It’s been nearly a decade since a film was released in the Now You See Me: Now You Don’t film franchise. Now, a third movie is set to explore the evolution of magic.
Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco and Isla Fisher return as the Four Horsemen, but a few newcomers stand to show them that the world of magic has shifted a bit since their last tricks.
“This is like one of those great movies where a team comes together and all have a different skill set and they join forces to pull off something,” Jesse Eisenberg told Blavity’s Shadow and Act. “In this movie, we are trying to steal the biggest diamond in the world from a corrupt diamond heiress who was using her mind to launder the money of all the world’s worst people. It’s this fun thing. Audiences, obviously, love characters joining together.”
He added, “My favorite part of the Now You See Me: Now You Don’t Movies is that it’s a movie that celebrates cleverness, teamwork, togetherness, inventiveness and intelligence rather than brute strength. And A, I like that because that’s a movie that I can actually be in, and B, it’s more interesting than typical, bringing the band back together to fight some evil, thermo, nuclear spirit.”
The magic of collaboration
For director Ruben Fleischer, one of the highlights of filmmaking is the spirit of collaboration.
“It is an inherently collaborative business. You can’t do it by yourself,” he said. “Someone once said, ‘If you want to do it all by yourself, go be a painter.’ But there’s something about having 200 people who all share a common passion, you know, working together to achieve a goal. That’s a really special thing when you feel that we are all there, doing our work because we love it, like we all grew up on movies, love movies, and we’re lucky enough to get to work making movies.”
He added, “That collaborative effort is probably my favorite thing about filmmaking, but, especially, when you get to collaborate with somebody as experienced and talented as Morgan Freeman as a director, I just feel so lucky to have the opportunity to work with him and the rest of this talented cast. It’s that chemistry among them that makes the movies so special.”
Morgan joins Now You See Me: Now You Don’t as Thaddeus, who he describes as the “moral center” or consciousness of the four horsemen.
“Part of working with Ruben is that he’s respectful of actors,” Freeman said. “By respectful, I mean, you don’t get a lot of negative feedback from him. As a director, some people don’t know what they’re doing, and they jump on set and start giving corrections. Not Ruben.”
“Thaaddeus is, we will call him a leader. He represents the moral center, the consciousness of the Four Horsemen,” Freeman added about his character. “I appreciate that term, moral compass for the group. I don’t have to do anything to bring that to life. Just go where I’m told.”
Meet the newcomers of the ‘Now You See Me: Now You Don’t’ franchise
Along with Freeman, other actors joining the cast of this third film in the Now You See Me: Now You Don’t franchise include a new trio of magicians, June (Ariana Greenblatt), Bosco (Dominic Sessa) and Charlie (Justice Smith) — who quickly realize why it’s not always a great thing to meet your idols when they wound up joining forces with the four horsemen.
“June’s character is obviously sleight of hand artists. She loves pick-pocketing. She loves doing the quick and distraction-type magic, and Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) is the one she looks up to,” Greenblatt said. “She’s a huge fan of all the horsemen, but Jack is definitely the mentor and a big inspiration for her throughout her magic career. So, I think when they finally meet in person, and she kind of sees where Jack is now, it’s a bit jarring for her, and she’s a bit confused.”
She added, “I feel like a lot of June’s confidence comes from what Jack really represented. And I think because she’s so blunt and honest, and she wants to truly know what happened to her idol, it definitely built a great bond between Jack and June. It’s also cool to see the shift that you go through in the movie; that arc is awesome to see as a fan. But also, I feel like June, at the end of it, is happy with the work that she’s done. I’m excited for going forward, the two of us to kind of kick more ass together. We get one fight scene together in this film, which is really fun. We’re the leather jacket twins. This is just our thing now.”
“Charlie is very gifted. He’s very talented,” Smith said about his character. “And he’s incredibly smart and has such a passion for magic, for what he does, but he’s afraid to kind of be center stage with his passion. I think that there is a life lesson there about stepping into your own greatness and taking up space in your passions. I definitely learned that from Charlie.”
Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is in theaters now.