Director Neil Burger and producer Cathy Schulman have wrapped productionon The Illusionist after 46 days ofshooting in various locations in the Czech Republic.
Burger (Interview With The Assassin) wrote the screenplay based onSteven Millhauser's short story EisenheimThe Illusionist. Shot by Dick Pope (VeraDrake), the film stars Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel and Rufus Sewell.
The film is produced by Schulman's Bull's Eye Entertainment with backingfrom Bob Yari. Bob Yari Productions also produced Schulman's upcoming release
Schulman says she does not intend to show the film to distributors untilit is finished. "We should finish post-production on the film by the endof November 2005, so my guess is that it'll go to one of the either late-2005or early-2006 festivals."
"[The Illusionist] isbasically supported off the international pre-sales and the domestic videovalue, which covers us for the investment in the film," Schulman told ScreenDaily.com."The domestic theatrical deal is really gravy."
Schulman and Burger saw the Czech Republic as an obvious choice for thelocation for their film, which is set in turn-of-the-centuryVienna."There are cheaper places at this point to shoot than Prague, but they don'thave the bones and the beauty and the variety of locations that are perfect forthis movie," Burger said.
This year, the Czech Republic has hosted a slew of productions,including Doom, Last Holiday and The PinkPanther. Local production house Barrandov Studio says it is negotiatingwith Eon Productions to host the next James Bond film, Casino Royale.
Matthew Stillman and DavidMinkowski of Prague's Stillking Films co-produce The Illusionist with Tom Karnowski. International sales are beinghandled by Syndicate Films International.
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