The upcoming film from Clash of the Titans director Louis Leterrier may still sound a little goofy, but it’s seeking some big talent to possibly add some legitimacy. According to Variety Leterrier is working to cast Jesse Eisenberg, Jake Gyllenhaal and Melanie Laurent in Now You See Me, a heist film about magicians who “pull off daring bank heists during their performances, showering the profits on their audience.”Yeah, I have no idea how that would work either, but the idea of seeing Jesse Eisenberg trying to do it is so bizarre I can’t help but want to see it.
Eisenberg is only in early negotiations for the lead part, while Gyllenhaal and Laurent only have offers, which they could easily turn down. When we first wrote about his project back in February we had heard that the central characters would in fact be the FBI investigators tracking down the rogue magicians, which means we’ll probably see Eisenberg only solving crimes, not pulling a rabbit plus 50 gold bars out of a hat. Disappointing? Sure. But it sounds like there will be plenty more craziness to be entertained by in the movie, which Leterrier has planned as his post-Titans film.
While Gyllenhaal has been known to seek out these kind of action-y roles, and Laurent is so new in her career no choice could be seen as unexpected, Eisenberg seems to be really stretching here. Sure, he did a little action in Zombieland and will be doing it again in 30 Minutes or Less this summer, but since his Oscar-nominated role in The Social Network he’s seemed to be leaning a little more eggheady, filming Woody Allen’s new film in Rome this summer and considering a reunion with his Squid and the Whale director Noah Baumbach. But hey, he’s young and has a lot of newfound starpower– why not chase down expert magicians in the company of Jake Gyllenhaal?
