Irish mentalist, hypnotist and magician Keith Barry has been working behind the scenes of Now You See Me 2 and reckons this sequel is all about letting cinema-goers in on the secret (magic) tricks of the trade. That includes revealing how he helped cast-newcomer Lizzy Caplin loose her head on screen!
The 39-year-old was back working as a consultant for this second round of magic from Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson and co as the Four Horsemen return for a new, trick-laden caper.
Daniel Radcliffe and LIzzy Caplin are newcomers to the cast, playing a bad guy and a new member of the magical quartet respectively.
"Our ethos for Now You See Me 2 was that everything in the movie at least had the potential to be done in real life and I'd say over 90% of it was actually done in-camera with no CGI," says Barry.
"Of course, movies like this are always going to be bound by the rules of Hollywood, being there's going to be enhancements of CGI. However, everything was practically done in-scene.
"For example, Lizzy Caplin, when she gets her head chopped-off, that wasn't CGI, that wasn't a stunt double - for all intents and purposes she really got her head chopped-off. It took me three months to design and develop with the props department."
Barry was also thrilled by another aspect of Now You See Me 2 – its end credits, where many of the movie's tricks are revealed to, as he puts it, "show people how the plot was structured, and why it was structured that way.
"And what was fun for me was developing tricks, illusions and magic that we could reveal without magicians getting annoyed around the world.
"I think everybody loves to learn how magic is done, and people want to learn how it's done. So for me it was fun that the actors really embraced their roles.
"Even off-camera, we were just messing around with magic tricks and brain-hacking tricks and gags and jokes all day long."
Now You See Me 2 is in cinemas nationwide from today.
