David Copperfield Confirms What We Suspected All Along About The Magic In Now You See Me
"Now You See Me" — and the almost as popular sequel, creatively titled "Now You See Me 2" — is what you would get if "Ocean's Eleven" and "Robin Hood" had a cinematic baby. A team of magicians who call themselves "the Four Horsemen" (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, and Dave Franco) travel the world using their magic shows as a cover to rob banks and give that money back to the poor, the swindled, and the downtrodden.
David Copperfield (not to be confused with the Charles Dickens novel of the same name) is an Emmy Award-winning magician/illusionist who performs magic on a daily basis in Las Vegas. He's one of the most famous and richest magicians in the world. He was actually tapped to consult on the movies and even has a "magic inspired by" credit on the first film and a co-producer credit on the sequel. A few years back, he uncharacteristically spilled some secrets about the magic stunts performed in the films — and about his role in bringing that magic to life.
No, those aren't special effects — all the magic is real (so to speak)
According to what Copperfield told the Washington Times, all the illusions performed in the movies are, to some extent, replicable in real life. He bragged about how he's the one who suggested all the illusions that make the film so entertaining, including the rain that rains upward being "a practical effect that could be done live."
Copperfield even acknowledges how the films take inspiration from popular heist movies like "Ocean's Eleven." He stated that the movies are "a kind of tip of the hat to George Clooney" (although, to the best of our knowledge, Clooney is not a professional heist planner) and how at the end of the movie, "you see what they did did [sic] to process it. It's fun." It's unclear from watching the movie how many of the tricks may or may not have received some CGI assistance in the editing room in order to make things flow more smoothly and look better on the silver screen. But it's interesting to know that the illusions are not the typical, unrealistic Hollywood tricks that fans might expect.