FILM · 1978
Magic
52 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (52)
- #001
Gene Wilder was the first choice for Corky, and director Richard Attenborough and writer William Goldman wanted him, but producer Joseph E. Levine rejected the idea, reasoning that he did not want any comedian in the film to detract from the story's serious nature.
- #002
The "Fats" dummy was designed specifically to resemble Anthony Hopkins.
- #003
Anthony Hopkins was allowed to take the dummy home and work with it after seeing Fats for the first time. However, it frustrated him so much that he called the consultant ventriloquist at midnight and threatened to throw Fats into the canyon if someone did not come and take the dummy away immediately. Director Richard Attenborough went to Hopkins's home to calm him down.
- #004
Merlin had a larger role in the book. Among other things, it explains how he and Corky met and how Merlin trained Corky to perform card tricks.
- #005
This film was the inspiration for the dummy "Slappy" in R. L. Stine's children's horror series Goosebumps. In the television adaptation of the books, Slappy has the same voice as Fats.
- #006
Richard Attenborough agreed to direct this film and A Bridge Too Far (1977) in exchange for receiving financing from Joseph E. Levine for his dream project Gandhi (1982).
- #007
In the final title sequence, Anthony Hopkins is billed twice, first for Corky and fifth for Fats.
- #008
The original trailer for this film, which featured a fake Fats, was pulled from broadcast stations after parents complained about how frightening the film was. In the ads, Fats talks, and after saying his final line, "we're dead," he closes his eyes. The voice-over mentions the cast and the R rating; at that point Fats opens his eyes and they turn to the left.
- #009
Gene Siskel placed the film ninth on his list of the Top Ten Films of 1978.
- #010
Years after the film's release, at a book signing in New York City, Gene Wilder was asked which role he wished he had played, and he said Corky was in the film. Wilder said he felt the film would have turned out much better if a comedian had been in the role.
- #011
In the scene where Fats scolds Corky for trying to leave him, there is a moment where Fats's eyes appear to move on their own. This led some to believe that Corky is not schizophrenic or suffering from DID and that Fats is actually possessed. However, in the DVD feature "Fats & Friends," Fats's professional ventriloquist and puppeteer Dennis Alwood explains that it was simply a mistake. Director Richard Attenborough chose to leave the shot in the final cut because he liked its look and doubted many people would actually notice it.
- #012
Burgess Meredith replaced Sir Laurence Olivier. Olivier was to play Ben Greene but had to leave due to illness.
- #013
Magic: Fats & Friends (2006), a short behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of this film, was made and released for DVD in 2006.
- #014
For this film, William Goldman was awarded the 1979 Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay by the Mystery Writers of America.
- #015
According to an article in Daily Variety dated April 5, 1978, principal photography began on January 9, 1978, with a budget set at 10 million dollars. The same article noted tension between Anthony Hopkins and Ann-Margret. Hopkins later addressed this in the Toronto Globe and Mail and stated that he would never work with the actress again.
- #016
Ann-Margret and Sir Anthony Hopkins were each paid approximately 300,000 dollars for their performances.
- #017
At one point Steven Spielberg was approached to direct, and Spielberg seriously considered Robert De Niro for the role of Corky.
- #018
After the success of A Bridge Too Far (1977), Joseph E. Levine wanted to work with William Goldman and Richard Attenborough again and bought the rights to Goldman's book with the intention of having Attenborough direct. Attenborough accepted because he could use the assignment to finance Gandhi (1982).
- #019
This film was reportedly shot on closed sets in Hollywood to protect the secrets of its plot and storyline.
- #020
The film never explains whether Fats is evil, but it suggests that Corky (Anthony Hopkins) imagines the dummy is alive. There is, however, a scene in which Fats blinks even though Corky does not touch him.
- #021
The film never explains what Fats is. Various theories have been put forward; the first and most accurate of these is that the dummy is a form of Dissociative Identity Disorder. Other theories include schizophrenia, possession of the dummy, or the dummy being a tulpa (a kind of imaginary friend).
- #022
The film was released two years after the publication of William Goldman's source novel of the same name.
- #023
Along with A Chorus Line (1985), this is one of two films directed by Richard Attenborough that are set in the present day.
- #024
In the novel, Fats initially appeared as a disembodied voice.
- #025
Original director Norman Jewison wanted an unknown ventriloquist to play the role of Corky. Jewison met the then-unknown ventriloquist Jay Johnson after Johnson's manager, Richard O. Linke, contacted the director. After seeing Johnson perform at The Horn in Hollywood, Jewison believed in Jay's talents as a ventriloquist and actor. Jewison approached the studio with his first choice for the lead role, but they wanted a famous actor, specifically Jack Nicholson. Jay was later offered the role of a taxi driver and the role of ventriloquism coach for Nicholson. However, Nicholson allowed three months for acting, and Jewison had to move on to his next directing project. As was incorrectly stated in a documentary about the film, it is not true that Nicholson dropped out of the film because he did not want to wear a wig.
- #026
This is the third of five films directed by Richard Attenborough and starring Anthony Hopkins. The others were Young Winston (1972), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Chaplin (1992) and Shadowlands (1993).
- #027
Norman Jewison was going to direct before Richard Attenborough signed on.
