of projecting a pre-recorded image onto a blurry background. Considering that the spirits summoned by Eisenheim could speak and interact with the audience, it is logical to assume that he used another method popular among magicians of that era. A real person behind the scenes was illuminated using a so-called magic lantern. The lanterns that Eisenheim instructs his assistants to leave behind when gathering their belongings resembled magic lanterns.
• Crown Prince Leopold, played by Rufus Sewell, is based on Crown Prince Rudolf, heir to the Austrian throne. In 1889, Rudolf and his lover, Baroness Marie von Vetsera, were denied permission to legally marry, after which they committed suicide at the Mayerling estate. It is widely believed that they shot themselves, although various conspiracy theories also exist.