Now You See Me 2: Jessie Eisenberg and Lizzy Caplan Interviews
/The Four Horsemen are back and up to their old (and some new) tricks in, Now You See Me 2.
Now You See Me was a magic-fuelled heist thriller that caught moviegoers off guard when it was released in the summer of 2013. After pulling in over $351-million at the box office, a sequel was greenlit and a third one might be on the way.
In the follow-up, we meet The Four Horsemen (Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Jesse Eisenberg and new addition Lizzy Cpalan) and their leader, played by Mark Ruffalo, three years later where they regroup to take down a corrupt tech tycoon. But their plan backfires after a nefarious recluse with a passion for magic (Walter Mabry, played by Radcliffe) exposes the group to the FBI and forces them into stealing a powerful computer chip. Soon after that, the Horsemen find themselves squaring off against old adversaries Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine) and Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) from the first film.
Along with a new director Jon M. Chu (Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, G.I. Joe: Retaliation) and co-star Lizzy Caplan, there's another welcome addition to the cast. Daniel Radcliffe joins the heist-thriller franchise, which picks up one year after the events of the 2013 original. Radcliffe, of course, known best as Harry Potter was excited about the prospect of joining this film not so much because of the magic element but because he gets to play the bad guy!
“I felt like I was fulfilling a right of passage by playing a British bad guy,” he recently told a group of journalists at a press day in New York. “I was due for this. Now give me my Jaguar advert,” he added with a laugh.
Jessie Eisenberg, who has been working non-stop (we last saw him as Lex Luthor in Batman vs Superman) was happy to reprise his role as magician J. Daniel Atlas and conjure up some new tricks. He was also thrilled about hanging out with his fellow cast mates once again. "It was pretty much like old home week," the actor told me during our interview on the set of Now You See Me 2 in London. "We all picked up just where we left off and we get along so well it was like old friends getting back together for a reunion."
New to the gang is actress Lizzy Caplan (Masters of Sex) who replaces Isla Fisher. Caplan's character Lula is the newest member of the Horsemen and she enters the scene having been a massive fan of theirs. They don't fully trust her at first but she manages to win them over. Her magic specialty is called "geek magic" which tends to be shocking, gory, gross- out type of magic.
Caplan told me in London during our interview last year on the set of Now You See Me 2 that she loved doing that type of stuff. "I got to cut off body parts, really gross people out. I had a blast doing it and anytime I tried to push it further, they always let me."
As for getting the opportunity to join such an amazing cast, Caplan couldn't have been more excited. " I admired all of these actors and being offered the opportunity to go shoot a film of this calibre in London and China with people I respect so much was a dream come true. I"ve never made a movie like this and I was just thrilled that they gave me the chance to strut my stuff."
I spoke with Jesse Eisenberg and Lizzy Caplan on the set of Now You See Me 2, in London. Check out the interviews below.
Now You See Me 2 is currently in theatres across the country.