The Prestige (2006) - IMDb IMDb 17 January 2017 4:34 PM, UTC NEWS There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON TV ON DISC ALL Two stage magicians engage in competitive one-upmanship in an attempt to create the ultimate stage illusion. Director: a list of 38 titles created 09 Sep 2013 a list of 27 titles created 24 Sep 2013 a list of 36 titles created 24 Dec 2013 a list of 39 titles created 24 Aug 2015 a list of 47 titles created 9 months ago Search for " The Prestige " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Another 5 wins & 32 nominations. See more awards » Videos A man juggles searching for his wife's murderer and keeping his short-term memory loss from being an obstacle. Director: Christopher Nolan A thief, who steals corporate secrets through use of dream-sharing technology, is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a CEO. Director: Christopher Nolan In 1954, a U.S. marshal investigates the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane. Director: Martin Scorsese 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.5/10 X Eight years after the Joker's reign of anarchy, the Dark Knight, with the help of the enigmatic Selina, is forced from his imposed exile to save Gotham City, now on the edge of total annihilation, from the brutal guerrilla terrorist Bane. Director: Christopher Nolan Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his modus operandi.

Director: David Fincher An insomniac office worker, looking for a way to change his life, crosses paths with a devil-may-care soap maker, forming an underground fight club that evolves into something much, much more. Director: David Fincher A team of explorers travel through a wormhole in space in an attempt to ensure humanity's survival. Director: Christopher Nolan With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner. Director: Quentin Tarantino An undercover cop and a mole in the police attempt to identify each other while infiltrating an Irish gang in South Boston. Director: Martin Scorsese When the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, the caped crusader must come to terms with one of the greatest psychological tests of his ability to fight injustice. Director: Christopher Nolan After training with his mentor, Batman begins his fight to free crime-ridden Gotham City from the corruption that Scarecrow and the League of Shadows have cast upon it. Director: Christopher Nolan In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S.

soldiers coincides with a theatre owner's vengeful plans for the same. Directors: Quentin Tarantino, Eli Roth Stars: Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth Edit Storyline In the end of the Nineteenth Century, in London, Robert Angier, his beloved wife Julia McCullough and Alfred Borden are friends and assistants of a magician. When Julia accidentally dies during a performance, Robert blames Alfred for her death and they become enemies. Both become famous and rival magicians, sabotaging the performance of the other on the stage. When Alfred performs a successful trick, Robert becomes obsessed trying to disclose the secret of his competitor with tragic consequences. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Are You Watching Closely? See more » Genres: Rated PG-13 for violence and disturbing images | See all certifications » Parents Guide: 20 October 2006 (USA) See more » Also Known As: El gran truco See more » Filming Locations: $14,801,808 (USA) (20 October 2006) Gross: Did You Know?

Trivia When Hugh Jackman's character arrives in Colorado Springs he is actually arriving at the Darien Ranch in the Western Colorado town of Marble where the scene was filmed. Colorado Springs being in Eastern Colorado. See more » Goofs Borden mentions that a "penny" could be slipped into the barrel of the pistol used for the bullet catch trick. English pennies of this period were substantial and wide, much wider than the barrel of the pistol being used by Borden could accommodate. See more » Quotes (Singapore) – See all my reviews I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Christopher Nolan can do no wrong. Teaming up again with his Batman Begins cast of Christian Bale and Michael Caine, and joined with the Scoop team consisting of X-Men's Wolverinie Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson, the stellar (eye candy) cast already set tongues wagging as to whether they'll be able to live up to the hype of Nolan's long awaited movie directly challenging the other picture about Victorian magicians, The Illusionist. The Prestige is the third act of any magic trick, with the first and second acts being the Pledge and the Turn. And this movie lives up to its namesake to a T.

The way the movie plays out, it's like a huge magic trick, with the audience waiting to see how it unfolds, getting the suspicion on how it's done, but yet sitting through it thorough engaged to discover how everything will be revealed and resolved. It tells the story of how two magicians, fellow apprentices turned unfortunate rivals, plod down the slow path of jealous obsession, revenge, and the deliberate attempts to go at lengths to steal each other's ideas, to go one up against the other, a fight in romance, life and the long held passionate drive to discredit each other. There are perfect explanations of the value of secrets, and how secrets can sometimes be used as tools for deceit. What I thought was valuable in the movie was the reinforcement of the notion of how "magic" actually worked. Besides the better understanding of the common body of scientific knowledge, things like having pretty assistants to distract, and having planted staff amongst the audience, somehow made me a sceptic to tricks and illusions, and try harder to spot at which stage had things undergone a sleight of hand.

