2بخش

I’m amazed how many of you newspaper writers

can’t read my sign

Not the welcome I was expecting

I know you

You’re the Great Danton

I saw your show in London

Seven times you guessed every object

the audience had in their pockets

I’m Alley Sorry about the fence People keep interfering with our work

I’ve come to see Tesla - Why?

He made a machine for a colleague of mine some time ago

Can you get me a meeting with him, - Impossible, I’m afraid

I’ve brought a lot of money

I’m sorry, Mr Angier

I simply can’t help

I’ll be staying at the hotel, indefinitely

Hey, what am I holding?

Your watch

Borden’s journal entry for April 3,1897,

describes a show at the Orpheum Theatre

That was just days after he first met me

We were two young men at the start of a great career,

two young men devoted to an illusion,

two young men who never intended to hurt anyone

Which of you brave souls

is willing to bind this lovely young woman?

Me!

If you would tie her wrists,

bind her feet

around the ankle

Are either of you two gentlemen sailors?

No - No

I’m sure you can both tie a strong knot

He’s complacent, he’s predictable, he’s boring

Milton has gotten success, whatever that means,

so now he’s scared He won’t take any risks at all

He’s squandering the goodwill of his audience with tired,

second-rate tricks - They’re all favorites

Give me something fresh He won’t even try a bloody bullet catch

A bullet catch is suicide

All it takes is some smartass volunteer to put a button in the barrel

Use a plant - You can’t for every trick

No seats left for the punters

All right, no bullet catch, whatever, but the point is a real magician

tries to invent something new

that other magicians will scratch their heads over

Then you sell it to him for a small fortune

What, - I suppose you have such a trick?

I sure do - Would you care to sell it to me?

No No one else can do my trick

Any trick can be duplicated - Wrong

If Mr Borden has invented his masterpiece,

he’s prepared to do it

Milton is a showman, but Borden is right,

he won’t get his hands dirty

If you want to see what it takes to make real magic,

go to the Tenley There’s a Chinaman there and he really has what it takes

Chung Ling Soo - I can’t afford that

I know the bloke run the door

You two go and see that show, and whichever one of you can tell me

how he does the goldfish bowl trick gets the prize

Which is, - Ten minutes onstage

with my old friend, Mr Ackerman

Really, - Who’s Ackerman?

The top theatrical agent in London

I saw you drop the knot again - I turned my wrists

Some nights you just don’t get it, do you?

I mean, if that knot slips and Julia’s on the hoist,

she’ll break her leg

It’s the wrong knot

Like I said, the Langford double will hold tighter

The Langford double isn’t a wet knot It’s too dangerous

If the rope swells, she can’t slip it

I can slip a Langford underwater - We can practice

Borden, he said no - Oh, you know knots better than me?

Listen, no more mistakes

All right Yeah, Do you, You want to take over?

Just leave - I didn’t think so

Hey, Cutter, where’s he from?

Where are you from, He shifts props for Virgil at the hall

Worried he’ll steal your tricks, - Doesn’t deal in methods

How do you know, - Because I hired him

to find out how Virgil does the orange trick

I don’t trust him - He’s a natural magician

‘Course you can’t trust him

I think he’s all right

You think everyone’s all right - Even you

Watch your sightlines If I can see you kiss your wife’s leg every night,

so can the blokes at the ends of rows three and four!

You’re wrong It can’t be

Look at the man - This is the trick

This is the performance Right here

This is why no one can detect his method

Total devotion to his art

A lot of self-sacrifice

You know

It’s the only way to escape

all this, you know?

I can barely lift this thing and it’s not even filled with water

Or fish, look

I don’t know Hang on a second

He must be strong as an ox

He’s been pretending to be a cripple for years

Any time he’s in public, any time he goes out It’s unthinkable

Borden saw it at once But I couldn’t fathom it

Living my whole life pretending to be someone else

You are pretending

I don’t think changing a name compares

Not your name Who you are and where you’re from

I promised I wouldn’t embarrass my family with my theatrical endeavors

I thought of a name for you

The Great Danton

Do you like it, But it’s sophisticated

It’s French

Borden writes as if no one but he understood the true nature of magic

But what does he know of self-sacrifice?

You bloody fool

He killed it - It’s OK

He killed it - He didn’t

Look, now he’ll bring it back

No, he killed it - No, he didn’t

Look, see, he’s all right He’s fine

Look at him - But where’s his brother?

He’s a sharp lad, your son

Oh, he’s my nephew

Ah

You’re the lucky one today