Death Defying Acts

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Death Defying Acts
Promotional movie poster
Directed by	Gillian Armstrong^[1]
Produced by	Chris Curling^[1] Marian Macgowan^[1]
Written by	Tony Grisoni^[1] Brian Ward^[1]
Starring	Guy Pearce^[1] Catherine Zeta Jones^[1]
Music by	Cezary Skubiszewski^[2]
Cinematography	Haris Zambarloukos^[2]
Editing by	Nicholas Beauman^[2]
Distributed by	Weinstein Co.^[3]
Release date(s)	January 12, 2008^[4]
Running time	97 min.
Country	United Kingdom Australia
Language	English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Death Defying Acts is a supernatural romantic thriller^[4] and hyped as being the next Prestige^[4]. The film (directed by Gillian Armstrong and starring Guy Pearce and Catherine Zeta Jones) follows the American escapologist, Harry Houdini in the height of his career in the 1920's.

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Plot

In 1926, thirteen years after his mother's death, Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce)^[2] regrets that he wasn't present at his mother's side when she passed away. He offers $10,000 to anyone that can help him contact his deceased mother and reveal her last words.

Impoverished and uneducated Scottish con artist Mary McGarvie (Catherine Zeta Jones)^[2] and her daughter Benji (Saoirse Ronan)^[2] set their sights on Houdini's reward. Mary's psychic act pulls in the public: Benji surreptitiously gathers information on members of the audience; information Mary uses to con them into believing they can reach out to their deceased loved ones.

Their only obstacle is Houdini's protective manager, Sugarman (Timothy Spall)^[2]. Mary manages to charm the unsuspecting magician, but as they spend more and more time together, Sugarman intervenes, trying to prevent Houdini from becoming entangled with Mary, of whom he is suspicious.

After Sugarman offers Mary money to flee the scene, she explodes into something far more dangerous. As Houdini prepares for his most death defying stunt, the audience is intrigued about how he'll make his escape.

Sugarman's main desire is too see Mary and Benji gone: they claim they will be gone for good once they secure the reward for finding out what Houdini's mother said to him on her death bed. When Sugarman realises he can't get rid of them as easily as he had hoped, he gives Mary a key to Houdini's chest. Mary is caught searching the chest and covers up by saying she was just searching for something to channel the psychic energy of the deceased.

When Mary and Benji fail to turn up any useful information, they turn again to Sugarman. He tells them that Houdini was out doing a show and missed seeing his mother before she died. When the time comes, Mary is unable to perform the experiment and attempts to leave. At this point Benji starts having a fit on the ground and claims to be channeling Houdini's mother on her death bed, uttering the words of the Kadish and then - addressing Houdini as "Erich" which was his originals name, and speaking partly in German and partly in German-accented English asking where he is, and why he isn't with her. This could be interpreted as either a genuine seance or a very skillful and convinvcing impersoantion by the young artist. Houdini then leaves, ashamed because a note he wrote to confirm the veracity of the experiment was removed and revealed to be blank.

The McGarvies are rewarded the $10,000. Mary is disgruntled because she believes Harry doesn't love her as she perceived. When he says he does, they become romantically involved before Harry Houdini embarks on another set of world tours. During his travels, he's climbing a set of stairs when a "Red-Haired Prankster" punches him in the stomach while he wasn't ready and ruptures his appendix and kills him.

[edit] Cast

Guy Pearce as Harry Houdini
Catherine Zeta-Jones as Mary McGarvie
Timothy Spall as Sugarman
Saoirse Ronan as Benji McGarvie
Jack Bailey as the red haired pilot
Aaron Brown as The Sugarman's assistant
Arthur Benjamins as Researcher.
Martin Fisher as concierge
Miles Jupp as ventriloquist
Silvia Lombardo as usherette
Chloe Mackie as psychic twin 1
Holly Mackie as psychic twin 2
Frankey Martyn as Rose
Aileen O'Gorman as elderly seamstress
Dodger Phillips as Voice of the press
Chris Wilson, Levi Summers, Leonard Silver as reporters.
MacKay Crawford as Young reporter.
James Fiddy as Amercian assistant.
Tim Frost as tapdancer

[edit] Production

The film was shot entirely on location in London and at Pinewood Studios, Herefordshire, produced by Myriad Pictures and is being distributed by The Weinstein Company.