More importantly, it introduced me to the notion and importance of a loyal engineer behind the scenes who designs elaborate contraptions solely for the magician's use, and how having disloyal staff can indeed be detrimental to any leaks of secrets. And Michael Caine took on this engineering role as Cutter, responsible for assisting Rupert Angier (Hugh Jackman) with loyalty and conviction that they could, as a team, beat Christian Bale's Alfred Borden. I thought the cast in general were superb, with Christian Bale leading the charge. Hugh Jackman too showed that he could play a dark character, as the two leads tackled their characters' theme of sacrifice, arrogance, and ultimately redemption, especially for Rupert Angier. I thought he did what he did towards the end was a kind of penance to what happened in the beginning, hoping to kill two birds with a single stone, to exact the sweetest revenge he could possibly muster. What also was intriguing about the two lead characters was that there is no right or wrong, no hero or villain. It's always a shade of grey in what they do, and for Alfred Borden, I felt it's more for survival and the provision for family, which is a strong subplot running through the film.

I just have to mention though, that Scarlett Johansson being Esquire's Sexiest Woman Alive, gets to play a flower vase role here as a magician's assistant, though her role as the pawn between the rivals added a little gravitas. The atmosphere was set up great, and so were the costumes and sets. The soundtrack was hauntingly mesmerizing, capturing the look and mood appropriately. Look out too for David Bowie's appearance as a Serbian scientist! I was floored by the deftness of how Nolan weaved and juxtaposed the non linear narrative so flawlessly. While the usual techniques is to use placeholders, or flashback sequences, colours etc, here, time is so fluid, but yet the audience will know precisely which era they're in, without being explicitly told, or working too much of the noodle. You just know, and it's just that feeling of being totally transparent with time. Even though the movie clocked in at slightly more than 2 hours, you don't feel its length at all. At the end of the movie, one quote popped into mind: Misdirection - what the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes.

Quite apt to describe how things work out during the movie, or to describe in general, Nolan 's films so far. That added richness to lift the movie to a superior plane. Do yourself a favour, if there's one movie you absolutely must watch this week, then Prestige must be your natural choice. It's smart in delivery and slick in presentation. There is none other. P.S. Is it just me, or are notebooks a common feature in Nolan's movies? 541 of 703 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Bowie as Nikola Tesla in 'The Prestige' - YouTube Bowie as Nikola Tesla in 'The Prestige' Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Feb 21, 2013 Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) commissions a machine from Nikola Tesla (David Bowie) during Tesla's time in Colorado Springs.

This video clip is taken from the motion picture 'The Prestige' (Touchstone Pictures **Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved**). I own NO rights for this clip, which is intended to be used purely for your entertainment purposes. Do not copy, or in any way otherwise distribute this copyrighted material. Thank you! - JT Category Engineering Ethics Blog: Tesla and the Secret of "The Prestige" Tuesday, November 14, 2006 Tesla and the Secret of "The Prestige" Movies are not normally germane to engineering ethics, but I can justify the following discussion of the recent film "The Prestige" thusly. The driving force behind much good fiction, literary or cinematic, is a moral problem. When the moral problem involves technology, you have the same kind of issues that engineering ethics deals with, but in a different context. This piece should not be read by people who have not seen the film and want to be surprised by the ending, because I'm going to give it away.

If this blog had a wider readership I would hesitate to do such a thing—journalistic ethics generally forbidding it—but since all indications are that the audience is, shall we say, exclusive, I will go ahead and summarize the plot. The time is around 1900, and two magicians, Angier and Borden, fall out when Borden ties a knot around the wrists of Angier's wife in such a way that it may have caused her death by drowning in a stage stunt. Angier, convinced that Borden killed his wife, embarks on a kind of revenge career in which he tries to out-magic Borden, who retaliates by disguising himself in Angier's audiences in order to wreak havoc with Angier's tricks, as well as devising increasingly ingenious stunts for his own London performances. Borden outdoes himself with a stunt called the Transported Man, in which it appears that he walks into a doorway on one side of the stage and emerges almost instantaneously out of a second doorway forty feet away.

