20 Things You Didn't Know About The Prestige

11. The Identity Of The Tesla Machine Heckler

The Prestige poster Hugh Jackman Scarlett Johansson Christian Bale
Warner Bros.

Midway through the film there's a scene in which Tesla's assistant Alley (Andy Serkis) shows off his boss's alternating current machine to a crowd inside London's Royal Albert Hall.

Unfortunately, the demonstration doesn't go very well, and Alley is forced to leave the stage when the machine starts to crackle and whirr violently. But before the scene ends, the camera focuses on one particular heckler in the audience (pictured above) who shouts things like "does that look safe to you?" and "this thing is gonna blow!"

At first you might think that he's a random citizen who's fearful of Tesla's machine, but later in the film, this same man appears again - just before the scene where Angier finds Tesla's burning home - referenced as one of Thomas Edison's men.

The Prestige Edison Man
Warner Bros.

So, he wasn't just a random heckler after all - he was working for Edison the whole time, and his yells of concern were actually just a way for him to try and discredit Tesla, Edison's biggest rival.

In this post: 
The Prestige
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.