- Death Defying Acts
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Death Defying Acts 
Promotional movie posterDirected 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]
Saoirse Ronan[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]
July 11, 2008 (US)Running time 97 min. Country 
United Kingdom
AustraliaLanguage English Box office $8,380,329 Death Defying Acts is a 2007 supernatural romantic thriller[4]. The film is a UK-Australian co-production directed by Gillian Armstrong and starring Guy Pearce and Catherine Zeta-Jones. It concerns an episode in the life of Hungarian-American escapologist Harry Houdini at the height of his career in the 1920s. It was screened in a special presentation at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival.
Contents
Plot
In 1926, 13 years after his mother's death, Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) has begun debunking mystics, psychics and others who claim to have paranormal powers. He offers $10,000 to anyone who can quote his mother's dying words to him.
Impoverished and uneducated Scottish con artist Mary McGarvie (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and her daughter Benji (Saoirse Ronan) set their sights on Houdini's reward when he visits Edinburgh on tour. 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). 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.
Sugarman's main desire is to 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. Sugarman realizes he can't get rid of them as easily as he had hoped. Mary is caught trying to open Houdini's chest and covers up by saying she was just searching for something to channel the psychic energy of the deceased.
Benji gets the key to the chest from Sugarman. 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 channelling Houdini's mother on her death bed, uttering the words of the Kadish and then - addressing Houdini as "Ehrich", his real 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 convincing impersonation by the young artist. When the note he wrote to confirm the veracity of the experiment was removed from its safe and shown to be blank, Houdini reveals the "eternal shame" he feels because he wasn't able to reach his mother before she died, and thus was unable to comfort her in her moment of death--or to hear her final words. The McGarvies are awarded the $10,000.
Mary is disgruntled because she believes Harry doesn't love her as she believed. When he says he does, they become romantically involved before Houdini leaves for his last performance, in Montreal. 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, killing him.
Cast
- Guy Pearce as Harry Houdini
- Catherine Zeta-Jones as Mary McGarvie
- Saoirse Ronan as Benji McGarvie
- Timothy Spall as Sugarman
- Malcolm Shields as Leith Romeo
- Leni Harper as Leith Romeo's wife
- Ralph Riach as Mr. Robertson
Production
The film was shot on location in London and Edinburgh, and at Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, produced by Myriad Pictures and is being distributed by The Weinstein Company. Guy Pearce spent six weeks learning Houdini's tricks from magician Ross Skiffington.[5] Magic consultant for the film was English magician Scott Penrose.[2]
Box office
Death Defying Acts earned $2,839,345 at the Spanish box office, $800,505 in South Korea, $713,741[6] in Australia and $608,455 in Mexico.[7] Globally, the film took $6,415,141.[8] It was on a very limited release in larger markets such as the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, resulting in low box-office takings there.
Awards and nominations
APRA Awards
- The APRA-AGSC Screen Music Awards of 2009 were issued on 2 November, by Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC) at the City Recital Hall, Sydney.[9]
- 2009 Best Soundtrack Album win for Death Defying Acts by Cezary Skubiszewski.[10]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Myriad Pictures - Cast and Crew
- ^ a b c d IMDB: Cast and Crew
- ^ To be distributed by Weinstein Co.
- ^ a b "Abracadabra! Have we just unveiled next year’s The Prestige?". Total Film Magazine. 2007-08-02. http://www.totalfilm.com/future_films/death_defying_acts. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
- ^ Master passes on a few tricks of the trade
- ^ Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office
- ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=deathdefyingacts.htm
- ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=deathdefyingacts.htm
- ^ "Screen Awards". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). http://www.apra-amcos.com.au/APRAAwards/ScreenAwards.aspx. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
- ^ "Winners - Screen Music Awards". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). http://www.apra-amcos.com.au/APRAAwards/ScreenAwards/Winners.aspx. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
External links
- Myriad Pictures - Death Defying Acts
- Death Defying Acts at the Internet Movie Database
- Death Defying Acts at AllRovi
Films directed by Gillian Armstrong 1970s The Singer and the Dancer (1977) · My Brilliant Career (1979)1980s 1990s Fires Within (1991) · The Last Days of Chez Nous (1992) · Little Women (1994) · Oscar and Lucinda (1997)2000s Charlotte Gray (2001) · Unfolding Florence: The Many Lives of Florence Broadhurst (2006) · Death Defying Acts (2007)Categories:- 2007 films
- British films
- BBC Films
- English-language films
- Films directed by Gillian Armstrong
- Films shot anamorphically
- Films about magic and magicians
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