Paramount Studios have announced that a biopic about the famous magician, Harry Houdini is in development.
The film is being produced by Lorenzo Di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian, creators of Transformers, and it being written by Gavin James and Neil Widener.
Although the plot for the biopic has not yet been released, Deadline have unveiled that it will be set “in the early 20th century and have a Sherlock Holmes tone.” Houdini lived an intriguing and adventurous life so there is no doubt that the writers will have a lot to work with.
The film could focus on Houdini’s life as a Hungarian immigrant living in Wisconsin in the late nineteenth century. It could then tell the story of his obsession with magic, and how he became the most famous escape artistic and illusionist in the world. It could even portray how during the First World War, Houdini held classes in New York to teach boys how to escape sinking ships, ropes and handcuffs if captured by the Germans.
Despite Houdini’s wildly fascinating life, a feature length biopic has never been made about the illusionist. In 2014 a small, two-part biopic about Houdini was made for the History Channel, and in 2018 there were rumours that Ben Affleck would star as in the Magician in a film but it never came into fruition.
If this film makes it past development, then Paramount Studios will be the first to create a feature length film about Houdini.
#Peace.Love.HarryHoudini
