Noah Oppenheim to Script THE SECRET LIFE OF HOUDINI

I've been waiting for a hell of a long time to see biopic made on one of the greatest magicians that ever lived, Harry Houdini, and the Secret Life of Houdini is another film that is not going to be it. There are a couple of other projects in the works right now that also tell a fictional story of Houdini, but nothing grounded in facts or reality.

Summit Entertainment has hired screenwriter Noah Oppenheim (Jackie) to write the script for the new film which is based on the biography by William Kalush and Larry Sloman called The Secret Life of Houdini, The Making of America's First Superhero.

The book is known for insinuating that Houdini acted as a spy for Britain, was in cahoots with police organizations, and was asked to be an adviser to Czar Nicholas II's court in prerevolutionary Russia. It sounds awesome and there are several good theories to back up the claims, but it's not Summits intention to amke a Houdini biopic anyway. They want to make an action thriller featuring a character who is part Indiana Jones and part Sherlock Holmes, documenting his rise as a magician along with his covert involvement with the Secret Service.

I'm sure the movie will end up being awesome I love the idea, but I still just want to see a well made biopic based on the man and his life. That's more interesting to me than this fictional stuff. 

What are your thoughts on the matter?

Here's the desctiption of the book the film will be inspired by:

Using exclusive access to newly uncovered archives, Kalush and Sloman reveal the clandestine agreements in which the British and Americans recruited Houdini to be an active secret agent. In exchange for his cooperation, the governments of these two countries facilitated his rise to the top of the world stage. The authors give thrilling accounts of his assignments, such as his participation in early aerial surveillance and his use of his own magic magazine to communicate espionage-related information. After the war, Houdini embarked upon what became his most dangerous mission when he took on the Spiritualist movement. Convinced that Spiritualist mediums were frauds, he became obsessed with exposing them. But the Spiritualists were a powerful adversary. An organized network of fanatics, led by Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle, worked relentlessly to orchestrate a campaign that would silence Houdini forever. Grounded in solid research, but as exciting and dramatic as a good thriller, THE SECRET LIFE OF HOUDINI traces the magician's long and circuitous route from struggling vaudevillian to worldwide legend.