A FILM BY British filmmaker Christopher Nolan is easy to spot. His signature dark, gritty style is evident in Memento, Insomnia and Batman Begins. And again in his latest project, The Prestige.
A mystery-thriller set in Victorian England, The Prestige charts the tense relationship between magicians Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Rupert Angier (Hugh Jackman) - friends who become enemies in the wake of a personal tragedy.
Their characters are polar opposites: Angier is an elegant showman, Borden a rougher breed of entertainer. They begin to compete obsessively, stealing one another's magic tricks and, on occasion, women. The story is tense and convoluted, tracking back and forth in time, demanding the audience pay attention. 'I wanted to really try to examine the emotional component of the story, to include elements of family, emotion and human relationships that are affected by the nature of obsession and obsessive rivalry,' says Nolan, 36. 'Because it's in reflecting those elements, or seeing them through the prism of our human relationships, that they start to take on their real power.'
Nolan co-wrote the script for The Prestige with his brother, Jonathan, based on a novel by Christopher Priest. It's provocative and jarring, but Nolan isn't one to pander to the masses. Even in major studio films such as Batman Begins, which earned about US$350 million worldwide (Nolan has a sequel, The Dark Knight, in the works) he kept his focus on the film, not concerning himself with marketing ploys such as merchandise spin-offs.
Nolan prefers working with the same people. Jonathan is a frequent collaborator and his wife, Emma Thomas, produces his films. He brought Bale and Michael Caine over from Batman Begins for The Prestige, and they'll also star in The Dark Knight when he begins filming next year.
'It's fun to watch such talented actors reinvent themselves for a role and create something utterly unique to a film - able to change everything about themselves,' says Nolan. 'There's also a selfish component because they're also very easy to work with.'
