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The Magic
- GenresNonfiction
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
43 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Priest
180 books1,074 followersChristopher Priest was born in Cheshire, England. He began writing soon after leaving school and has been a full-time freelance writer since 1968.
He has published eleven novels, four short story collections and a number of other books, including critical works, biographies, novelizations and children’s non-fiction.
He has written drama for radio (BBC Radio 4) and television (Thames TV and HTV). In 2006, The Prestige was made into a major production by Newmarket Films. Directed by Christopher Nolan, The Prestige went straight to No.1 US box office. It received two Academy Award nominations. Other novels, including Fugue For a Darkening Island and The Glamour, are currently in preparation for filming.
He is Vice-President of the H. G. Wells Society. In 2007, an exhibition of installation art based on his novel The Affirmation was mounted in London.
As a journalist he has written features and reviews for The Times, the Guardian, the Independent, the New Statesman, the Scotsman, and many different magazines.
He has published eleven novels, four short story collections and a number of other books, including critical works, biographies, novelizations and children’s non-fiction.
He has written drama for radio (BBC Radio 4) and television (Thames TV and HTV). In 2006, The Prestige was made into a major production by Newmarket Films. Directed by Christopher Nolan, The Prestige went straight to No.1 US box office. It received two Academy Award nominations. Other novels, including Fugue For a Darkening Island and The Glamour, are currently in preparation for filming.
He is Vice-President of the H. G. Wells Society. In 2007, an exhibition of installation art based on his novel The Affirmation was mounted in London.
As a journalist he has written features and reviews for The Times, the Guardian, the Independent, the New Statesman, the Scotsman, and many different magazines.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 19, 2011
Christopher Priest wrote the novel The Prestige, about obsessed rival magicians, upon which Christopher Nolan's film is based. This (expensive) little book is Priest's account of the process by which the tale moved from page to screen.
Such at least was what I expected: discussions over what should stay, what should change, what should be added; how the casting proceeded; the design decisions; and so forth. We are used to the idea that writers quickly lose control of their work when the film industry moves in, but that must not have been the case here or Priest would have nothing to write about, right?
Wrong. There is none of the above. Priest explains how the book was written, the slow process of selling the rights, and the years of silence that followed, during which Nolan went on to make Batman Begins. Priest himself is so far out of the loop that he is forced to scrape around for crumbs on the internet, his main source of information being Google Alerts! In due course the film is made, without authorial input, and the remainder of the book is mostly Priest's broadly positive reaction to it.
All of this is not without interest, but more as a salutary tale for writers slavering to sell their work than as an insight into the film-making process. There are substantial differences between the book and the film, though both are impressive works, and hearing the author's take is worthwhile. I think he worries too much that the audience won't 'get it', but I agree with him that it's a stylish, original and intelligent movie. However, students of film and fans of the book will learn little that they couldn't see for themselves. So whilst I enjoyed The Magic, it's not a book the world really needed; more one that the author wanted to get off his chest, I suspect.
(Includes a few pages of endnotes and an index.)
Such at least was what I expected: discussions over what should stay, what should change, what should be added; how the casting proceeded; the design decisions; and so forth. We are used to the idea that writers quickly lose control of their work when the film industry moves in, but that must not have been the case here or Priest would have nothing to write about, right?
Wrong. There is none of the above. Priest explains how the book was written, the slow process of selling the rights, and the years of silence that followed, during which Nolan went on to make Batman Begins. Priest himself is so far out of the loop that he is forced to scrape around for crumbs on the internet, his main source of information being Google Alerts! In due course the film is made, without authorial input, and the remainder of the book is mostly Priest's broadly positive reaction to it.
All of this is not without interest, but more as a salutary tale for writers slavering to sell their work than as an insight into the film-making process. There are substantial differences between the book and the film, though both are impressive works, and hearing the author's take is worthwhile. I think he worries too much that the audience won't 'get it', but I agree with him that it's a stylish, original and intelligent movie. However, students of film and fans of the book will learn little that they couldn't see for themselves. So whilst I enjoyed The Magic, it's not a book the world really needed; more one that the author wanted to get off his chest, I suspect.
(Includes a few pages of endnotes and an index.)
April 11, 2012
Christopher Priest's take on the movie that was made from his book, The Prestige.
A slight volume, informative, amusing, and occasionally revealing of the mildly fussy author who knows the "the book is his; the movie theirs" yet can't help but criticize the few changes he disagrees with (in the midst of the many he admires).
Absolutely indispensable to those of us obsessed with the work of Christopher Nolan, the writer/director of the adaptation.
Finally reveals the secret of why the US paperback has an ugly all-text cover.
Hard to find in the US; order from the author here:
http://www.christopher-priest.co.uk/g...
A slight volume, informative, amusing, and occasionally revealing of the mildly fussy author who knows the "the book is his; the movie theirs" yet can't help but criticize the few changes he disagrees with (in the midst of the many he admires).
Absolutely indispensable to those of us obsessed with the work of Christopher Nolan, the writer/director of the adaptation.
Finally reveals the secret of why the US paperback has an ugly all-text cover.
Hard to find in the US; order from the author here:
http://www.christopher-priest.co.uk/g...
April 20, 2021
This book gives heaps of fascinating facts and stories about both the book and movie The Prestige. Christopher Priest talks in a straightforward, matter-of-fact way that, despite him frequently using vocabulary you may not understand, is fun to read. I ended up sharing several excerpts with the family. Though the book is short and did not go as deep as I wished, those features were counterbalanced by the book being able to read in no time. I was delighted to see that the author and I have several traits in common when it comes to writing our novels, so that came as an encouragement to me. If you need an interesting book to read bit by bit, in little but engaging chapters, this book is the one!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews