Disneyhas a dynamic creative team in place for a spy thriller biopic based on, get this, a magician. Thankfully, it has nothing to do with theNow You See Mefranchise.
According to aDeadlineexclusive,Becoming Houdiniis about the man behind the legend of illusion and escape. Harry Houdini was, from the year 1900 until his death in 1926, one of the most famous people on the planet. The world knew the performer and the film star. But did they know the person? Did they know he was, perhaps, a spy?
The team behind the magic
Becoming Houdinihas two writers. Michael Finch, fromJohn Wick: Chapter 4,and Alex Litvak. Scott Sanders and Danny Strong will produce.
Finch and Litvak debuted together as co-writers on 2010’s cult filmPredators. Since then, Finch has been busy writing, with nearly a dozen credits to his name, thrillers likeHitman: Agent 47andAmerican Assassin. His next film is the Henry Cavill ledHighlanderreboot.
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Scott Sanders recently produced the musicalsIn the HeightsandThe Color Purple. WhileBecoming Houdinimarks Danny Strong’s producer debut, he was the writer forThe Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 1andPart 2. He also created the award-winning miniseriesDopesick.
So you have writers who know the nuances of spies and action and two producers who have worked on projects with large casts, large sets, and emotional gravitas. That lines up well with Houdini’s life.
Was Houdini the original James Bond?
Born in Hungary in 1874, Houdini, real name Erik Weisz, was just four when his family immigrated to the United States. As a child, he lived in Wisconsin. As a teen, it was a boarding house in the Upper East Side of New York City.
At age 17, Houdini launched into magicianhood and began traveling America. After his breakthrough in 1899, he was an international icon who traversed Europe in the period leading up toWorld War I.
The word “becoming” hints that the film will focus on the early years of the magician’s life, almost like the origin story of a Marvel character. The movie might also take inspiration from a 2006 book calledThe Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America’s First Superhero. Authors William Kalush and Larry Sloman put forth a larger, more detailed theory about Houdini’s efforts in espionage.
Get this: the actual government website for theCIAhas a whole article about Houdini, Kalush, and Sloman’s book and the legitimacy of Houdini’s spydom.The conclusion?
Historian of magic Richard Kohn believes that it would be a stretch to call Houdini a spy in “the James Bond sense.” Instead, he considered Houdini more of an “observer who passed along observations.”
Leave it to Hollywood, though, to lean into the myth more than the truth. After all, isn’t that the magic of movies?
