Does everyone remember when David Blaine was one of the coolest magicians ever? Okay, maybe not everybody was on board with me on that one, but his first street magic specials were so much more interesting to me than the flamboyant stage shows of David Copperfield and the like. But Blaine then started on with his bodily endurance stunts every so often, and then Criss Angel happened, and I pretty much stopped paying attention to magic on TV. But Blaine the magician is coming back in a big way with an all-new celebrity-filled special on ABC this November, and he spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about some of the things that viewers can expect to see. I’ll definitely be one of those viewers, as I’m totally sold on everything he said about it. Apparently I’ve been mentally raring to go for another Blaine special and I just never realized it.
Airing on November during sweeps week, David Blaine: Real or Magic will be 90 minutes of Blaine’s signature up-close illusions featuring heavily inside the homes of celebrities and other elite members of society. (All complete with frequent imperatives like “Look at this,” and “Pay attention to my face,” I’m sure.) A shortlist of the celebs getting intimate performances are Ricky Gervais, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Robert De Niro, and Woody Allen, with Katy Perry and Kanye West representing the music side.
“I went after all the people that I loved the most and surprised them and did magic in places that I knew people would understand that I couldn’t have staged or set up or had people pretending,” Blaine told THR. I wanted it to all be believable and went after people you never could get to pretend.” I’m pretty sure all of those people have pretended to be different things on a daily basis, but that’s neither here nor there. Inside of other people’s homes, Blaine believes audiences will buy into the show more.
By far, the two most intriguing participants are resident genius Stephen Hawking and former President George W. Bush, for which he had to go through Special Service clearance. Seeing as how much of what makes Blaine’s specials so interesting is in watching people freak out after the trick, I cannot wait to see how Hawking and Bush react. There is no doubt in my mind the Internet will be flooded with it the next day. This is his first full magic special in 14 years, and he said it took about six years to come together to make the best show possible. Part of that time was spent in Africa learning how to do…things…that apparently “only a few people in the world can do,” Blaine said. No idea what that’s about.
It’s fitting that such a big name in the trade should make an appearance in the same year that Now You See Me and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone came out. If you haven’t seen Street Magic or Magic Man in a while, watch them below.
