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cangelfans
206 Posts |
 Posted - 07/22/2008 : 16:57:38
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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: MINDFREAK CRISS ANGEL DICES WITH DEATH IN ESCAPE FROM EXPLODING BUILDING—THE MOST DANGEROUS STUNT HE’S EVER ATTEMPTED
July 22nd, 2008
Mindfreak magician Criss Angel doesn’t want to even think of how much extra insurance his Cirque du Soleil partners have just taken out on him.
“That’s more frightening than death,” he told me. “I’m not in fear of death, but I know they’ve bought a lot of extra insurance. I’ve no idea how much and quite frankly I don’t want to know.”
He’s about to take a whirlwind round-trip flight to Florida to scope out the Clearwater location of his first ever live escape from an imploding building rigged with explosives.
Criss told me in an exclusive interview: “We’d originally planned it to be for the opening of Season 4 of Mindfreak on A&E, but the Cirque rehearsal schedule in the new Luxor theater got delayed and played havoc with the schedule.”
So on tomorrow night’s 10 p.m. debut (WED) he’ll walk on water out at Lake Mead for the 1-hour premiere episode. “We’re not out of the woods on that yet either,” he laughed explaining that the live Florida explosion will now be next Wednesday night as was exclusively first revealed here in Luxe Life.
He said, “I will be placed in the bucket of a fire truck and placed on the 7th-storey balcony of a 9-storey building. The stairs will have been removed from the first two floors so when the dynamite goes off it will implode on itself. I will be manacled to the balcony and visible throughout to both the TV cameras and to the loyal fans that will be able to watch it from a safe distance. I will have less than four minutes to escape. I will not know any of the challenges I will face because nobody has ever done this before live from a building being blown up. I’ve got to escape, race up to the roof, jump on the rope dangling from a helicopter and fly off to safety. “That’s the plan, quite frankly anything could go wrong. Its live—no rehearsal, no safety net. It could kill me. It’s the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done and 4,600 tons of concrete will implode whether I’m in it or not.
“I always wanted to do this kind of thing live so I can prove for once and for all to the skeptics that what you see is what you get. It’s interesting to say the least, but the cement blocks and implosion should ramp up the theater of it all. You will see me live on the balcony. This time there will not be a cover on me. You will watch me pick my way out of the shackles as the clock ticks. You will see me escape and run for the roof. It’s the only way I can get out before it all collapses. It will be a legitimate escape and as the first magician to be completely exposed while doing it certainly pushes the envelope of ultimate illusions. I am excited and passionate about it, and I love explosives so I have to believe there is nothing in this that will cause me to be afraid of dying.”
Criss told me that this season he would also do alternative versions of two episodes that the A&E cable network banned and forbid him to film.
“The A&E censors stopped me shooting a gun and catching the bullet in my teeth in a mental roulette illusion. Firing a gun on real television is forbidden because we have younger loyals watching. So we have compromised and this time around I will catch a nail in my mouth shot from a high-powered nail gun. I also go on a road trip with my friend Sully Erma from the Godsmack rock group. We take off for Boulder City to do a demonstration that wound up with in tears crying. All I will tell you about it is that its one of the best illusions in my entire career and was an excellent diversion from the norm.
“But if A&E bans any more of my illusions with TV rules I have told them it would be my last season, I’m done. I’ll have 90 episodes under my belt with Season 4, the most television ever achieved by any other magician on earth,” he says proudly. “I’d like to make it to a 100th episode next year in Season 5, but as an artist I have a real problem about them getting involved in censorship of artistic freedoms.”
Hard to believe that seven years ago Criss was both unknown and broke. He persuaded his mom to borrow $360,000 from a mortgage on the family home so he could fulfill his dream to mount an off-Broadway show. Originally he got a 12-week run that stretched onto 600 performances and then the 2004 move to Las Vegas to begin Mindfreak and the long preparation of this Septembers upcoming Cirque show Believe, named to honor the great Houdini and the codeword he left his wife upon his death.
Since starting Mindfreak he has levitated in the light atop the Luxor, walked down the side of the building, flown across the Nevada desert suspended on wire and four large fishhooks in his back, from a helicopter, set himself on fire and encased himself in concrete. A&E claims nearly 3 million viewers—an all-time record—watched its most viewed show with Criss from the Luxor.
Tomorrow we’ll continue our interview with Criss with some first-ever revelations about his new $100 million Cirque du Soleil Believe show opening this September at Luxor. Then tomorrow night (WED) Criss will host a screening party at the Cathouse ultra louinge and restaurant in the Luxor for the premiere episode of the new 4th season, providing he returns in time from his scope-look at the Florida building. The clock ticks on the one-week countdown to next Wednesday’s attempt to escape before the building blows him up and crushes him under the tangled concrete!
PART 2 WILL CONTINUE TOMMOROW
thanks ADMIN KIM
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cangelfans
206 Posts |
Posted - 07/23/2008 : 16:48:35
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HERE IS PART 2
CRISS ANGEL’S 15-YEAR DREAM COMES TO FRUITION: PART 2 OF OUR EXCLUSIVE LUXE LIFE INTERVIEW
July 23rd, 2008
Believe will be unlike any show the world has ever seen,” said Mindfreak magician Criss Angel from backstage at the Luxor theater.