Angier, convinced that Borden does this trick by means of a machine he bought from the famed American inventor Nikola Tesla, visits Tesla in Colorado Springs, where Tesla has electrified (literally) the entire town in exchange for being able to use the town generator for his own experiments in transmitting energy without wires. Here is the secret: Tesla, according to the movie, actually hits upon a way, not of transporting objects, but of duplicating them. He begins with top hats (the movie opens with a scene of a pile of top hats outside Tesla's remote laboratory), progresses to cats, and eventually duplicates Angier himself. Angier buys Tesla's machine, takes it to London, and with it stages one hundred performances of his own stunt, which requires him to drown his own double each time in order to keep the number of Angiers running around within manageable quantities, namely, one. The last scene of the movie shows where Angier (now dead—shot by Borden, who turns out to be two people who have been exchanging roles all through the movie) has hidden his one hundred dead bodies, each preserved in its own drowning tank.

As I watched that last scene, a thought flashed through my mind of the thousands of frozen embryos—babies—fetuses—whatever your preferred word is—that are preserved in in-vitro fertilization clinics around the world. They are not artfully lit and do not have all the features of a familiar screen actor, as the bodies in the tanks did. But they share with those bodies the one feature that makes them different from all other material objects: they are in some sense human, though in a state that might be termed suspended animation. I do not believe "The Prestige" will go down in cinematic history as a great movie, although events could prove me wrong. For one thing, the main characters Angier and Borden, played by Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale, respectively, arouse little sympathy in the audience. They are each so single-mindedly focused on their rivalry that they trash the lives of women and shamelessly exploit anything within their reach to achieve their goals of mastery over the other, which necessarily involves mastery over the material world.

As for the Tesla character, played by David Bowie as a kind of proto-Nazi-scientist type, he is simultaneously the enabler of the deepest wrongs committed by Angier, and the prophet who warns against the use of his own tools. When Angier offers to buy Tesla's machine, Tesla says that the best thing that could be done with it would be to sink it under the ocean. The scientist who issues dire warnings against the use of his own creations is rather a cliché in science fiction. But with frozen embryos an everyday reality and human cloning on our doorstep, we are no longer talking about science fiction when we consider the morality of duplicating human beings. The job of the artist in a culture is not so much to solve moral problems, although they can sometimes help, as Harriet Beecher Stowe tried to do with Uncle Tom's Cabin, which she wrote explicitly to expose the horrors and wrongs of slavery. The artist should bring our attention to things we either do not see out of familiarity, or out of unfamiliarity, or for some other reason.

The recent debates over so-called "therapeutic" cloning and embryonic stem cell research, frankly stated, involve the question of whether we should duplicate existing human beings and kill them for some purpose of our own. That is exactly what Angier did with his duplicated magicians. In the movie's system of justice, he died for his wrongdoing at the hand of his enemy. I have little doubt that most of the people intellectually involved in the production of the film enthusiastically support embryonic stem cell research. Perhaps they see the connection between their film and that issue, and perhaps they don't. The typical response to someone who voices opposition to such research on the ground that it involves killing a human being is that the object in question is not a human being. In a recent Supreme Court case involving a law that prohibits partial-birth abortions, the language preferred by a Planned Parenthood lawyer was to say that the "fetus" involved in an abortion will "undergo demise." Would you feel any better if your doctor told you that you were going to "undergo demise" in a few weeks, rather than just saying flat out that you're going to die? The feelings at stake are not the baby's.

Rather, people resort to this kind of language to help them deny the fact that they are dealing with other human beings, beings just like they were when they were that age. The writer Flannery O'Connor was once asked why she so often tended to write about the grotesque and the bizarre in her stories. She responded to the effect that as a Catholic, she knew that most of her audience did not share her beliefs: " . . . for the almost-blind, you draw large and startling figures." The makers of "The Prestige" have drawn some large and startling figures for us to ponder, perhaps without meaning to. I hope more people will draw the connection between their tale of long ago and far away, and what is going on in the halls of science and medicine today. Sources: The Supreme Court case is described in an audio report by NPR's Nina Totenberg at . The quotation from O'Connor is at . Posted by Nikola Tesla's Musical Legacy - MTV mtv archive-Kyle-Anderson 07/10/2009 This morning, Wake-Up Video tipped its hat to the swearing in of Millard Fillmore , the 13th President of the United States who took office on this day in 1850.

