'Houdini' Has a Writer and a Director in Jeff Nathanson

Earlier this year, Summit decided that they needed another franchise, one that would cater to those who don't particularly dig sparkly vampires. Their answer was Harry Houdini, and they optioned a controversial biography with an eye to making him an Indiana Jones type. If you were thinking "That's a pretty weird idea, I bet it'll never happen," it's become a little more solid today. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Summit has hired Jeff Nathanson to adapt and direct William Kalush and Larry Sloman's biography, The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero.

Kalush and Sloman's book claims that Houdini was an English spy, and was once offered an position at Tsar Nicholas II's court. (This means the movie will have him fighting Rasputin.) They also try to stir up a conspiracy theory around his unfortunate death, suggesting that he was murdered by the charlatans he enjoyed debunking. Summit has the idea of adding lots of action, and turning him into something akin to Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes.
But Sherlock Holmes is fictional. You can take all kinds of liberties because he's practically public domain at this point. It's rather sleazy when you're using a real historical figure, to say nothing of all those people who will believe Houdini hung around with tsars. Why not use Kalush and Sloman's very inventive ideas and just give the hero a new name? You don't need to be hung up on "name recognition," because once upon a time, people flocked to see adventures of Indiana Jones without having any notion of "name recognition." They still would ... and I suspect we'dall like to see an adventure movie centered around a Edwardian magician in a lighter version of The Prestige. Just don't name him Houdini and make us feel uneasy about enjoying it.

(Weinberg note: Nathanson's a good writer. Maybe he'll tackle it like Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.)