FILM · 2013 · USA
Now You See Me
- Directed by
- Louis Leterrier
- Runtime
- 116 min
- Studio
- Summit Entertainment, K/O Paper Products
25 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026
An FBI agent and an Interpol detective track a team of illusionists who pull off bank heists during their performances and reward their audiences with the money.
25 Interesting Facts About Now You See Me
Interesting Facts (15)
- #001
Contains a major spoiler — show
Mark Ruffalo and Dave Franco have both confirmed in interviews that Franco cut Ruffalo's face while throwing cards during the fight scene.
- #002
The card trick in the opening sequence is real and unedited. It's what's known as a "card force," in which the magician steers an unsuspecting audience member into picking a predetermined card. The person thinks the choice was random, an impression helped along by the magician shuffling the deck several times, but it's all misdirection.
- #003
Contains a major spoiler — show
In his prison cell, Morgan Freeman says, "These bars give a man time to think." In The Shawshank Redemption (1994), he has a similar line: "Nothing left but all the time in the world to think about it."
- #004
Contains a major spoiler — show
When Jack (Dave Franco) and Dylan (Mark Ruffalo) end up in the trash, a mailbox labeled "Shrike" can be spotted. It belongs to apartment 6-A, the Four Horsemen's apartment, which once belonged to Lionel Shrike (Elias Koteas) and later, more importantly, to his son.
- #005
Isla Fisher has explained in interviews that her character, Henley, is a "germaphobic," which is why she wears gloves throughout the film.
- #006
In the first draft of the script, the Four Horsemen were all men.
- #007
In the Eye of Horus segment, Egyptian hieroglyphs show the "cups and balls" illusion, widely believed to be the oldest magic trick still around; it really was performed in ancient Egypt and does appear in hieroglyphs.
- #008
On the wall of J. Daniel Atlas's (Jesse Eisenberg) apartment, as he and the girl come in after the promo card trick, hangs a Shrike poster featuring a dove.
- #009
Reading a newspaper in Paris, Alma Dray comes across an old article about Lionel Shrike's death in the 1970s, with Shrike's picture on the front page. In the news footage, Shrike is played by Elias Koteas.
- #010
Contains a major spoiler — show
As the Horsemen walk into Times Square, eyes flash on and off across the billboards around them. The last to appear is the same Eye seen on the assembled tarot cards in the park, and it stays up long enough to be clearly visible, almost dead center on the screen.
- #011
Contains a major spoiler — show
When Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine) meets Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) in New Orleans, he holds up a voodoo doll and says: "Let me be clear. My bank account is much bigger than yours. My lawyers are much stronger. And they will keep you tied up in so many injunctions that you will stand there hopelessly and watch everything you have wither away before your greedy little eyes." Thaddeus answers, "You shouldn't have. According to superstition, the person who uses the doll to conjure up his own anger will probably bring the same wrath upon himself." By the end of the Four Horsemen's New Orleans show, Tressler suffers exactly that fate.
- #012
Look closely at the holographic broadcast in the apartment and you'll see the word Tri-Mark, the company that made the film.
- #013
Contains a major spoiler — show
The F.B.I. agent who arrests Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson) and the other three Horsemen early in the film is reading Roberto Bolaño's "The Savage Detectives."
- #014
The reporter on the bar TV after the foot chase through the French Quarter is Randi Rousseau, a real news anchor at WDSU, New Orleans' local NBC affiliate.
- #015
When the Four Horsemen first show up at their third venue in 5-Points, Queens, New York, the "4H" tag is clearly visible on the wall below them.
Production Story (4)
- #016
In the interrogation scene, Merritt (Woody Harrelson) says that Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) suffers from "big daddy issues." Later in the film, it is revealed that Agent Rhodes, whose ability Merritt proves as a mentalist, is the son of Lionel Shrike (Elias Koteas).
- #017
The carousel shown in Central Park is actually from City Park in New Orleans, Louisiana; the theater shown in New Orleans, Louisiana, is in Los Angeles, California.
- #018
After the Four Horsemen are arrested, Merrit McKinney (Woody Harrelson) tells the FBI: Agent, "There's no shame for a man to wear a dress." This is a reference to J. Edgar Hoover, who was FBI Director for a long time and who as a baby wore "era appropriate" dress-like clothing.
- #019
Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine) meets Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) in New Orleans and, holding a voodoo doll in his hand, tells him: "Let me speak clearly. My bank account is much bigger than yours. My lawyers are much stronger. And they will keep you tied up in precautions until you stand there hopelessly and watch everything you have wither away before your greedy little eyes." Thaddeus replies, "You shouldn't have. According to superstition, the person who uses the doll to conjure up his own anger will probably bring the same wrath upon himself." At the end of the Four Horsemen's New Orleans show, Tressler suffers the same fate.
Behind the Scenes (2)
- #020
Contains a major spoiler — show
Isla Fisher had a hard time filming the piranha tank scene. The top of the tank was left open so she could swim up for air, and pulling an emergency lever inside would tell the crew she needed help. During one take she ran out of air and tried to swim up, but the chain on her handcuffs snagged on the bottom of the tank, so she could neither surface nor reach the lever. She banged on the glass to get the crew's attention, but they thought she was acting, since her character was supposed to be panicking. She was stuck for three minutes before the stunt coordinator finally realized something was wrong and saw her handcuffs were caught.
- #021
Early in the film, in J. Daniel Atlas's practice scene, the hands of Dan or Dave Buck are digitally combined with Jesse Eisenberg's face. The twin brothers are sleight-of-hand artists and pioneers of cardistry, and their skills can also be seen in Smokin' Aces (2006) and LazyTown (2002). Cardistry is a showy display of card skill, a bit like juggling; the sequence in this film is called "Pandora," and at the time of filming it was considered one of the hardest moves in cardistry.
Characters & Cast (1)
- #022
Dave Franco admitted that he and the rest of the cast expected the film to flop: "At the end of the first day, I remember there was so much chaos trying to figure this out that we all went out to dinner and were literally cheering for the end of our careers."
Easter Eggs & References (3)
- #023
Contains a major spoiler — show
Each tarot card points to one of the Horsemen. J. Daniel Atlas's (Jesse Eisenberg's) card is the "Lovers," a nod to his implied way with women. Merritt McKinney's (Woody Harrelson's) is the "Hermit," reflecting how his brother abandoned him and wrecked his career, leaving him alone with nothing. Henley Reeves's (Isla Fisher's) is the "High Priestess," a reference to her blood tank act, something like a blood sacrifice. Jack Wilder's (Dave Franco's) is "Death," the only card whose meaning isn't explained until late in the film, when he fakes his own death. In tarot the Death card mainly stands for change, most likely pointing to Wilder's journey from being treated as a kid at the start to finally becoming a grown-up.
- #024
Just before J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg) and Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson) go into the secret room, McKinney tells Atlas he's "a bit of a control freak," and Atlas replies, "Have we met before?" It's a nod to Zombieland (2009), an earlier film starring both Harrelson and Eisenberg.
- #025
Using thrown playing cards as weapons is a nod to magician Ricky Jay, who held the world record for card throwing (distance and accuracy) and often, tongue firmly in cheek, promoted cards for hand-to-hand combat: "They're relatively inexpensive, easily concealed, and if you know what you're doing with them, you can make a small fortune before the attack."
Related pages
- Nerve — Now You See Me comes up in the facts on that page
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- Wikipedia
- IMDb
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