Harry Houdini was arguably the greatest escapologist of all time and there have been several biopics made about his life previously, but none have had the allure of the most recent adaptation, The Secret Life of Houdini, with Johnny Depp in line to play the magician.
This has been in the pipeline for a while with Lionsgate purchasing the rights to William Kalush and Larry Sloman’s book, The Making Of America’s First Superhero, in 2009. Interestingly, the book itself is fairly controversial because it features claims that Houdini was in fact an undercover agent working with the US Secret Service and the British Intelligence at the turn of the 20th Century, with his performance as a magician merely a cover.
Strangely, the film version will instead actually cast Houdini in more of an Indiana Jones-type role, with him travelling the world hunting magical objects. How much of the book will actually been included however has yet to be established.
The producers may have to wait a while for this one to begin production though, with Depp’s schedule extremely busy currently filming Black Mass with Through The Looking Glass to follow and the fifth Pirates movie also in the works.
