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The Director's Notebook: The Cinematic Sleight of Hand of Christopher Nolan
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Documentary
8.8/10(6 ratings)
Behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of "The Prestige" (2006).
02-20-2007
20 min
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Main Cast
Movie Details
Production Info
Director:
Mark Rance
Production:
Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Three Legged Cat Productions
Key Crew
Producer:
Mark Rance
Executive Producer:
Mark Rance
Locations and Languages
Country:
US
Filming:
US
Languages:
en
Main Cast
Christopher Nolan
Sir Christopher Edward Nolan, CBE (born July 30, 1970) is a British-American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was born in Westminster, London, England and holds both British and American citizenship due to his American mother. He is known for writing and directing critically acclaimed films such as Memento (2000), The Prestige (2006), The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005-12), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014) and Dunkirk (2017). Nolan is the founder of the production company Syncopy Films. He often collaborates with his wife, producer Emma Thomas, and his brother, screenwriter Jonathan Nolan.
Hugh Michael Jackman (born October 12, 1968) is an Australian actor. Beginning in theatre and television, he landed his breakthrough role as Wolverine / Logan in the X-Men film series (2000–2017), a tenure that earned him the Guinness World Record for "longest career as a live-action Marvel superhero". Jackman has received a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Tony Awards. During his career, Jackman has headlined films in various genres, including the romantic comedy Kate & Leopold (2001), the action-horror Van Helsing (2004), the drama The Prestige (2006), the period romance Australia (2008), the epic musical Les Misérables (2012), the thriller Prisoners (2013), the musical The Greatest Showman (2017), the political drama The Front Runner (2018), and the crime thriller Bad Education (2019). For his role as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables, Jackman was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and for The Greatest Showman, he received a Grammy Award for Best Soundtrack Album. He also provided voice roles in the animated films Flushed Away (2006), Rise of the Guardians (2012), and Missing Link (2019). Jackman is also known for his early theatre roles in Oklahoma! in 1998 and Carousel in 2002. On Broadway, Jackman won the 2004 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his role in The Boy from Oz. In 2021 he returned to the theatre as Harold Hill in the Broadway revival of The Music Man. A four-time host of the Tony Awards, he won an Emmy Award for hosting the 2005 ceremony. He also hosted the 81st Academy Awards in 2009. Jackman was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours for services to performing arts and to the global community.
Rebecca Maria Hall (born May 3, 1982) is an English actress and filmmaker. She made her first onscreen appearance at age 10 in the 1992 television adaptation of The Camomile Lawn, directed by her father, Sir Peter Hall. Her professional stage debut came in her father's 2002 production of Mrs. Warren's Profession, which earned her the Ian Charleson Award.
In 2006, following her film debut in Starter for 10, Hall got her breakthrough role in Christopher Nolan's thriller film The Prestige. In 2008, she starred as Vicky in Woody Allen's romantic comedy-drama Vicky Cristina Barcelona, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. Hall then appeared in a wide array of films, including Ron Howard's historical drama Frost/Nixon (2008), Ben Affleck's crime drama The Town (2010), the horror thriller The Awakening (2011), the superhero film Iron Man 3 (2013), the science fiction film Transcendence (2014), the psychological thriller The Gift (2015), the live-action/CGI fantasy adventure film The BFG (2016), the biographical drama Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017) and the monster film Godzilla vs. Kong (2021). In 2016, Hall was praised by critics for her portrayal of news reporter Christine Chubbuck in the biographical drama Christine. She made her directorial debut with Passing (2021), receiving critical acclaim.
Hall has also made several notable appearances on British television. She won the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 2009 Channel 4 miniseries Red Riding: 1974. In 2013, she was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for her performance in BBC Two's Parade's End.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Rebecca Hall, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Christian Charles Philip Bale (born 30 January 1974) is an English actor. Known for his versatility and physical transformations for his roles, he has been a leading man in films of several genres. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. Forbes magazine ranked him as one of the highest-paid actors in 2014.
