The Secret Life of Houdini screenplay reviewed

Here's one that's a spoiler if Lionsgate's The Secret Life of Houdini movie ever gets made. If not, then we have a record of what might have been. Either way, if you're curious to know what the Hollywood brain trust has cooked this time (at least as far as a draft dated May 13, 2011), here's a taste from the website Scriptshadow:

Houdini starts out like you think any biopic would start out. We get one of those oft-used cross-cuts between the present (Houdini trying to salvage a buried-alive trick gone wrong) and the past (Houdini as a child stealing a loaf of bread for his starving family). I figured I was in for one long biopic retread. 

But then things get weird. President Woodrow Wilson calls Houdini and tells him that his 28 year-old daughter, Margaret, has been kidnapped by someone in France. Wilson believes Houdini’s unique talents make him the perfect agent to go and retrieve his daughter. 

Looking for a new challenge, Houdini teams up with Wilson’s stuffy lackey, Andrew Day, and the two seahorse their way to La Francoise. Once there, Houdini calls upon old friend (and rival) Chung Ling Soo, a famous magician who’s been known to publicly roast Houdini. But no worries, it’s all for show, as is Chung himself, who’s actually, under all the make-up, a white American!

If you want to read on, then check out the full review at Scriptshadow HERE. The site also has a review of a 2003 script called The Book of Magic that teams Houdini and H.P. Lovecraft.

Related:

• 'Secret Life of Houdini' movie shows new signs of life
• Summit set to turn Houdini into an action hero (2009)
• What's next, Hollywood?