Ch 36: Every Magic Trick Consists Of Three Parts (The Prestige - Part I)

Thursday, 17th April, 2008

{1st Person POV}

It had been 2 weeks since I got back from New York, and after coming back I advised all the cast members to rehearse their lines since the filming was about to begin.

Speaking of which, 'The Departed' had crossed $150 Million worldwide, having passed 'Halloween's $160 Million total. It was now closing in on $200 million, with a current total of $182 million. 'The Departed' was also near the $100 million domestic mark, currently sitting at $96 million.This made 'The Departed' the third highest grossing film domestically and fifth worldwide.

Obviously, as more films release 'The Departed' would be kicked out of the top 10, and most likely the top 20 too. But there's nothing wrong with that. The fact that my film even held the record for the biggest opening weekend of the year and is currently sitting in the top 10 both domestically and worldwide was a huge feat.

When (Because it's not a matter of 'if' anymore) 'The Departed' hits $100 Million, I'll join the ranks of the few directors who had their debut and 2nd film gross more than $100 mil domestically. A feat that is rare and would show that the audience likes my films.

Of course, just this much won't make me a big director or anything like that. I'd need to constantly keep producing hits, and only then would I be considered a 'bankable' name. And that's exactly what I want. After all, I won't be able to create the films I love if they all lose money, would I?

And that's why I'll choose some commercially viable films from here on out, so that I'd be able to get a larger budget and do whatever the hell I want after getting some big successes.

By the way, today was the first day of the fifty-day long shoot of 'The Prestige', and for that, I was currently putting on my outfit.

I stared at my reflection in the mirror with a satisfied smile.

"Not bad." I complimented myself.

My attire consisted of a mahogany red coloured coat, an undershirt with the same red colouring and black pants.

Obviously, this was one of the many outfits that I had gotten tailor-made for myself, but this one was my favourite out of the bunch. There was just something about all those lines and that leathery feeling that made it feel and look really nice. To put it simply, it was stylish, but not overly so, while still looking normal enough that I could probably wear this while taking a walk in the middle of the street and no one would bat an eye.

Though, the coat did make me feel like a hobo, but I'm not gonna talk about that.

As I was admiring myself, a knock came from the door. I turned around and said "Come in."

Moments later, the door knob turned and from behind the door came a new figure. Jet black shoulder-length hair, brown eyes with eyeglasses covering them and a bit of a funny looking jawline, it was none other than the Assistant Director, Grant Horn.

An amusing name, to put it politely.

"What happened?" I asked while facing him.

"Uh, everyone's ready and waiting for you." He said in a nervous tone.

"I see." I nodded. "Tell them I'll be there in a minute or two." With that, Grant left me alone with my lonesome.

I walked back to my chair, where my normal clothes lay bare. I quickly changed myself back into my normal attire, and combed my dishevelled hair. After doing so, I opened the door and walked out onto a set of Angier's workshop.

Michael had left to do, uh, something, and Scarlett was busy doing commercial shoots. So, that only left me, Emily and Kenneth Morgan, an A-list Welsh actor who would be playing the role of Cutter, the ingenieur of Angier.

Kenneth was in his early 70s, making him the oldest person I had worked with. He was the closest person to Michael Caine I could find, and I don't think I regret hiring him at all. He has a sort of gravita to him, as well as a soothing voice. He was quite literally the closest person to Michael Caine in this world, unless of course Michael Caine existed here too. In which case, I'd be more than happy to work with him.

Ah shit, I'm going off track, aren't I?

Anyway, as I was saying, both Michael and Scarlett were unavailable, leaving me, Emily and Kenneth as the only ones available from the main cast. And considering that all of Emily's scenes acting as Sarah were with Michael as Borden, she too, had left to do her own thing. Which means that there wasn't much I could do, considering just how of a focus there was on the main five characters of Angier, Borden, Cutter, Sarah and Olivia. Oh, and Tesla too, I guess.

That limited the choice of scenes we could shoot, and I decided on the opening/closing scene where Cutter shows a magic trick to Borden's daughter.

I walked towards Kenneth and greeted him. "How are you?" I asked

Kenneth returned a pure smile filled with joy. "Oh, I'm feeling great! How about you?" He said and shook my hands.

"I'm good too." I said and returned a smile of my own. "This set looks just like how I imagined it to be." I looked here and there, walking around the set and touching the object.

"Indeed. If I was an actual magician, then I'd definitely spend the rest of my day locked up inside and doing magician things."

I walked to the "windows", and beside it were a row of bird cages, and each bird cage had two canaries.

"Ah, Mr. Oliver!" I heard a voice calling out to me. I looked to my left, and found a middle-aged woman in her 30s with brown hair and brown eyes standing there. This was Michelle Hill, a B-list actress, and also the mother of Grace Hill, the child actor playing the role of Borden's daughter, Jess Borden .

Michelle walked up to me and extended her hand out for a handshake. I brought my hand forward and shook her hand. "It's so nice to see you!" She said, and continued. "I'm really thankful that you gave my daughter a chance. She's been so excited since I told her the news."

'That's heartwarming.' I thought.

"There's no need to thank me. I'm sure Grace will perform wonderfully and show us just how good she is."

While this may seem like a hopeful statement or comforting words, in reality, they were words of confidence. I was confident in Grace's ability as an actor, after all, I didn't just choose her on a whim. I watched her past performances and came to a conclusion that she'd be suitable for the role.

But words or statements like these were kind of a formality, so I said it anyways.

And after saying a few words with Michelle, I walked to the Director's chair and sat down on it. After making sure that everyone was in position, I asked everyone to become silent.

