Heat Vision reports that Summit Entertainment has brought Noah Oppenheim on board to write the script for The Secret Life of Houdini. Jeff Nathanson was previously attached to write and direct but is no longer involved.
The film will be based on “The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America’s First Superhero,” a biography by William Kalush and Larry Sloman.
The comprehensive novel, published in 2006 by Atria Books, became known for insinuating that Harry Houdini acted as a spy for Britain and was asked to be an adviser to Czar Nicholas II’s court in pre-revolutionary Russia. The book also portrayed the master escape artist and magician as a debunker of con artists who pretended to be spiritualists, leading to the controversial theory that Houdini’s death was caused by the spiritual movement as payback.
Oppenheim’s upcoming credits include Darren Aronofsky’s Jackie and the Warner Bros. remake of Snabba Cash.