But there's another historical note today that bears mentioning: Today is Nikola Tesla's birthday. Since his death in 1943, Tesla has gained the reputation as being a woefully underrated contributor to the world of science. His experiments with conducting alternating electrical current were the most important in the history of energy, but even though Tesla's AC ultimately beat out rival Thomas Edison's DC, Edison's offensives against Tesla left him as a historical footnote for decades. But Tesla also had a great effect on music — and not just because he created technology that made wireless transmission (like radio waves) possible. A handful of musicians have gained inspiration from Tesla's reputation as a genius, a troublemaker and an underdog. The most famous, of course, is the band Tesla , the hard rock band who had hits at the end of the '80s with albums like Mechanical Resonance and Five Man Acoustical Jam. Tesla took their namesake very seriously, even going as far as creating a concept album around Tesla's rivalry with Guglielmo Marconi over the creation of radio (The Great Radio Controversy).

One of the band's biggest hits, "Edison's Medicine," revolved around Thomas Edison's quest to destroy his rival Tesla. All told, pretty brainy stuff for a metal band. But Tesla's influence over musicians doesn't stop there. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark had a minor hit in 1984 with a track called "Tesla Girls," though it doesn't seem to have any lyrical connection to Tesla (except for the lyric about "testing out theories"). A more convincing tribute came in the 2006 movie "The Prestige," which saw David Bowie star as Nikola Tesla. Bowie played the scientist as part genius, part madman — not unlike Bowie himself. But by far the best tribute to Tesla that involved rock stars was in the 2003 Jim Jarmusch film "Coffee and Cigarettes," which saw Jack and Meg White discuss a Tesla Coil.

The White Stripes are no strangers to Tesla — they also offered him a lyrical shout-out on their song "Astro." Nikola Tesla in Film and TV | Carl Savich Nikola Tesla in Film and TV August 22, 2012 Nikola Tesla had a major impact on the development of the modern technological age. His influence and legacy remain pervasive and enduring. His life and inventions have been the subject of movies and of television series. He has also been the subject of plays such as “Tesla, An Evening with Genius “ written by J. Michael Newlight and Frank Tabbita and ‘The Dangers of Electric Lighting” by Ben Clawson. Nikola Tesla has appeared as a historical figure and as a fictionalized character. Two new movies have been planned to chronicle his life and impact. One is Tesla, Ruler of the World by Serbian screenwriter Vladimir Rajcic and Oscar-winning Croatian producer Branko Lustig, who won Oscars for Schindler’s List and Gladiator. Christian Bale is slated to play Nikola Tesla. Rade Serbedzija and Lolita Davidovich are also part of the cast. This movie was announced in February, 2011. The movie is in the pre-production stage.

Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla as portrayed by Miro Besic in a scene from the trailer for the film Fragments from Olympus: A Vision of Nikola Tesla (2013). A second movie featuring Nikola Tesla is Fragments from Olympus: The Vision of Nikola Tesla (2013), starring Miro Besic as Nikola Tesla, Leo Rossi as Henry, and Sean Young as Dorothy Skerrit and directed by Joseph Sikorski. In this fictionalized account set during World War II, the FBI seeks to seize the papers on the particle beam research experiments conducted by Nikola Tesla to develop a “death ray”. The production company is Colossal Molehill Productions. The screenplay is by Joseph Sikorski and Michael Calomino which is based on declassified U.S. documents and the life of Nikola Tesla. Nikola Tesla makes this statement from the screenplay: “Let the future tell the truth. The present is theirs. The future is mine.” Nikola Tesla has been portrayed in both films and in TV during the last 40 years. He has been portrayed by actors ranging from Yugoslavian-born Rade Serbedzija to musician David Bowie and comedy actor John C. Reilly.

