The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

By Shep Morgan

The bright lights of Las Vegas shine on many of the world’s great illusionists. Next up in the spotlight is the famous and fictional magician, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. Behind the film’s flamboyant costumes and fabulous wigs is Steve Carell, who as Burt Wonderstone, spent time filming the comedy in Las Vegas.

The former star of The Office hasn’t been this silly since The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Carell is non-stop funny in the wild comedy, and he gets plenty of help from Steve Buscemi, who dons a blonde hairpiece to play his faithful partner Anton Marvelton. Jim Carrey pumps up the humor as Steve Gray, a talented street magician who threatens to unseat Wonderstone as the king of illusion.

While there’s movie magic in most tricks Carell performs in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, he wasn’t pretending when he and Buscemi were suspended in a large Plexiglas box high above the Las Vegas Strip where, in the film, they were supposed to remain for several days without food or water. Olivia Wilde, who holds her own in the laugh-fest as Wonderstone’s perky assistant, remembers, “They did it on our first day of shooting and it was pretty amazing to see them up there. Not surprisingly, Burt has a complete meltdown after about twenty minutes.”