Now You See Me Star Justice Smith Gets Brutally Honest About Hollywood Smoke & Mirrors

Though it’s been over nine years since Now You See Me‘s last film, the magic-themed heist series is finally coming back. The new film will see the return of Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, and Morgan Freeman are back as their illusion-focused thieves, but they’re also joined by newcomers to the series, Dominic Sessa, Ariana Greenblatt, and Justice Smith. Between everyone involved in the new film, it’s a murderer’s row of Hollywood and magic experience, meaning they know a thing or two about how to sell an illusion.

Speaking with ComicBook for the upcoming Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, we asked the cast if there was anything about acting or Hollywood that the public assumes is glamorous and fun, but in reality, it’s all smoke and mirrors. Smith wasted no time answering the question, quickly stating, “All of it,” before elaborating on the intricacies of Hollywood “magic.”

Now You See Me’s Justice Smith Gets Candid About Hollywood

“All of it. Literally every single (thing),” Smith said about Hollywood’s “smoke and mirrors.” He continued, “We go onto a carpet that we’ve never seen, wearing clothes that we don’t own, and we smile for a bunch of photographers who are all paid to be there and don’t really care about us. And then and then we do a bunch of interviews where we say we’re
so excited to be there, even though we were like stressing out getting ready the entire time. And then we sit and we watch the movie that we’ve seen probably five times up to that point. And then we go to the afterparty and then we go home…to our dogs.”

Smith’s co-star in Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, Rosamund Pike, had a similar response, though with a marginally more optimistic lilt when considering production on feature films.

“I remember an friend I’ve brought onto a film set, I’ve heard it a number of times, ‘Gosh, this really isn’t glamorous, is it?’ when they see us all sitting around, you know, scarfing a lunch out of a cardboard box with a wooden fork that doesn’t really work, that kind of part of it. But I mean, I think I still get totally swayed by cinema magic. I mean, I’m there for it. I’m the one who still gets enchanted when I see an amazing set. I love it. I still I get a thrill when I see a techno crane, and the delicacy with which someone operates a crane move. That’s magic to me.”

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, and all of its magic, will premiere in theaters on November 14.

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