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The Illusionist Director's Next Film Grabbed by Universal

by Alex Billington
January 16, 2007

Enjoy the magician period film The Illusionist from last year? Good news then - Universal Pictures has acquired an untitled pitch for a contemporary drama to be directed by Neil Burger, the same filmmaker who directed The Illusionist. Variety reported that Burger and his producers have already done research and will begin writing the script soon. The story for the film is a possible follow-up to The Illusionist and is described as the following.

New York-set story concerns an imminent terror threat that's caused a law-enforcement crackdown, bringing all crime to a standstill. The criminals get organized, pooling their resources to search for the terrorists. While their motivation is to get back to their nefarious business, the exercise forces them to re-examine their morality and place in society.

I did enjoy The Illusionist quite a bit, and I think Neil Burger had a great visual style and atmosphere that he defined in it. Despite this story seems to have no connection to The Illusionist, I'm excited to see where it heads, as it does sound pretty interesting. Expect this in a few years, likely 2008 if everything goes as planned.