“It is beyond even my wildest dreams—absolutely incredible,” as he took a break from rehearsals for his new $100 million Cirque du Soleil spectacular that will open this September. (Part 2 of our exclusive interview with the impossibly inexplicable illusionist continues, click here for yesterday’s session with Criss talking about tonight’s premiere of his A&E Mindfreak series.)
Criss continued: “Rehearsals are going amazingly well and its fantastic to see an idea that I first had 15 years ago finally coming to fruition and taking shape. It began with prototypes being drawn on a napkin all those years ago and now its becoming a reality right in front of my own eyes. Now that’s magic! Its so extraordinary to be able to execute the art of my illusions with the art of Cirque. Everything about the special effects, the costumes and the story line is intensified ten fold. We have succeeded in creating an experience that hasn’t followed anybody else’s previous path. It will definitely be one now that everybody else will follow for years to come.”
Even Serge Denoncourt, Cirque’s director and co-writer on the project agrees, “It’s a haunting trip through the baroque theater of Criss’s brain, inside his mind as he hovers between the land of the living and a surreal world uniquely woven together.”
“These are Criss’s dramatic illusions in a distinct setting imagined and immersed in Cirque du Soleil artistry,” adds Denoncourt. An official Cirque statement points out, “There will be no nudity, no acrobatics, but there will be live music. The show explores the inventive mind of Criss Angel. His masterful illusions are set in a very surreal and enigmatic manner. The scenes will include some illusions of violence but in an artistic manner. It will not necessarily be scary but be aware that there is graphic show content that may alarm some audience members. Unlike traditional magic-themed shows Believe transcends any preconceived notion of what it means to be truly emotionally engaged by the arts of mysticism and illusion. Imagine a fantasy, an allegory, a highly theatrical tableau of mood, reverie and emotion set against a backdrop of dreamlike darkness and light.
“Criss stars as a surreal, enigmatic Victorian Noble. Along a path of imaginative exploration, he encounters Kayala and Crimson, two women who represent different aspects of femininity, four bizarre ushers, who will introduce the audience to the baroque theater of Criss’s mind and a high-energy troupe of characters and dancers who mix a multitude of styles into a high-energy visual feast, punctuated by moments of grace and sensuality. It is not like Mindfreak because the stunning illusions will not be presented as standalone elements, but as interdependent components using heightened imagery, fantastical creatures and impossible feats of legerdemain, all integrated into the dazzling, colorful fabric of the story. However, the show will be a fantasy, an allegory, a highly theatrical tableau of mood, reverie and emotion set against a backdrop of dreamlike darkness and light.
“The show will run 90 minutes and be performed twice nightly except on Wednesday and Thursday of each week. The furthest seat from the stage is less than 110 feet away so everybody, including the Loyals, will be really close to him.” You can now go to crissangel.com/believe and click on “The Show” section to watch a backstage video of Criss in the costume room and director Serge Denoncourt talking about the unique production.
The implausible, inconceivable illusionist admitted that with rehearsals in full swing for the fall premiere he’s now only sleeping 3 hours a day and working out daily for 2 hours. “The show blurs all boundary between reality and illusion. It really is the mind, body and sprit all coming together,” he added. “I always felt that magic was a beautiful art form, but magicians killed it because of their hokey presentations. But I believed that if you presented the art of magic outside the box it would be limitless and finally garner the respect that it deserves.”
“For people who have regularly watched Mindfreak we have already achieved amazing things your eyes cannot believe. But Believe goes way beyond that experience, and its all live right in front of the audience so the bar is raised to the highest place in magic. We have an amazing team and I have been videotaping all the rehearsals. It’s unbelievable to me when I play it back later in my room. The experience is unlike anything out there or ever conceived to be out there.
“This year on Mindfreak I have an episode titled “Skeptic” and I am inviting all those people who don’t “believe” to come play with me and see there is no trick photography. It will certainly change their point of view—and my life; my career is on the line. When they also come to see Believe they will see everything live right before their eyes, and that will end their skepticism.”
I asked Criss if the tornado originating from his mouth and expanding to surround the entire theater audience was still scheduled for the show. He confirmed it is but added, ”Just wait till you see the levitation. Our acts of levitation are so incredible even other magicians won’t believe what we are doing. I will go right out into the audience and levitate somebody right out of their seat!”
Criss also revealed that he has developed his own magical lounge-bar and an interactive destination sanctuary that will open once Believe is up and running smoothly. “Guests will be able to hang out with things from the show. They’ll want to be there from early in the morning until late at night,” he said. He’s totally confident about Believe and isn’t fazed about the two setback delays in recent weeks that pushed the gala opening back to the new official Oct. 10 date although previews will get underway Sept. 12—the original opening!
“All just technical and construction delays that were out of our hands,” says Felix Rappaport, Luxor President. “Criss and Cirque were unable to get into the new theater on the date we’d planned, so everything got pushed back a couple of weeks. This is a massive undertaking, and maybe the most challenging ever attempted on the Strip. Everybody wants it absolutely perfect and now it will be and everything is running smoothly back on track again.” So Believe will be here before the Presidential election. Loyals just 79 days to go now!
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CRISS ANGEL INTERVIEW PARTS 1 AND 2