David Bowie played Nikola Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige directed by Christopher Nolan which starred Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson and Michael Caine. Hugh Jackman, as magician Robert Angier, goes to see Nikola Tesla at his Colorado Springs laboratory, which is shown encircled by a high-voltage electric fence. Serbian actor Petar Bozovic played Nikola Tesla in the 1980 Yugoslavian film Tajna Nikole Tesle, The Secret of Nikola Tesla , which co-starred Orson Welles as J. P. Morgan, Strother Martin as George Westinghouse, Dennis Patrick as Thomas Edison, and Oja Kodar as Catherine Johnson. The film documents his life and career from the time of his arrival in the U.S. up to the construction of the Wardenclyffe Tower which was financed by J. P. Morgan. This film was directed by Krsto Papic and was produced by Zagreb Film.

Jon Barker played Nikola Tesla in the play “The Dangers of Electric Lighting ” by Ben Clawson as featured in the November 5, 2011 New York Times with James Glossman as Thomas Edison: “Edison and Tesla Spat in ‘The Dangers of Electric Lighting’. A War of Currents and Rival Geniuses. Ben Clawson’s “The Dangers of Electric Lighting” details the marketing battle between Thomas Edison and his former employee Nikola Tesla.” Jon Barker is on the right as Nikola Tesla with James Glossman as rival Thomas Alva Edison. Ukrainian-born actor Dmitry Chepovetsky, right, played Nikola Tesla in the Canadian TV series Murdoch Mysteries which debuted in 2008. The series is set in Toronto during the 1890s. John C. Reilly played Nikola Tesla in the Drunk History TV series created by Derek Waters which debuted in 2007. He was featured in Volume 6 in Season 2 in 2010.

“On January 7th Duncan Trussell drank a six pack of beer … then a half a bottle of absinthe … and then he discussed an historical event …” Crispin Glover was Thomas Edison. Craig Anstett was Mark Twain. Jeremy Konner was the director. “Tesla was the electric Jesus.” David de Vries appeared in the 2009 film Megahertz (MHz) by Anam Cara Productions as Nikola Tesla. Royce Mann played Nikola Tesla as a youth, the Young Tesla. The film features Jordan Graye as disc jockey Brigh Montgomery who meets Nikola Tesla in the afterlife. The film examines the emergence of radio and how it impacted both of their lives. The movie was directed by Lee Pepper. The screenplay was written by Jordan Graye with Eddy Von Mueller. Knight Berman, Jr. composed the score for the film, A Score for Tesla: Music from the film Megahertz . The movie was shot in Atlanta, Georgia. Rade Serbedzija played Nikola Tesla in a 10 part Yugoslavian mini-series from 1977 entitled Nikola Tesla produced by Televizija Zagreb.

The series was directed by Eduard Galic and written by Ivica Ivanec. Ljuba Tadic played J. P. Morgan, Petar Bozovic played Sava Kosanovic, while Thomas Alva Edison was played by Boris Buzancic. Tygh Runyan was Nikola Tesla in the 2008 film My Inventions directed by Robert Holbrook. The 2008 Nikola Tesla biopic My Inventions is a short and succint portrayal of Nikola Tesla as a youth and in old age. John Burnside was the Elder Nikola Tesla in the 2008 film short My Inentions written and directed by Robert Holbrook. Laurence Cantor, right, was Nikola Tesla in the 2008 black and white film short Tesla & the Bellboy directed by Timothy Ziegler. Tesla & the Bellboy is a short film on Nikola Tesla during his final years in his New York City apartment. He is confronted with “The Bill” in his hotel room. He shows the bellboy the death ray that he has developed. Gary Marzolf played Nikola Tesla in the 2009 film Tesla the Accumulator directed by Emil Novak.

A trailer for Tesla the Accumulator (2009) was released. This fantasy film is a mix of the real life of Nikola Tesla and American gothic horror. It is based on The Accumulator, a comic by Queen City Bookstore owner Emil Novak. The film was made in Buffalo, New York. In Tesla: Tripping the Light Electric (2000), Nikola Tesla was played by Gregory Wagrowski in a film short directed by Lance Acord. Finnish actor Tuomas Hiltunen played Nikola Tesla in the 2005 film short The Visionary*- (*Tesla} written and directed by Joel Shapiro for TriColor Films. Swiss-born actor Gian Franco Tordi, above, played Nikola Tesla in the whimsical 2009 sci-fi fantasy film short Tesla the Superman written and directed by Robert Terry produced by Rings of Saturn Entertainment. The plot centers around the construction of the Wardenclyffe Tower and the fire that destroyed his laboratory. The plot conflates the two events which were two distinct events separated by several years. Mark Twain is played by Michael Wise.

