A documentary on the making of the film Magic, which is basically a long interview with ventriloquist Dennis Allwood who did the dummy work the film. (Edgar Bergen was originally approached but said he was too old and recommended this guy.) He goes through the history of the art in movies – has there ever been a film about a sane ventriloquist? The Unholy Three, The Great Gabbo, Dead of Night, Devil Doll. This is partially explained when Allwood mentions the fact that occasionally when a ventriloquist is performing and it’s going well the dummy will talk and you won’t realise it – “spontaneous schizophrenia”.
Some trivia – Norman Jewison was meant to direct, with Jack Nicholson to star. Jewison pulled out and Nicholson quit because he didn’t want to wear a hairpiece (?). Laurence Olivier was going to play the agent but got too sick. They offered it to lots of people before getting Richard Attenborough, who then decided on Anthony Hopkins. Hopkins’ casting meant the dummy had to be replaced to more resemble him. The role of Peggy was always written for Ann Margaret (a lot of people turned up on set for her nude scene). Allwood and his dummy did an ad for the film which freaked out people so much it was pulled after one screening. Bill Goldman has apparently written a sequel but he won’t let anyone see it.
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