‘War Magician’ Recruits Benedict Cumberbatch For Colin Trevorrow’s World War II Movie
Benedict Cumberbatchis going from Sorcerer Supreme toWar Magician. The actor will star in the new film fromJurassic WorlddirectorColin Trevorrow, based on the true-ish story of Jasper Maskelyne, a world-famous magician and illusionist who used his stage skills to help the British Army during World War II. The story was turned into a book by David Fisher.
Deadline has the scoop onWar Magician, a new film from director Colin Trevorrow that will star Benedict Cumberbatch. The film is based on the story of “Jasper Maskelyne, a British illusionist who used magic to defeat Erwin Rommel in World War II.” Deadline adds that “Trevorrow’s take features an international ‘magic gang’ from Africa, Europe and the Middle East who conspired with Maskelyne and a female military intelligence officer to defeat the Nazis.”
Nicholas Marianiis writing the script, based on the book by David Fisher. The book, published in 1983, has the following synopsis:
Now here’s the catch. TheWar Magicianbook was originally published as non-fiction. However, in the years since its publication, there have been serious questions raised about the contents of the book. Several historians who studied the story have said that much of it is exaggerated and that Maskelyne’s contributions to the war effort were “marginal.”
This question of authenticity actually got in the way of a previous incarnation of the film. Back in the early 2000s,Master and Commanderdirector Peter Weir was supposed to direct aWar Magicianmovie starring Tom Cruise. However, as Weir dug deeper into the story, he ran into problems of authenticity,saying: “I’ve avoided biographical material so far, and if I was to break my own rule I had to proceed from a solid factual base. That was not possible.” In other words, Weir found the story too implausible and ended up dropping out of the movie. Ever since then, it’s remained dormant, but now it looks to be picking up steam again.
Questions of truthfulness aside, the story of a stage magician using his magic skills to help fight the war sounds like it has a lot of potential. That said, I’d be much more interested if a filmmaker of Weir’s caliber was still handling this material as opposed to Trevorrow.