Nikola Tesla is quoted: “There’s a significant difference between Superman and myself, and only one: Superman doesn’t exist. … The future belongs to me.” According to the script, Nikola Tesla was the model for the “mad scientist” who seeks to destroy Metropolis with an energy canon in the 1941 Superman cartoon film short directed by Max Fleischer. The focus was on the Death Ray or Death-Beam that Nikola Tesla was supposed to have invented. After his death, the FBI seized his documents concerned that they may fall into enemy hands. Serbian actor Svetozar Cvetkovic portrayed Nikola Tesla in a 1993 Yugoslav TV movie produced by Radiotelevizija Beograd (RTB) directed by Slavoljub Stefanovic-Ravasi entitled Tesla. Miodrag Miki Krstovic, above, portrayed Nikola Tesla in the 2001 Yugoslav TV movie Tesla ili prilagodjavanje andjela produced by Radiotelevizija Beograd (RTB).

The entire film consists of a dialogue in the form of an interview between Nikola Tesla and a reporter named John Smith, played by Boris Komnenic, in front of a screen and in exterior scenes. The director was Slobodan Z. Jovanovic. The writer was Stevan Pesic. The last segment features a reenactment of scenes from Nikola Tesla’s youth. Stacy Keach was Nikola Tesla in the TV biopic Tesla: Master of Lightning directed by Robert Uth in 2000 produced by New Voyage Communications. Nikola Tesla has even been portrayed as a vampire. Canadian actor Jonathon Young played Nikola Tesla as a vampire in the Canadian TV series Sanctuary which premiered in 2008 in Canada, the US, and the UK. As more and more movies and TV series feature Nikola Tesla, a more accurate and objective evaluation and assessment of his role in the development of the modern technological age will emerge. Review:Movie:The Prestige - PESwiki.com PesWiki.com One error has been found on this page. Administrator will correct this soon. This page has been imported from the old peswiki website. This message will be removed once updated.

: With the passing, yesterday, of David Bowie, I wanted to link up to this page from 9 years ago, to remind you of a very important role he played in promoting the brilliance of PowerPedia:Nikola Tesla . -- January 12, 2015 Pure Energy Systems News November 30, 2006 Five of five stars. A must-see film, paints Tesla in a brilliant light, while two rival magicians go at each other. At the end of the film, one is left to wonder if Tesla is still too far ahead of our time, one hundred years later. PG-13 Rated. Don't read about the details of the movie until you've seen it. You've got to see this movie. It features Tesla in a brilliant light, woven into a tale of intrigue between two rival magicians. After watching this show, one is left to wonder if Tesla is still too far ahead of our time, a hundred years later. He makes a classic statement in the film. Something to the effect that "You can only make one revolutionary discovery in a lifetime. If you then go beyond that, then you will be shunned." I saw this movie for my birthday. Fantastic present.

(I was born an hour's drive to the north from Colorado Springs, in Boulder, Colorado.) Overview Release Date: October 27, 2006 (limited) Opening Week Rating: #1 with $14 million Distributor: Touchstone Pictures Screenwriter: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan Rating: PG-13 (for violence and disturbing images) Duration: 130 minutes. Era: 1900-1910 Based on a novel of the same name by Christopher Priest Cast: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Andy Serkis, Piper Perabo, David Bowie Synopsis: From acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan ("Memento," "Batman Begins"), comes a mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supremacy full of obsession, deceit and jealousy with dangerous and deadly consequences. From the time that they first met as young magicians on the rise, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) were competitors. However, their friendly competition evolves into a bitter rivalry making them fierce enemies-for-life and consequently jeopardizing the lives of everyone around them.

