Browsed by
Tag: magic

Cosentino no boy next door ..

Cosentino no boy next door ..

image  By STEVE KILGALLON for Stuff.co.nz

A generation ago, it was unthinkable that we might see magicians once again on prime-time television. The old rabbit-in-a-hat brigade were hardly cutting-edge entertainment.

But a recent renaissance in stylised, theatric illusion shows has made magic cool again, spearheaded at opposite ends of the world by Cockney wide boy Stephen “Dynamo” Frayne in England and shy Goth boy Paul “Cos” Cosentino in Australia.

Cosentino’s TV show – The Great Illusionist – has now hit 35 countries, including here, and is, bizarrely, big in India. He doesn’t wear tails and a white bow tie, and doesn’t own a rabbit, but his long hair, multiple piercings and peacock outfit have tapped the zeitgeist.

It was a runners-up placing in the 2011 edition of Australia’s Got Talent which launched Cosentino on the big stage (he escaped a locked straitjacket while dangling inverted in the maw of a giant, closing steel trap) and also led him to an important realisation…

Read more

Dynamo Denies Cheat Claims After Shard Stunt

Dynamo Denies Cheat Claims After Shard Stunt

Video and interview courtesy of SkyNews..

In an exclusive interview with Sky News Entertainment Week the TV magician Dynamo has denied using wires in his stunt where he apparently levitates above the Shard in London.

The 31-year-old trickster has been wowing crowds for years with incredible stunts such as walking on the Thames – but this week a picture showing support wires went viral and he was branded a “cheat” and a “fraud” by fans online.

However, Dynamo told Entertainment Week the criticism had gone over his head.

“I’m just really glad people are talking about magic,” he said. “The picture is only half the tale. When you watch the show you’ll see the whole story.

"The picture is from an earlier rehearsal where I had a safety cord because it was so windy … I went up higher than that and that wouldn’t have been possible with the wire method.

Read more

For Adrien Brody, History’s Houdini Is a Dream Come True

For Adrien Brody, History’s Houdini Is a Dream Come True

Sadie Gennis for TV Guide

Adrien Brody might have already won an Oscar at 29 for his work in The Pianist, but for the actor, playing the legendary magician Harry Houdini for History’s latest miniseries was a real bucket list moment.

“He was a very heroic person to me as a boy,” Brody tells TVGuide.com. Much like the magician he idolized, Brody grew up in New York City the child of a Hungarian-Jewish mother and took up magic at an early age, performing at children’s birthday parties as The Amazing Adrien. “What he represented to me then was a real bravery and a fearlessness,” Brody says. “I think what magic represents is this ability to kind of defy the laws of nature.”

His love of magic soon transformed into a love of acting, solidifying Houdini as one of “the greatest influences” in Brody’s life and making Houdini a personal project for the star. “I spent a lifetime poring over magic books and loving magicians,” Brody says. “My mother’s a photographer and she’s photographed Penn and Teller at Houdini’s grave. I’ve visited his grave, it’s in my neighborhood. He’s been present somehow in my life.”

Read more

David Blaine puts on magic show for dangerous inmates

David Blaine puts on magic show for dangerous inmates

By Jamie Schram, Frank Rosario and Danika Fears for the New York Post.

Daredevil magician David Blaine dazzled a packed house at a Manhattan show with his illusions, card tricks and the timeless yanking a rabbit out of a hat.

But the spectators were not the usual theatergoers shelling out more than $100 a pop for tickets.

The escape artist performed his Houdini-like tricks for some of the city’s most dangerous inmates, who were treated to the show by the Department of Correction, The Post has learned.

“How the hell does a killer get to watch a rabbit get pulled out of a hat?” a source asked of the hour-long show for high-security inmates on the sixth floor of the Manhattan Detention Complex, known as The Tombs.

Read more