EDWARD NORTON IS MASTER MAGICIAN IN ILLUSIONIST

(VIDEO) Edward Norton learned from a master magician to play Eisenheim in The Illusionist.

Edward Norton plays Eisenheim in The Illusionist, the mysterious 19th century magician who astonished his audience with feats of mystical wonder such as making spirits appear and growing oranges on a tree in front of their very eyes. Edward talks about studying with a master illusionist to achieve a performance that involved more than just tricks.

Edward mastered most of the illusions in the film especially the slight of hand tricks to the delight of his leading lady Jessica Biel. Norton’s next film is The Painted Veil set in 1922 as the scientist husband of Naomi Watts.

“Fortunately we had some of the greatest magicians alive advising us particularly Ricky Jay who is not only a great practitioner of magic and illusion but a true scholar. He is acknowledged as the leading scholar in the history of stage illusionists and magic culture and performance history. He’s literally a walking encyclopedia of all of it. He was the key for the whole thing for me.”