Full of twists and turns, "The Prestige" is set against the backdrop of turn-of-the-century London. Official Websites (descriptions are supplied by PESWiki) Tesla's Colorado Springs laboratory is shown surrounded by a high-voltage electric fence. - - - - At night, Tesla plays with his pet projects. In this one, his assistant demonstrates bulbs being lit merely by being placed in the ground, some 15 miles away from the power source. He also lights the bulb by holding the magician's hand, while the magician holds the bulb. - - - - Tesla walks through a field of arcs at his Colorado Springs laboratory. - - - - Nikola Tesla is played by David Bowie, who doesn't register as himself on screen in this film. Reviews Netflix 4.1 stars of 5, from 8,497 ratings as of Nov. 30, 2006, prior to release onto DVD. Tesla the Genius On Nov. 30, 2006, New Energy Congress member, Congress:Founder:Sterling D. Allan wrote: As a long-time fan of Nikola Tesla, I was glad to see him presented as such a genius, far ahead of his time.

Though a sub-plot to the main plot of intrigue between two rival magicians, Tesla's brilliance is a strong theme underpinning the film. He makes a classic statement in the film. Something to the effect that "you can only make one revolutionary discovery in a lifetime. If you then go beyond that, then you will be shunned." Two episodes of his shunning in that generation were depicted in the film. Once when he was making a stage presentation, and the other when his lab was burned by thugs hired by Edison. After watching this show, one is left to wonder if Tesla is still too far ahead of our time, a hundred years later. I wonder how many people even entertain the possibility that Tesla very well may have invented the technology depicted in the film. Certainly the point was made that man is prone to abuse the technology he is given. In the News The Prestige (2006) - FAQ The content of this page was created directly by users and has not been screened or verified by IMDb staff. Visit our FAQ Help to learn more FAQ A Note Regarding Spoilers The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags.

Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable. This FAQ page is especially ridden with spoilers, due to the nature of the film in question. How much sex, violence, and profanity are in this movie? For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for The Prestige can be found here . What is 'The Prestige' about? Two rival magicians -- Robert Angier ( Hugh Jackman ) and Alfred Borden ( Christian Bale ) -- will stop at very little in order to best his opponent. When Borden comes up with an act that he calls "The Transported Man," in which he bounces a ball across the stage before stepping through a door and instantly reappears from a second door on the opposite side of the stage to catch the ball, Angier becomes obsessed with finding out how the trick works.

He seeks out famed inventor Nikola Tesla ( David Bowie ) who claims to have developed a teleporter but that the machine doesn't seem to work. Angier discovers that the machine actually does work but as a duplicator, not as a teleporter. Each time the machine is used, it creates a duplicate of the item being teleported and deposits that duplicate elsewhere. Angier obtains a Tesla machine and begins using it in his act, which he calls "The New Transported Man," provoking Borden's interest in learning how Angier is accomplishing his act. Who or what is the "Prestige?" Cutter describes every magic trick as having a three-act structure which consists of the pledge, the turn, and the prestige. The pledge is "a magician shows you something ordinary." The turn is that he makes it seem to do something extraordinary, disappear, levitate, transform etc. The prestige ( "..the hardest part..") is the payoff, the reward of the trick for the audience. In a trick like sawing a woman in half, the prestige is reconnecting her. In the central trick of the film, the prestige is when someone appears across the stage or theater having previously disappeared.

This three act structure of a trick was invented for the film and is not based on actual terminology used by real life magicians. In the novel on which the film is based, the prestige is the spirits of the duplicate Angiers. Was Nikola Tesla a real person? Yes. Nikola Tesla [1856-1943] was a Serbian scientist and inventor who is often called "the father of physics" for his major contributions in the fields of electricity and electromagnetism, including invention of alternating current (AC) electrical power. However, his eccentric personality and his bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments also earned him the title of "mad scientist," and he died impoverished at the age of 86. Tesla's later years saw him pursuing more and more unusual applications of technology, with many rumored goals including anti-gravity, death rays, and teleportation. None of these pursuits, however, were ever actualized. What is the connection between Angier and Lord Caldlow? Angier and Lord Caldlow are the same person, as he explains near the end of the movie. Early in the film, Angier's wife Julia ( Piper Perabo ) says that he is living a double life.

