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Jake Kasdan Helming 'Burt Dickenson' Magician Project

by Alex Billington
April 5, 2009

New Line has hired comedic director Jake Kasdan (Orange County, Walk Hard) to helm a project called Burt Dickenson: The Most Powerful Magician on Planet Earth. And what the heck is it about? Well, the story centers on Burt Dickenson, one half of successful two-man magician team, who accidentally kills his partner and loses his inner magic. He then has to find a way to rekindle that "inner magic" to fight his rival, a magician named Xander Storm. The project features an "old school/David Copperfield vs. new school/Criss Angel" rivalry with a tone similar to such comedies as Austin Powers or Zoolander.

The screenplay was originally written by Chad Kultgen, then re-written by actor John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. I'm sure the original draft was nothing like what it is now. Benderspink's Chris Bender and JC Spink are producing along with Tyler Mitchell (Lucky # Slevin). No word on when this will go into production, but considering Jake Kasdan doesn't have any other projects lined up, he'll probably move right into this. I'm an old school David Copperfield fan and hater of Criss Angel, so I'm interested in this purely for that aspect. I'm sure it could even be called a modern, comedic version of The Prestige, in a way?

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