In a classic case of “Now you see him. Now you…see him literally everywhere,” there’s news about one of the dozens of projects about Harry Houdini that are currently in production. Max Landis (Chronicle) is set to pen a new draft of Houdini, Sony Pictures’ take on the life of the infamous magician. According to Deadline, the film will have "an H.P. Lovecraft influence." The project was originally scripted by Scott Frank, who apparently could not provide the right level of Lovecraftian horror and/or refused to include Cthulhu.
This Houdini project is not to be confused with Summit’s Houdini project, which will tell the story of the escape artist's double life as a spy and may or may not star Johnny Depp. Nor should it be mixed up with The History Channel’s Adrien Brody-helmed miniseries. And of course, it’s nothing like ABC’s fast-paced modern-day Houdini procedural. And presumably, it’s entirely different from either of the Houdini-Sir Arthur Conan Coyle buddy-cop projects that were at one point being produced by both DreamWorks and SyFy, respectively.
Perhaps realizing there were just too many Houdinis in the kitchen, Hugh Jackman recently dropped out of the Broadway musical about the illusionist. Which should probably be a lesson to all: When Hugh Jackman is the one showing restraint, there might be a problem.