Mandrake Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Well, it looks like Ultimate Fighting champ Randy Couture has caught the acting bug. Couture is a multiple title holder in the UFC, and is making his acting debut in David Mamet's Ju-Jitsu flick, Redbelt. Now, The Bad and Ugly is reporting that Couture told Columbus Ohio radio station, QFM 96.3, that he was on his way to China in the next few weeks to begin work on the big screen version of Mandrake the Magician.

The film is based on the 1934 comic strip about a magician with lightening fast hypnotic powers who, along with his partner Lothar, would battle the usual crew of comic strip bad guys (just your usual array of crime lords and mad scientists). The film will be directed by Chuck Russell, and will star Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Mandrake. According to Ugly's tipster, Couture told the DJs "...he had quite a few scenes in the movie, and that it was being billed as a cross between James Bond and Harry Houdini." The bad news -- Russell is also the director behind some fairly crappy flicks including Bless the Child and The Scorpion King -- so we should probably keep our fingers crossed that Meyers is up to the task of carrying the movie.

Back in June there had been talk from celebrity magician Criss Angel that he was in the midst of making his own movie about the hypnotist/crime fighter, but it looks like Russell and company have beat him to the punch. I wouldn't count on another magician movie battle a la The Prestige and The Illusionist -- mainly because there hasn't been a peep out of Angel's Crow-inspired adaptation since June. Mandrake has yet to find a release date, but we are bound to hear something as soon as shooting has wrapped in China and the States.

[via ComingSoon.net]

If you're not a fan of magic then the name Criss Angel probably doesn't ring a bell, but since '95 he's starred in a handful of TV specials and for the last three years has had his own series on A&E. In a recent interview with TV Blend, the magician had some news to report -- he has just signed for a film version of the depression-era comic strip Mandrake The Magician. Written by Lee Falk, the story centers on a magician with hypnotic powers and a penchant for fighting mad scientists and criminal king-pins. Angel has a deal with the Luxor Hotel for 4000 performances over the next ten years, so the movie career probably won't be more than a part-time occupation for him.

He's planning on a hands-on approach to the role though, saying, "Being involved from the beginning in the creation of the script, and of the characters and effects, really gives me an opportunity to work with the director to make sure that it really seamless with how they coexist and work hand in hand, and how one supports the other and it's not contrived and it's not cheesy." That's hard to do when your protagonist has a pencil mustache and a top-hat. Some of Angel's changes include a limited use of CGI and a re-working of the story into, "a kind of cool realm of The Crow," which won't be much of stretch for him since he seems to have a thing for leather pants and Christ-poses anyway. Angel has been doing press for his latest "illusions" which include being suspended over Times Square in a concrete box and levitating 500 feet over the Luxor hotel. Barring any magical mishaps, Mandrake will start shooting later this year.