Warner Bros. option CARTER BEATS THE DEVIL. YESSSS!

Ray DeRousse said yesterday in the "Scott Pilgrim" trailer talkback that I ejaculate at every little shred of "Batman 3" news, and it's true, I do. I'm on my fourth Macbook this year because of the splash of semen stains on my monitor that cums with every new hint at what Chris Nolan is brewing. What can I say - I like what I like, and I like Batman lots. I have also been known to ejaculate at stories of magic; specifically magicians. Love them, always have, ever since I was little. I love the showmanship of it, the psychological, verbal and physical craft; the awe that comes when a magician has truly done some amazing. Unlikely. Impossible! I grew up reading about Harry Houdini and that early 20th century period is so intoxicating... ...the world on the eve of so many great discoveries and wonder; when real life magic (the ability to fly, to talk to people hundreds of miles away, television) was on the horizon and at the same time was so frightening. You can see why magic was so popular as a form of mass entertainment, and why audiences actually soaked up and believed what they were witnessing. If people of the world could truly speak to someone they couldn't see, why couldn't a magician make an elephant disappear, or bring back the dead? It doesn't seem so unlikely during that period, does it? Then there's the people of the period that lived and loved magic. Houdini conversed with Theodore Rooseveldt (there's rumors he was a U.S. spy like James Bond, which actually Summit Entertainment are already trying to turn into a feature), Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Chaplin and H.P. Lovecraft. These people existed in the same time, and all knew each other. Fascinating. I especially love movies about magicians but there are so few of them out there, and so very few good ones. "The Prestige" is probably the pinnacle (as it's about the men behind the magic, than the magic itself) and well, I liked the atmosphere of "The Illusionist" if nothing else. There's so few beyond that (the Tony Curtis/Janet Leigh movie "Houdini" is disqualified for it's false portrayal of how Houdini died). There's a ton of great literary stories about magicians however, and on my shelf is "Carter Beats The Devil", written by Glenn David Gold in 2001, his first novel. Those lucky guys at Film School Rejects managed to talk with the author this week, who was elated himself to report that the novel had been optioned by Warner Bros...

Warner Brothers just optioned Carter this afternoon. And yes, that€™s something you can talk about. Let€™s keep fingers crossed.

Like all great magician stories, Gold uses plenty of sleight-of-hand and misdirection tricks in his prose, and it's an entertaining thriller that evokes the early 20th century period with loving vigour. It's "The Da Vinci Code" ; but actually if it were good. Centering on a forgotten footnote of history (but at the time a well renowned performer during magic's golden age no-less), real-life magician Charles Joseph Carter (dubbed "The Great" by Houdini) becomes embroiled in a murder plot when U.S. President Warren G. Harding mysteriously dies just two hours after appearing on stage with him - where Carter seemingly has mutilated Harding; cutting off his head and feeding it to a lion. The finger is immediately pointed at Carter but to say anymore would spoil the book, and indeed the movie. It's a fast-paced thriller, and despite it's 600 pages, you'll have read it in no time. The novel has of course been optioned before. Tom Cruise bought it in 2002 (for "Chinatown" writer Robert Towne to direct!!) when he was going through something of a magic fascination (which included an unrealised "Harry Houdini" movie, an adaptation of David Fischer's novel "The War Magician" about a magician who turned the tide in WWII and "Mandrake") but ultimately none of them happened. Which was a huge shame but a novel as good as "Carter" was always going to find it's way onto the big screen somehow, I just never thought it would take this long. A little like "Inglourious Basterds"; Gold has created a historical mystery thriller that blends fact/fiction; real life figures of magic and made-up ones. It's great material for somebody to adapt and I'm convinced that Warner Bros. is the best home for it. Just a shame that Chris Nolan has performed his magic trick already, but there's plenty of guys out there who could make this into something special.