{POV CHANGE}

{3rd Person POV}

"And… action!" As soon as those words left Oliver's mouth, Kenneth and Grace got into their roles. Kenneth (Now Cutter) walked along the rows of Canaries inside the cages, and stopped at one cage. Through the window, the sunlight shone down and illuminated the entire workshop, enveloping it in a warm light. He opened a cage and grabbed one of the two Canaries with his withered hand.

These Canaries were trained, or at least as much trained as a bird could be, so Oliver wasn't really scared that they'd try to escape when given the chance.

A little girl, Jess Borden, to be particular, sitting on a chair a bit farther away, was curiously watching Cutter as he grabbed one of the Canaries and brought the bird to a small ornate cage on top of a table. He gently brought the Canary inside the cage and closed off the gate. Cutter then grabs a silk shawl and places it over the ornate cage.

"Cut!" Boomed Oliver's voice. "That was great!"

Oliver walked to the table on the set, grabbing the cage with Canary, and replacing it with an identical cage. The difference between the two cages was that the one with the Canary was made of steel, while this cage was made of plastic, and could easily be squashed.

"Alright, look." Oliver began, motioning Kenneth to focus on what he was about to tell him. "You bring your right arm up here, above the cage and stay like that for a few seconds, as if you're trying to build anticipation for the trick." He explained, bringing his right hand, fully stretched, above the cage.

Oliver left his right arm hanging in the air, and then brought it down on the cage. Of course, he didn't actually touch the cage, because the cage was fragile and would get squashed if hit at the same intensity as Oliver demonstrated.

"You got that?" He asked Kenneth, who nodded.

Oliver then walked to Grace, and lowered himself onto his knee. "Listen Grace," He began. "When Mr. Morgan squashes that cage, act surprised and scared, alright? And do your best, because we only have one plastic cage." He explained to her.

"Okay!" She said with a heartwarming smile. Seeing her smile like that, Oliver couldn't help but smile himself too.

He got up from his position and walked back to his seat. Grabbing the microphone, he said, "Everyone, quiet on set!"

"3, 2, 1… action!"

Kenneth (Cutter) brought his hand up into the air and above the ornate cage. He let his hand stay in the air for while, as he stared at Jess, who looked at him in return with anticipation of what he was going to do next. Unexpectedly, Cutter brought his hand down onto the cage, squashing and destroying the cage, as well as the Canary that was supposed to be inside.

The sudden movement from Cutter as well as the loud noise of the cage being squashed made Jess flinch, but then she stares at the trick Cutter had done with fascination.

Cutter then whips the shawl off the table, revealing that the cage and the Canary have disappeared. Jess looks on with an expectant gaze.

Cutter then forms a fist and drapes with the shawl.

"Cut!" Oliver interrupts. He then walks over to Kenneth, and grabs the cage with the Canary from before and places it on the table.

"Grab the Canary in your hands, and get into the motion you were in before, alright?" Oliver instructs. He then looks at Grace, and says, "Grace, when Mr. Morgan takes off the cloth from his hand and reveals that he has the Canary, you should clap with excitement, okay?"

Grace nods, and so, Oliver goes back to his seat. Going back and forth and having to cut in the middle of the scene was exhausting him, and he wished that it would be over so that he could take some rest.

But he also understood that the actors were exerting more pressure than and were also more focused. One mistake and they'd have to redo that specific part.

"Action!" Oliver's voice boomed.

Cutter whipped the shawl away from hands and revealed the Canary that had supposedly disappeared. Jess claps excitedly at the magic trick.

"Cut! That was perfect!" Oliver shouted and made his way to the set. As soon as he got onto the set, he hugged Kenneth. "You did a phenomenal job!" He said.

"Th-thank you very much, young man. But I fear that if you don't get off of me, I'll have problems breathing." Kenneth said in a sarcastic tone, but Oliver knew that he actually meant it. So, he quickly got off of Kenneth.

"I'm really sorry! It's just that, you're a really great actor, and I'm also kinda feeling tired, so the fact that we were able to do this scene in one take made me really happy." Oliver explained.

Seeing him frantically trying to explain his behaviour, Kenneth just smiled at the young man's antics. It reminded him of the time when he was young, and got his first scene in one take. He, too, was really happy about that achievement, and seeing Oliver act like that reminded him of his past.

"There's nothing wrong with it, Oliver. We all have moments like these." Kenneth said.

"I-I see…" Oliver said sheepishly.

Suddenly, Oliver's eyes widened a little and he walked towards Grace. "You did a great job, Grace!" He complimented her, and while patted head.

"I did?" She asked in an innocent manner.

"Of course! I'm sure that if You continue doing this great of a job that you'll become more famous than even your mother!"

"Really?! Then I'll definitely work hard and make mama proud!" She exclaimed with excitement.

Oliver smiled at her warmly, and thought, 'Next up, the discussion between Cutter and Angier.'

~~~

A/N: Wee woo wee woo.

That's a long ass title, isn't it?

By the way, how tf did this chapter became 2.34k words long? I only did one scene, and that too a really small one!

Anyways, really sorry about not uploading the 2nd chapter last week.

As compensation, how about I TRY (Keyword: try) and write 2 more characters this week?

Anyways, vote for The Batman or Batman: Begins! It's really important and WAY more closer than you think!

I'm personally leaning towards The Batman, but because The Batman Part II doesn't come out until October 2025, It'd be quite hard to write. If I do TDK trilogy, I'll have to make it feel more 'comic-booky' and make some serious changes to The Dark Knight Rises. Oh, and I'd also change the names of both Begins and The Dark Knight.

Well, see ya later, I guess!