He sings the cinema electric

The director of "Memento" discusses the mind-bending trickery in his latest film, "The Prestige," what he thinks of being called the new Hitchcock, and how movies restore mystery to our lives.

By Andrew O'Hehir

Read more: Andrew O'Hehir, Movies, Arts & Entertainment

Photo: Francois Duhamel

Christopher Nolan and Hugh Jackman on the set of "The Prestige."

Oct. 20, 2006 | My interview with Christopher Nolan goes like this: He is somewhere on his cellphone, patched through a switchboard in Los Angeles and another one in New York. Sometimes I can hear him and sometimes I can't. Sometimes I mishear him. His laugh, transmitted across all that fiber-optic cable and atmosphere when I ask him a question he doesn't want to answer, is scratchy and indistinct, more like static than the sound of human humor. A couple of times, we get cut off, and I ask a complicated question into the void and sit there, listening only to the feedback whine of all those Scotch-tape connections.

It's a fitting encounter, I guess, with the guy who, even after just five feature films, looks like the premier cinematic sleight-of-hand artist of our time. Nolan may never quite outdo "Memento," his reverse-narrative, memory-loss murder mystery that will be blowing minds in basement rec rooms deep into this century, but he's certainly moved on. (Nolan tells me that he's only met one journalist who has grasped his precise intentions in "Memento," but adds that he now considers the film "open-ended," and believes that other people's interpretations are as valid as his own.) He reached the franchise-movie big leagues this year with "Batman Begins," one of the summer's biggest hits, and hard on its heels comes "The Prestige," a slippery, deceptive magic trick of a film that Nolan and his screenwriter brother, Jonathan, have been developing for five or six years.

While "The Prestige" has a modest budget by Hollywood standards -- less than one-third of the $150 million spent on "Batman Begins" -- it's an opulent period spectacle starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale (who was also Nolan's Batman) as rival young magicians in late-Victorian London. Adapted by the Nolan brothers from the cult novel by British science-fiction legend Christopher Priest, "The Prestige" explores the murky terrain where stage magic, genuine science and (just maybe) the supernatural come together.

Mirroring the bitter rivalry between magicians Alfred Borden (Bale), a working-class Londoner, and Robert Angier (Jackman), apparently a moneyed American, the film shows us glimpses of the real-life competition between electricity pioneers Thomas Edison (not seen in the film) and Nikola Tesla (memorably played by David Bowie). It also offers yet another terrific role for Michael Caine (who plays Alfred in "Batman Begins") as Cutter, the wizened Cockney "ingénieur" who makes the magicians' tricks work and serves as commentator and mediator of their feud.

As Nolan explained to me, "The Prestige" is itself structured to be deliberately deceptive. Like Angier and Borden's stage illusions, it has three distinct phases, or "acts." I'm sorely tempted to give you hints, but I'll make them as general as possible. Pay attention! In the film's earliest scenes, Nolan gives you clues that might help you figure out most of the important plot secrets, but he is of course always diverting your attention to other things. Neither Angier nor Borden is exactly what he seems to be (of course), and the nature of their relationship may also be deceptive.

During the portions of our phone call when I can actually hear him, Nolan comes across as a pleasant and self-effacing guy, not at all the coldhearted engineer some critics discern in his work. Maybe that's just the magician's stage manner, because when I ask him whether he sees his own works as trickery, and film in general as an elaborate game played on the audience, he cheerfully agrees.

He asks me if I've seen "The Prestige." Yes, I tell him, and it's yet another work of mind-bending deceit from the devious mind of Christopher Nolan. He laughs, and then sounds a little concerned. "But did you enjoy it?"

Next page: "A realm of magic and mystery"