Death Defying Acts
Encyclopedia
Death Defying Acts is a 2007
supernatural
romantic
thriller. 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
.
) 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.
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
. Magic consultant for the film was English magician Scott Penrose
.
box office, $800,505 in South Korea
, $713,741 in Australia
and $608,455 in Mexico
. Globally, the film took $6,415,141. 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.
2007 in film
This is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...
supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
romantic
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
thriller. The film is a UK-Australian co-production directed by Gillian Armstrong
Gillian Armstrong
Gillian May Armstrong is an award-winning Australian director of feature films and documentaries.- Career :Born in Melbourne, Victoria, Gillian Armstrong grew up in the eastern suburb of Mitcham. She graduated from Swinburne Technical College in 1968 where she studied theatrical costume design and...
and starring Guy Pearce
Guy Pearce
Guy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian actor and musician, known for his roles as Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, Lieutenant Ed Exley in L.A...
and Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones, CBE, is a British actress. She began her career on stage at an early age. After starring in a number of United Kingdom and United States television films and small roles in films, she came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as the 1998 action film The Mask of...
. It concerns an episode in the life of Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
escapologist Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini was a Hungarian-born American magician and escapologist, stunt performer, actor and film producer noted for his sensational escape acts...
at the height of his career in the 1920s. It was screened in a special presentation at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival
2007 Toronto International Film Festival
The 2007 Toronto International Film Festival was a 32nd annual film festival held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It ran from September 6, 2007 to September 15, 2007. The lineup consisted of 349 films from 55 countries, selected from 4156 submissions...
.
Plot
In 1926, 13 years after his mother's death, Harry Houdini (Guy PearceGuy Pearce
Guy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian actor and musician, known for his roles as Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, Lieutenant Ed Exley in L.A...
) 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
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones, CBE, is a British actress. She began her career on stage at an early age. After starring in a number of United Kingdom and United States television films and small roles in films, she came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as the 1998 action film The Mask of...
) and her daughter Benji (Saoirse Ronan
Saoirse Ronan
Saoirse Una Ronan is an Irish film actress. She began her career as a child and came to international prominence in 2007 after co-starring in the film Atonement, which gained her nominations for a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.Ronan has since appeared in...
) set their sights on Houdini's reward when he visits Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
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
Timothy Spall
Timothy Leonard Spall, OBE is an English character actor and occasional presenter.-Early life:Spall, the third of four sons, was born in Battersea, London. His mother, Sylvia R. , was a hairdresser, and his father, Joseph L. Spall, was a postal worker...
). 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
Séance
A séance is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word "séance" comes from the French word for "seat," "session" or "sitting," from the Old French "seoir," "to sit." In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma"...
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 PearceGuy PearceGuy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian actor and musician, known for his roles as Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, Lieutenant Ed Exley in L.A...
as Harry HoudiniHarry HoudiniHarry Houdini was a Hungarian-born American magician and escapologist, stunt performer, actor and film producer noted for his sensational escape acts... - Catherine Zeta-JonesCatherine Zeta-JonesCatherine Zeta-Jones, CBE, is a British actress. She began her career on stage at an early age. After starring in a number of United Kingdom and United States television films and small roles in films, she came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as the 1998 action film The Mask of...
as Mary McGarvie - Saoirse RonanSaoirse RonanSaoirse Una Ronan is an Irish film actress. She began her career as a child and came to international prominence in 2007 after co-starring in the film Atonement, which gained her nominations for a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.Ronan has since appeared in...
as Benji McGarvie - Timothy SpallTimothy SpallTimothy Leonard Spall, OBE is an English character actor and occasional presenter.-Early life:Spall, the third of four sons, was born in Battersea, London. His mother, Sylvia R. , was a hairdresser, and his father, Joseph L. Spall, was a postal worker...
as Sugarman - Malcolm Shields as Leith Romeo
- Leni HarperLeni HarperLeni Harper is a Scottish actress, best known for playing Maddie in Me And My Girl.Her breakthrough role was in a 1981 West End production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas...
as Leith Romeo's wife - Ralph RiachRalph RiachRalph Riach is a Scottish actor from Elgin, Moray. He is best known for his role as "John McIver" in BBC One Scotland's comedy/drama Hamish Macbeth. His career began at the age of 45, when he appeared in Lost Empires...
as Mr. Robertson
Production
The film was shot on location in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, and at Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton...
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, produced by Myriad Pictures
Myriad Pictures
Based in Santa Monica, California, Myriad Pictures is a leading independent entertainment company specializing in production, financing and worldwide distribution of feature films and television programming. President and CEO Kirk D’Amico opened the company in 1999 and has built a diverse library...
and is being distributed by The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company is an American film studio founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 2005 after the brothers left the then-Disney-owned Miramax Films, which they had co-founded in 1979...
. Guy Pearce spent six weeks learning Houdini's tricks from magician Ross Skiffington
Ross Skiffington
Ross Skiffington is a New Zealand-born Australian magician, actor, and theatre director, who has received two lifetime achievement awards for his contributions to magic.- Biography :...
. Magic consultant for the film was English magician Scott Penrose
Scott Penrose
Scott Penrose is an English magician and magic consultant and is the son of magician John Penrose.Scott is the Vice President of The Magic Circle and a Gold Star member of the Inner Magic Circle. He was awarded the title The Magic Circle Stage Magician of the Year in 2000.He also works as a magic...
.
Box office
Death Defying Acts earned $2,839,345 at the SpanishSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
box office, $800,505 in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, $713,741 in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and $608,455 in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. Globally, the film took $6,415,141. It was on a very limited release in larger markets such as the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, resulting in low box-office takings there.
APRA Awards
- The APRA-AGSC Screen Music Awards of 2009 were issued on 2 November, by Australasian Performing Right AssociationAustralasian Performing Right AssociationThe Australasian Performing Right Association is a copyright collective representing New Zealand and Australian composers, lyricists and music publishers. The association's head offices located in Sydney Australia, and it has branch offices in Auckland, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth...
(APRA) and Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC) at the City Recital HallCity Recital HallCity Recital Hall, or City Recital Hall Angel Place, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, is a purpose-built concert venue with the capacity for 1,238 guests seated over three tiers of sloped seating...
, Sydney. - 2009APRA Awards of 2009The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 2009 are a series of awards which include the APRA Music Awards, Classical Music Awards, and Screen Music Awards. The APRA Music Awards ceremony occurred on 23 June at the Peninsula in Melbourne, they were presented by APRA and the...
Best Soundtrack Album win for Death Defying Acts by Cezary SkubiszewskiCezary SkubiszewskiCezary Skubiszewski, born 1949, Warsaw, Poland, is an Polish Australian composer for film, television and orchestra.Migrating from Poland to Australia in 1974, he studied the piano from the age of six. He currently lives in East St Kilda, Melbourne...
.