Director Marc Forster Summons THE WAR MAGICIAN

Marc Forster will be moving from a war against zombies to a war against Nazis.  Variety reports that Forster has signed on to direct the adaptation of David Fisher‘s non-fiction novel The War Magician.  The story centers on real-life British magician Jasper Maskelyne, who was able to use his illusions (“tricks are what a whore does for money…or cocaine”) to aid the Allied forces by hiding locations like the Suez Canal, and creating phantom armies.  His inventions are still being used in modern warfare.

Part of me hopes that the story isn’t as good as it sounds since Forster has consistently underwhelmed me.  The only time he really impressed me was Stranger Than Fiction, and the last of that good will dried up when he decided an African child being blown up needed musical accompaniment to sell the drama in Machine Gun Preacher.  Maybe his upcoming film, World War Z, will be a turn in the right direction even though it’s a PG-13 zombie movie that will probably have almost no resemblance to the book.