Transforming Word Into Film

According to an ages-old chemical philosophy known as alchemy, one can transform one element into another, such as a base metal into gold. Yet alchemic processes can and do happen in our day…. When Neil Burger first read Pulitzer Prize-winner Steven Millhauser’s short story “Eisenheim the Illusionist” (published in the collection The Barnum Museum), he was duly impressed with the story, but wasn’t quite certain how to go about instigating his alchemic transformation from story into film. He remembers, “It’s a beautiful gem of a story, lyrical and transcendent. The images and tone of it are quite cinematic, but the story itself is more of a fragment and somehow, not a film. I loved the story, but it wasn’t immediately clear how to solve the narrative puzzle and transform it into a full-blown movie.”

While Burger was in the process of editing his debut (and later to be award-winning) feature, Interview with the Assassin, he happened to be talking with the film’s producers, Brian Koppelman and David Levien, about the difficulty of depicting magic on-screen. “I mentioned there was a short story I had always wanted to make into a film, and they both finished my sentence by asking, ‘Is it “Eisenheim the Illusionist”?’ They knew the story well, but admitted to being unsure about how to make it into a film. Bluffing somewhat, I assured them that I knew exactly how.”

Koppelman and Levien then set out to acquire the rights to the short story. David Levien says, “We were delighted to find the rights were available, but there was no time to lose. We called Neil and told him there was good news and bad news: the good news was we had the rights; and the bad news was that we had a short option period…and the script had to be written in six months.”

For Burger, the challenge was to preserve what was beautiful and mysterious about the story, but also create a dramatic context for it all. He invented new characters for the story— Crown Prince Leopold and his fiancé, Sophie von Teschen—and greatly expanded the role of Inspector Uhl, who receives just a few mentions in the original story. Burger continues: “The question was, how do you tell the story of Eisenheim, a man who is an enigma, a mystery? How do you get inside his head without giving away his secrets? I decided to tell his story from Inspector Uhl’s point-of-view. Everything we see is something Uhl has witnessed or one of his agents has told him. At other times, his story becomes conjecture, what he imagines might have happened, and not necessarily true at all…but still loosely from his point-of-view. He’s creating the legend even as he tries to figure it all out. It’s a subtle but fairly rigorous organizing principle for the storytelling.”

Additionally, Burger conducted extensive research into magic, as well as the setting of the story: fin-de-siècle Vienna. “I read everything I could about the Hapsburgs, about the Secessionist movement, and about the magic from that time—both the illusions themselves and the social world of the magicians. Most of the tricks that ended up in the film are based on real illusions done at the time, and the characters I invented are also based on real people. I wanted it all to be as believable and honest as possible, all the more so since the story examines the idea of how we perceive truth and illusion…and blurs the boundary between those two concepts. If you’re going to exaggerate certain elements, to have it be dreamlike or surreal or uncanny, you have to make sure that the rest of it has a rock solid foundation in the period.”

Eisenheim the Illusionist’s performances call into question everything the audience (and ultimately, moviegoers) take for granted—his illusions challenge the laws of nature and the universe. As Neil Burger explains, “I’m interested in that moment when you come face to face with something unexplainable, incomprehensible, and how that event changes your perceptions about everything. To that end, the magic in The Illusionist is not about ‘How does he do it?’, but rather about the uncanny sense that nothing is what it seems.

Burger continues, “There’s a quote in the story that says, ‘Stories, like conjuring tricks, are invented because history is inadequate to our dreams.’ That goes for the art of cinema in general and The Illusionist in particular. My goal was to have the film completely inhabit that realm of dream and mystery.”

With the script in place, Koppelman and Levien approached producer Michael London. “Because of our filmmaking career and our commitments, we realized we needed a producer who had a real artistic sensibility,” explains Koppelman. “We didn’t just want to be partnered with somebody who would merely treat this as business, but somebody who was really in tune with how to make a film with integrity. As producers, our main mandate is to make sure the director gets to make the film he wants to make, so it was very important that we partnered with someone who shared that ethic, and we knew that Michael would bring that to the table.”

“I was already a fan of Neil Burger,” begins London. “I had seen his film [Interview with the Assassin] and I very much liked the script for The Illusionist. I got involved in the middle of the development process. We did a few more drafts of the screenplay until we were all happy with what we had, and then we began to approach financiers.” (The Yari Film Group soon stepped up with funding.)

Producer Michael London admits that he usually responds more to contemporary stories, “but there was something really timeless and universal about this one, that it made it feel very contemporary,” says London.

Part of that is due to filmmaker Burger’s intent to make the setting period, but the themes timeless. He explains, “I wanted to be true to the time period, but not a slave to it. It’s not a story about the morals or manners of the time. Instead, it seeks to explore larger themes about power, perception, truth and illusion.”

Prolific and award-winning filmmaker Bob Yari was enthusiastic to step up as producer for The Illusionist and comments, “Neil has an amazing way with a story, and it’s exciting to be working with someone who can tell such an intriguing tale in such a cinematic way. Neil really thinks in terms of film, and has real talent in being able to take something in one form and transform it for the screen.”
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Film "The Illusionist" succeeds on magic and money
Reuters Canada, Canada - Sep 15, 2006
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - It took a little magic and a lot of money, but "The Illusionist" has steadily moved up box office charts in recent weeks with the ...

Love and illusion entices viewers in “The Illusionist”
Flyer News, OH - Sep 25, 2006
“The Illusionist,” a new film set in 20th ... Sophie and Eisenheim are reunited after the prince volunteers her during one of the illusionist’s performances. ...

Writer/director Neil Burger on the set of "The Illusionist."
About - News & Issues, NY - Sep 26, 2006
However, fortunately for me, writer/director Neil Burger is still ready and willing to talk about his second feature film, The Illusionist, more than month ...

'Illusionist' finishes with a flourish
Journal and Courier, IN - Sep 15, 2006
... Thus it is with writer-director Neil Burger's The Illusionist. ... The Illusionist, like any good magic act, finishes with a satisfying flourish. ...

Norton makes magic in 'The Illusionist'
Macon Telegraph, GA - Sep 21, 2006
Edward Norton is a natural for "The Illusionist," a lovely period piece about a magician who takes 19th-century Europe by storm, only to run afoul of the ...

'The Illusionist' Weaves Magic at Box Office
Hollywood.com - Sep 16, 2006
LOS ANGELES - It took a little magic and a lot of money, but The Illusionist has steadily moved up box office charts in recent weeks with the backing of an ...

Changes made to Sayre Film Festival
Towanda Daily Review, PA - Oct 10, 2006
... The final film in the festival, “The Illusionist,” will start Friday, Oct. 20. Starring Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti and Jessica ...

Greenwich native explores boundary between magic and reality
Greenwich Time, CT - Oct 1, 2006
At one point in Greenwich native Neil Burger's new film, "The Illusionist," a sumptuous period mystery drawing rave reviews, the befuddled police inspector ...