Director Ruben Fleischer heard a loud gasp.
At the first screening of Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, one moviegoer in particular was struck by how the heist movie’s third act unfolded. (Don’t worry, we won’t spoil it!)
“It was one of the most satisfying moments of the whole process,” Fleischer said via Zoom the morning after the New York City premiere. “I was very happy that the audience was invested enough to respond.”
Of course, cinematic trickery is the whole point of the Now You See Me series. However, Fleischer will be participating in this series for the first time. (The previous two films were directed by Louis Letellier and Jon M. Chu.) Set 10 years after the sequel, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, and Isla Fisher return for the third installment as the thieving illusionists known as the Four Horsemen. The adventure follows a sophisticated Robin Hood-like quartet team up with new recruits Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, and Ariana Greenblatt to take down a dirty diamond dealer played by Rosamund Pike.
Fleischer, known for hits like “Venom” and “Zombieland,” brought many of the ingredients that made this magical series a commercial success. Please rest assured. There’s plenty of witty conversation, exotic locations (we fly to Antwerp, Abu Dhabi, South Africa, and the South of France), and cardistry. Fleischer also wanted to raise the stakes and keep audiences in constant suspense with bigger, bolder magic shows, which he created in collaboration with experts like Magic Castle owner Randy Pritchford.
“Fun was the north star for me, because that’s all anyone expects from these movies,” Fleischer says.
Ahead of the film’s release, Fleischer spoke to Variety about reuniting with Zombieland actors Eisenberg and Harrelson, surprise cameos, and how critics don’t necessarily “get” commercial productions.
(Warning: This interview contains spoilers for Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, which opens in theaters November 14th.)
What did you know about the Now You See Me series before you were hired to direct this film?
“Now You See Me” was released after “Zombieland” and stars the two leads, Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson. So, naturally, I was interested in the movie when it first came out, so I went to the theater to see it. I fell in love with the caper, the charm of the cast, everything about it. It was true entertainment. Before Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, I had done three movies with Jesse and three movies with Woody, so I think it was a natural fit when we were looking for a director for our third movie.
Are you a magic fan?
I love magic. There’s no shame in admitting that. I think going to a magic show is one of the most fun experiences you can have as an adult. This is because you can enjoy the mysterious feeling that can only be felt when you are a child. As a cynical adult, there are very few opportunities in my daily life to be stunned or surprised.
How can you stay ahead of your audience without confusing them?
It’s a process of trial and error. This is an interesting line in that you want to give your audience enough information to feel invested, but you don’t want to reveal too much. Throughout the process, you can incorporate feedback from your audience and make adjustments based on test screening. Even if you tilt your card, you can always put it back. Or if you get confused, which is never a good thing, you can add more breadcrumbs.
Was there any opposition from the studio about including “Now You Don’t” in the title?
There were a few things that needed to be set squarely on the record if we were to make our third album, Now You See Me, and certainly the title “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” was at the top of the list. In the second run it looked like a missed opportunity. We felt strongly that this was the best title, so we’re really happy that the studio agreed. I also wanted to fix the issue where Isla Fisher from the first film and Lizzy Caplan from the second film had been swapped in just one line of description. (Note: Fisher did not participate in the 2016 sequel due to scheduling conflicts, so Lizzy Caplan replaced her as the group’s only female member.)
Why was Lizzy Caplan’s involvement kept secret?
Because it’s a great reveal. I always like to stand a little ahead of the audience, so it’s a nice surprise when she appears on screen. It wouldn’t have been all that surprising if we flooded the marketing with her presence. Luckily, Lizzie was on board, so we were able to keep it a secret. There’s also another big Easter egg at the end of the movie.
That’s right, Mark Ruffalo briefly appears via hologram in the final sequence. Will he play a bigger role in the fourth installment?
I hope so. The biggest challenge for Mark is the schedule. He’s a very busy guy, so he did a few reshoots this summer so he was able to be in the movie. He was initially unavailable during the course of principal photography. In fact, he wasn’t even able to come during the reshoots, but we were lucky enough to catch him in New York for a day and filmed against a green screen backdrop. That’s why he doesn’t enter the scene, he’s a hologram. We took what we could get.
When did you find out Lionsgate wanted a fourth movie?
Once the filming was over, they started talking about it. I think they probably looked at a lot of dailies and got a good feeling and had the confidence to move forward. We are currently working on the script and hope to have it ready for production next year.
Rosamund Pike, who plays the villain, gives a big monologue about the deadly dangers of swallowing diamonds. Can you really die from it?
If you swallowed a 35-carat diamond, it wouldn’t bode well. But there’s only one way to know. I don’t know if there are that many people who would give a $10 million diamond a try.
What direction did you give regarding the intonation of Rosamund’s character?
These kinds of movies are only as good as their villains. After seeing Rosamund steal every scene in Saltburn, she can do no wrong in my opinion. We talked about delicious villains. Someone that people love to hate. She ran with the ball. She knew the vibe of the movie and was known for playing more serious roles, so I think she was excited to have some fun. But at the same time, the amount of effort she put into perfecting her South African accent was truly impressive. I spoke to a South African journalist who saw the film, and they said, “Never before has a South African accent been so well portrayed by a non-South African on film.”
Whose idea was it to use Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra” as a needle drop?
I think that’s an accomplishment for me. I kept hearing it on the radio, and I felt like I would have been remiss if I didn’t include it. I had to resist the temptation to include Eminem’s “Abracadabra” as well. The only pop song allowed in the movie was “Abracadabra,” and it felt like Gaga won. It brings a burst of energy to the sequence.
Was AI used to perform illusions or magic tricks?
No, we didn’t use AI. The opening sequence is reminiscent of a deepfake. You can surmise that the characters in the movie used AI to generate the Horsemen holograms from scratch, but we didn’t need any AI at all by shooting the characters on a green screen and compositing them into the scene the old-fashioned way.
You have had a lot of commercial success throughout your career. Are you recognized in public?
Absolutely not. Thankfully, I’m very anonymous. There is no threat to anyone recognizing me. I live in Montclair, New Jersey, which gives me a lot of privacy.
Audiences have clearly responded to your films, but some, like “Venom,” have been well-received by critics. What do you think about that groove?
I grew up loving commercial and blockbuster movies from the 80s. That’s what it taught me as a filmmaker. My desire to make films is for the audience. Critics are arbitrary, and I think there’s often a huge gap between what audiences and critics think of a movie, as we saw with Venom, Uncharted, and the previous two films I didn’t work on, Now You See Me. It’s nothing new. There are certainly other criteria for evaluating more arthouses and awards. I think commercial films are held to an unfair standard. I think a movie should be judged on whether or not it fulfilled its intentions. I decided to make a movie that would be thrilling and fun for audiences and people who love magic. I’ve seen enough of this movie with an audience to find it successful in delivering on the promise of the “Now You See Me” series. If for some reason critics don’t appreciate that fact, I can’t change their mind.
Do you want to read reviews?
I think so to some extent. Now that reviews are being aggregated, there are so many that I feel a little overwhelmed. But I’m always curious to know what a respected critic will take away from a film, or what they might be able to leave behind. The reviews for “Now You See Me” just went up today, and as for the negative reviews, I don’t know what kind of movie they were expecting. All of their reviews were pretty much the same, and I didn’t even need to see the movie to rate it. They are judging it based on what is inherent in that premise.
