Benedict Cumberbatch will be adding another movie to his rapidly increasing CV after signing on to THE WAR MAGICIAN, a World War II epic tale financed by Studio Canal.
Bob Cooper and Richard Saperstein of Storyscape Entertainment, made the announcement that they are producing the movie, which is being penned by Garry Whitta adapting the fact-based book by David Fisher. Whitta wrote THE BOOK OF ELI and collaborated on the screenplay for AFTER EARTH with M. Night Shyamalan.
Cumberbatch will portray British hero Jasper Maskelyne, the titular spellbinder whose clever illusions helped the Allied forces fight the Nazis during World War II.
Maskelyne reportedly put together a rag‐tag “dirty dozen” of accomplices dubbed “The Magic Gang” who used illusion tricks to hide strategic targets such as the Alexandria harbor near the Suez Canal, in the process concealing 150,000 men with 1,000 guns and tanks. The book says the illusions helped turn the tide of the war against General Rommel and the Germans in North Africa, leading up to the Battle of El Alamein.
Maskelyne’s techniques were supposedly so effective that Adolf Hitler added him to his personal blacklist alongside men like General Douglas MacArthur and British Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery who, if captured alive, were to receive “special” treatment by the Nazis.
Despite Cumberbatch joining the movie, no director has been announced yet.