- #028
Other films about disturbed ventriloquists include The Great Gabbo (1929); the Twilight Zone (1959) episode The Dummy (1962) and its Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) counterpart The Glass Eye (1957); the low-budget British production Devil Doll (1964); contemporary filmmakers recently went back down the well with Dead Silence (2007). For many people, however, the standout example is found in the British anthology film Dead of Night (1945), in which Michael Redgrave gives an unforgettable performance as the tormented ventriloquist Maxwell Frere and the dummy Hugo Fitch, who will haunt your nightmares.
- #029
The Dummy (1962) has a similar scenario of a ventriloquist terrorized by an evil dummy.
- #030
According to Wikipedia, the film had many legal problems: "Because 20th Century Fox never owned the full rights to this film (the studio owned and still owns distribution and music rights), other companies released home video versions of the film under different licenses in later years. Meanwhile, the film continued to air on television in edited versions. However, subsequent legal problems prevented the film from being officially re-released on VHS and DVD in the last decade. Some of Embassy Pictures' corporate assets are being divided among different entities. Recently, the rights were acquired by AMC Film Holdings, LLC's American Movie Classics division, while television rights are managed for distribution by Trifecta Entertainment & Media (under Paramount Pictures). The uncut version is currently available on widescreen DVD and Blu-ray."
- #031
According to "Variety", the character of agent Ben Green (Burgess Meredith) was a "Swifty Lazar-type of superagent" [See: Swifty Lazar].
- #032
In the film's promotion, it was stated that the film moves fascinatingly between two worlds: the glitter and excitement of the nightclubs, hotels and restaurants of Hollywood and New York City, the entertainment capitals, and the contrasting desolation of an almost abandoned resort amid the pastoral beauty of the Catskill lakes and mountains.
- #033
After Young Winston (1972) and A Bridge Too Far (1977), this is the third consecutive film directed by Richard Attenborough and starring Anthony Hopkins.
- #034
According to the New York Times article "Levine Buys Film Rights to William Goldman Novel", published on 3 March 1976, the film rights to the book were purchased by Joseph E. Levine for 1 million dollars.
- #035
Mike Nichols briefly considered directing. However, he definitely did not want to work with screenwriter William Goldman, who had written a vicious (and highly personal) attack on Nichols in his non-fiction book "The Season".
- #036
Ann-Margret and Burgess Meredith later appeared in Grumpy Old Men (1993) and Grumpier Old Men (1995). They do not spend time on screen together in this film, but they share scenes together in the later films.
- #037
Two things showed that business agent Ben Green (Burgess Meredith) had survived, meaning he was not easily frightened: the deaths of Tallulah Bankhead and of vaudeville.
- #038
Richard Attenborough directed the film between two epic historical dramas, A Bridge Too Far (1977) and Gandhi (1982).
- #039
Of the twelve films directed by Richard Attenborough, this is the first of three not based on real events. The other two are A Chorus Line (1985) and Closing the Ring (2007).
- #040
This was the last film Anthony Hopkins made with producer Joseph E. Levine. The others were The Lion in Winter (1968) and A Bridge Too Far (1977).
- #041
Rosie O'Donnell quoted this film's trailer in a popular 1990s television series, and described how terrifying it was to her as a little girl.
- #042
According to an article in the Toronto Globe and Mail dated October 24, 1978, Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro were the leading candidates for the role of Corky.
- #043
Many film posters carried the following preamble: "Abracadabra, I sit on his knee. Presto, change-o and now he's mine! Hocus Pocus, we take her to bed. Magic is fun; we're dead." All three magic terms in this text block, "Abracadabra", "Presto change-o" and "Hocus Pocus", were titles of other films.
- #044
Both Ann-Margret and Burgess Meredith had worked with Elvis Presley in two separate films. Ann-Margret appeared alongside Elvis in Viva Las Vegas (1964), and Meredith appeared alongside Elvis in Stay Away Joe (1968). A year after Presley's death, both actors appeared together in this film but shared no scenes.
- #045
The film was Joseph E. Levine's first project after leaving Avco Embassy Pictures Corp., which he had founded years earlier. Shooting was to begin in the Netherlands in April 1976; however, the July 23, 1976 issue of IFJ stated that principal photography had been postponed to October 1976 and would take place in New York and Hollywood, CA, with Norman Jewison directing and co-producing. As reported in an IFJ news item dated April 28, 1977, Jewison was later replaced by director Richard Attenborough.
- #046
Among the nine films Richard Attenborough directed between 1969 and 1993, this is one of only two in which his brother-in-law Gerald Sim did not appear. The other is A Chorus Line (1985).
- #047
Show business agent Ben Greene (Burgess Meredith) was nicknamed "The Postman". He was given the name because he was said to always deliver.
- #048
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an 87% approval rating based on 23 critics, with an average score of 6.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Largely thanks to Anthony Hopkins' layered performance, Magic is an unusually chillingly effective experience."
- #049
This is one of two Anthony Hopkins films on which Jerry Goldsmith served as composer; the other is The Edge (1997).
- #050
It was the penultimate film produced by Richard P. Levine and Joseph E. Levine. Their last film was Tattoo (1981).
- #051
This was Lillian Randolph's (Sadie) penultimate film appearance.
- #052
The main character Charles Withers (Anthony Hopkins) was nicknamed "Corky". The other nicknames Peggy Ann Snow (Ann-Margret) used for Corky were "Cor" and "Cork".
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