In this film you play the part of Rupert Angier, a very confident magician who loves performing and being on stage. In what ways did you feel as though you could relate to this character?
I wasn't familiar with the world of magic at all, so I went to Vegas and met a number of magicians and I found it absolutely fascinating. In terms of being on stage I think in a way the role seemed fairly tailor-made to me. I've always felt quite at home on the stage because that's where my background lies. If I'm honest, it's probably taken me a few years to feel as at home on a film set as I've previously felt on a stage.
This film is all about the art of illusion and making an audience believe that what you are doing and saying is real, so would you say that a magician's job is quite similar to that of an actor or a director?
Having met a number of magicians in preparing for this role, the huge difference for me is that being a magician is a very solitary profession. Most magicians pretty much mortgage their youth working in front of a mirror practising sleight of hand because it takes years to perfect. An actor and director on the other hand are very much dependent on each other to make the illusion work. Magicians are absolutely fascinating though; briefly I will bore you with one story… My wife and I went to see David Copperfield's show in Vegas and after it was finished he invited us both back to his place, so off we went. Anyway, we pull up outside this sex shop, and David gets out, pulls out a set of keys and walks in, and we're thinking, 'Oh my God, what have we got ourselves into here?' and then he says 'Push the nipple on that mannequin over there'. So I pushed it and these doors slid open and we walked into this room the size of four football fields, full of magic memorabilia. He then proceeded to do a one-and-a-half-hour show for us until about two in the morning, and it was brilliant!
Did you find it interesting, having to learn all about the history of magic?
I have to say I was fascinated by it. You can pretty much find out how any trick is done these days though, and it really spoils magic for you after that. As Michael Caine's character, Cutter, says in the movie: you don't really want to know. It's very tempting and if you have the answer there you'll probably have a look at it but it does ultimately spoil it for you. Having read a little about this world, I think what was most interesting, for me, was just how far magicians would go to pull off a trick. Obviously magic has changed a lot now but Houdini for example, used to literally cut himself open and put locks and stuff under his skin and sew himself up again so he could dig inside his flesh during a performance to pick a lock… There were a lot of amazing things that people did to pull off a trick and I found that remarkable.
Picture the scene: Batman (Christopher Bale) has just caught Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) in bed with his woman… A fight ensues… who wins?
Hahaha! We did just recently make a commitment to each other that when our careers are in the toilet in 15 years time, we'll go out on tour with the WWF wearing tights and sporting pot bellies, and wrestle each other. We actually spent more time talking about our little baby girls - we've got daughters pretty much the same age. I mean we fought at lunchtimes and stuff but that was about it!
What was your favourite part of the movie to make – was it the 'Prestige' or the reveal as it were, or was it something else?
For me, it was one of those movies that had so many favourite moments. Working with Chris was an absolute treat, and I got to work with an amazing cast. There was an atmosphere on set that was truly one of the most creative and easy that I've ever experienced and it was great because every Wednesday was kid day, so it was like a daycare centre! It was a very relaxed, fun place to be and we very rarely went over time, so it was a real pleasure from start to finish.
Did you pick up any good tricks? And do you now perform at parties?
No. I've been a clown at kids' parties a few times but I retired when a six-year-old got up in the middle of my act and shouted, 'Mummy, this clown is really crap'. Now that's a really bad thing for a clown to hear. Anyway, we had a couple of real-life magicians working with us on this film called Ricky Jay and Michael Weber, and so I thought, 'this is great. I'm going to walk out of here with at least a half-hour routine', only to find out that the byword of their business is 'on a need to know basis', so literally they would teach us what we needed for the film, but that was it, so Christian and I came out really underdone on tricks. We have a couple though. The very first trick I had to do was I had a little flower and I had to make it disappear and reappear in my hand. I was working on it for a while and I tested it on my son the night before filming – he was five at the time – and he said, 'Daddy, it's in your other hand', which didn't bode well for filming. Needless to say, it's been cut from the movie.
In the film, your character seems to be very dependent on the adulation and applause he gets after a performance. Can you relate to that at all?
Not really. I think at the beginning you think the applause is the summation of the audience's enjoyment, but the more you do it, the more you realise that there are so many different reactions. There are times as an actor when you experience something on stage where you know that you and the entire audience are kind of connected, and you look at the faces of people and they are almost like little kids. That feeling really puts the hair on the back of your neck on end, and it's way beyond – give me the applause, give me the applause – its much greater than that. I hope I'm making sense because it's very hard to put into words, but that's what I look for more and more these days… it's a drug like no other.
Speaking of audience reactions, after I saw the film, I felt like I needed a bit of a liedown. How did you feel once you saw the finished article for the first time?
Did you? Hahaha! I was so thrilled to see it because many of the things that Christian Bale was doing I wasn't on set for, and seeing the nuances of his performance was really exciting to me, because they were things that were not even in the script. All the actors had put in clues for the ultimate trick of the movie, so when I saw it for the first time, was probably like you seeing it for the third time. It's one of those really exciting movies where you can totally lose yourself in the story and be surprised by it, even as an actor, and that's very rare.
Going off topic for a moment, what's the score with this 'X Men' prequel you are supposed to be doing about Wolverine – is it still going ahead?
Yes. We have a script written by David Benioff which is the best I've seen in this franchise and I think we will start shooting that in about a year.