Born in Wales to English parents, Bale had his breakthrough role at age 13 in Steven Spielberg's 1987 war film Empire of the Sun. After more than a decade of performing in leading and supporting roles in films, he gained wider recognition for his portrayals of serial killer Patrick Bateman in the black comedy American Psycho (2000) and the titular role in the psychological thriller The Machinist (2004). In 2005, he played superhero Batman in Batman Begins and again in The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012), garnering acclaim for his performance in the trilogy, which is one of the highest-grossing film franchises.
Bale continued in starring roles in a range of films outside his work as Batman, including the period drama The Prestige (2006), the action film Terminator Salvation (2009), the crime drama Public Enemies (2009), the epic film Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) and the superhero film Thor: Love and Thunder (2022). For his portrayal of boxer Dicky Eklund in the 2010 biographical film The Fighter, he won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Further Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations came for his work in the black comedy American Hustle (2013) and the biographical dramedies The Big Short (2015) and Vice (2018). His performances as politician Dick Cheney in Vice and race car driver Ken Miles in the sports drama Ford v Ferrari (2019) earned him a second win and a fifth nomination respectively at the Golden Globe Awards.
Nathan Crowley (born 28 February 1966) is an English production designer and a former art director, who is best known for his collaborations with Christopher Nolan. He was nominated six times for an Academy Award for Best Production Design for The Prestige (2006), The Dark Knight (2008), Interstellar (2014), Dunkirk (2017), First Man (2018), and Tenet (2020).
For The Prestige, he was nominated with set decorator Julie Ochipinti; for The Dark Knight, he was nominated with set decorator Peter Lando; for Interstellar and Dunkirk, he was nominated with set decorator Gary Fettis; and for First Man and Tenet, he was nominated with set decorator Kathy Lucas. Crowley was also nominated five times for the BAFTA Award for Best Production Design for Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), Dunkirk (2017), and First Man (2018).
Crowley grew up in Islington, North London. His father and grandfather were both architects. Crowley attended Leighton Park School. After completing a foundation year at the Sir John Cass School of Art, he went on to graduate from Brighton Polytechnic (now the University of Brighton) with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Three-dimensional design. He initially worked odd jobs in architecture.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Nathan Crowley, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Walter C. Pfister (born July 8, 1961) is an American director and former cinematographer, who is best known for his work with filmmaker Christopher Nolan. Some of his collaborations with Nolan include Memento (2000), The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005–2012), and Inception (2010). For his work on Inception, Pfister won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography and received a BAFTA Award nomination.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Wally Pfister, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (born November 22, 1984) is an American actress. The world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has featured multiple times on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list. Her films have grossed over $14.3 billion worldwide, making Johansson the ninth-highest-grossing box office star of all time. She has received various accolades, including a Tony Award and a British Academy Film Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and five Golden Globe Awards.
Johansson aspired to be an actress from an early age and first appeared on stage in an Off-Broadway play as a child actor. She made her film debut in the fantasy comedy North (1994), and gained early recognition for her roles in Manny & Lo (1996), The Horse Whisperer (1998), and Ghost World (2001). Johansson shifted to adult roles in 2003 with her performances in Lost in Translation, which won her a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, and Girl with a Pearl Earring. She was nominated for Golden Globe Awards for these films, and for playing a troubled teenager in the drama A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004) and a seductress in psychological thriller Match Point (2005). The latter was her first collaboration with Woody Allen, who later directed her in Scoop (2006) and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008).
Johansson's other works of this period include The Prestige (2006) and the albums Anywhere I Lay My Head (2008) and Break Up (2009), both of which charted on the Billboard 200. In 2010, Johansson debuted on Broadway in a revival of A View from the Bridge, which won her a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress, and began portraying Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Iron Man 2. She reprised the role in eight films, most recently in her solo feature Black Widow (2021), gaining global recognition for her performances. During this period, Johansson starred in the science fiction films Her (2013), Under the Skin (2013) and Lucy (2014).
She received two simultaneous Academy Award nominations—Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress—for the respective roles of an actress going through a divorce in the drama Marriage Story (2019) and a single mother in Nazi Germany in the satire Jojo Rabbit (2019). Labeled a sex symbol, Johansson has been referred to as one of the world's most attractive women by various media outlets. She is a prominent brand endorser and supports several charitable causes. Divorced from actor Ryan Reynolds and businessman Romain Dauriac, Johansson has been married to comedian Colin Jost since 2020. She has two children, one with Dauriac and another with Jost.
Piper Lisa Perabo (born October 31, 1976) is a Golden Globe Award nominated American stage, film and television actress. Since her breakthrough role in Coyote Ugly (2000), she has appeared in films such as Lost and Delirious (2001), Cheaper by the Dozen (2003), Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005), The Prestige (2006), Beverly Hills Chihuahua (2008), and Looper (2012). Since 2010, she has played Annie Walker on the USA Network series Covert Affairs, for which she has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress.
Early life
Perabo was born in Dallas, Texas, the daughter of Mary Charlotte (née Ulland), a physical therapist, and George William Perabo, a professor of poetry at Ocean County College. She is of English, German, Irish, and Norwegian descent; while her surname is sometimes described as Portuguese, it originates in Germany, where her paternal grandfather's family came from. She grew up in Toms River, New Jersey.
Perabo's parents named her after actress Piper Laurie. She has two younger brothers: Noah (born 1979) and Adam (born 1981). She graduated from Toms River High School North in 1994, and earned a bachelor's degree in theater from Honors Tutorial College at Ohio University in 1998. She also studied Latin, physics, and poetry in her final year.
Perabo was first noticed a year before she graduated from university. She was in New York City, visiting her then-boyfriend, and accompanied him to an audition. Casting director Denise Fitzgerald spotted her and asked her to read for a part. She was not cast, but when Fitzgerald found out that she didn't have any representation, she made phone calls on Perabo's behalf and found her an agent.
Personal life Perabo has been close friends with actress Lena Headey since they starred together in the 2005 films The Cave and Imagine Me & You. She speaks fluent French, and is an advocate of LGBT rights. As of 2013, she is engaged to Stephen Kay.She is the part-owner of the prohibition-themed bar Employees Only in West Village, Manhattan, which opened in 2005, and the restaurant Jack's Wife Freda in SoHo, Lower Manhattan, which opened in 2012.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Piper Perabo, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Sir Michael Caine CBE (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite Jr.; March 14, 1933) is a retired English actor. Known for his distinctive South London accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film icon. As of February 2017, the films in which Caine has appeared have grossed over $7.8 billion worldwide.
Often playing a Cockney, Caine made his breakthrough in the 1960s with starring roles in British films such as Zulu (1964), The Ipcress File (1965), Alfie (1966), The Italian Job (1969), and Battle of Britain (1969). He was nominated for an Academy Award for Alfie. His roles in the 1970s included Get Carter (1971), The Last Valley (1971), Sleuth (1972), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), The Eagle Has Landed (1976) and A Bridge Too Far (1977). He earned his second Academy Award nomination for Sleuth and achieved some of his greatest critical success in the 1980s, with Educating Rita (1983) earning him the BAFTA and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) earning him his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Caine is also known for his performance as Ebenezer Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), and for his comedic roles in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), Miss Congeniality (2000), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), and Secondhand Lions (2003). He received his second Golden Globe Award for Little Voice (1998). In 1999, he received his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as a sympathetic doctor in The Cider House Rules. He portrayed a British journalist in Vietnam in The Quiet American (2002), earning his sixth Oscar nomination, and appeared in Alfonso Cuaron's dystopian drama film Children of Men (2006). Caine portrayed Alfred Pennyworth in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005–2012). He appeared in several other of Nolan's films including The Prestige (2006), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014) and Tenet (2020). He also appeared in the heist thriller film Now You See Me (2013), the action comedy film Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), the Italian drama Youth (2015) and the crime film King of Thieves (2018).
Caine officially confirmed his retirement from acting on 13 October 2023.
Jonathan Nolan (born 6 June 1976) is a British-American screenwriter, television producer, director, and author. He is the creator of the CBS science fiction series Person of Interest (2011–2016) and co-creator of the HBO science fiction western series Westworld (2016–present).
Nolan has collaborated on several films with his brother, director Christopher Nolan, who adapted Jonathan's short story "Memento Mori" into the neo-noir thriller film Memento (2000). Together, the siblings co-wrote the mystery thriller film The Prestige (2006), the superhero films The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012), and the science fiction film Interstellar (2014).
Nolan was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Memento, and for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for Westworld, among a number of other awards.