Angier responds to this by saying that he only did that to "spare my family the embarrassment of my theatrical interests." Angier had been born to the aristocratic Caldlow family. He adopted the identity of Robert Angier because he wanted to pursue a career in magic and such a career would have embarrassed his aristocratic family. At the end of the film he simply reclaims his original identity. At his wife's suggestion of calling himself "The Great D'Anton", he seems to takes offense at being associated with the French. This suggestion would likely be more of an insult to an Englishman rather than an American in the period in which the film is set. Also, during his wife's funeral Angier's accent noticeably slips from American to English, providing a further clue to his real identity. Who played Root? Angier and Root are both played by Hugh Jackman. For Root, Jackman's appearance was modified using a dental prosthesis and false earlobes (Angier, like Jackman, has attached earlobes and Root has unattached ones). Jackman's nose also appears to have been altered. Trick photography was used when Angier and Root appeared together.

When one or the other was seen only from the rear - a double was used. What were the words mumbled by Root while rehearsing onstage? They were from Harry Percy (Hotspur) in Shakespeare's Henry IV Part 1. Appearing before the king to explain his failure to turn over prisoners in a recent battle, he claims "My liege, I did deny no prisoners, but I remember, when the fight was done...." Why this quote? The quotation lends credibility to the characterization of Angier's double as a classical actor, plucked from the ranks of out-of-work actors to play his part. This particular speech is actually known to be Hugh Jackman's set piece that he sometimes used to audition for parts. What did Cutter mean when he told the judge that the machine is real and has no trick? He means exactly what he says. In the world of stage magic which Cutter lives in, a "trick" involves a magician appearing to make something do the impossible or supernatural. The machine has no trick. It actually does what it appears to do. Of course, at this point Cutter does not know that the machine is a duplicator and instead believes it is a teleporter. Why did Borden send Angier to Tesla?

What did he mean by "Tesla is the key to my diary but not my trick"? As he reveals in his diary, Borden sends Angier to Tesla as part of a wild goose chase. He intends this to remove his main rival from the stage, figuratively and literally, thus allowing Borden to consolidate his status as the top magical performer in London. As for Borden's line "Tesla is the key to my diary but not to my trick", he means exactly what he says. "Tesla" is the key to solving the cypher which Borden's diary is written in, but Tesla has nothing to do with how the Bordens perform their trick. Borden simply commissioned Tesla to build him a fancy box that shoots electrical charges for show; it had no real function. Why did Angier only perform 100 shows? This question is not explicitly answered within the film. One explanation is that by limiting it to a finite number of shows, Angier intended to force Borden's hand. He knew that Borden would be curious about how he did his trick. But if he had an unlimited number of shows then Borden could always put off trying to figure out how it was done.

By limiting the performance to only 100 shows, Angier ensured that Borden would eventually either have to act or be forever in the dark. Angier may also have worried that his will to step into the box, and risk certain death, would flag over time. Limiting the number of shows also limits the possibility that he would eventually chicken out. When Borden shows up at the show, how does Angier know not to appear in the balcony? The answer is not fully spelled out in the film but the obvious answer seems to be that Angier recognized Borden when the latter came on stage to "inspect" the machinery. Since the duplicate has all the knowledge of the original, the Angier who was created knew not to appear. We do see a flashback, seemingly from Angier's perspective, looking down from the balcony onto the audience and hearing Borden screaming for the key. This would only confirm that Angier should disappear, as it was long after he should have appeared to the audience. Why didn't Angier just use one duplicate? Why keep killing them? Angier's final shows of the Transported Man are all geared around framing Borden. He wants Borden to be caught backstage with a version of Angier drowning.

Since he can't know which night Borden would show up, Angier has to actually perform the act each night and actually kill one of his duplicates. It can also be argued that Angier couldn't bear to share the spotlight with anyone - even himself. This is shown when he takes his bow under the stage while using Root as a double. What is the twist at the end of the film? The film actually has two twists, one for each of the rival storylines and how the trick is performed, each of which is revealed near the end of the film: The Borden twist is that Borden and Fallon are a pair of identical twins who take turns as each persona, switching whenever the trick is done. Hence, each time we see a character we used to think of as "Borden" since the beginning of the movie, it was one or the other person, each with his own personality, points of view, privity to certain situations, etc... Which is why when writing on his diary about the day he was asked by Angier which knot did he tie Julia with, he says that one half of him swears that he tied a simple slipknot while the other half is convinced that he used the Langford double.

The Angier twist is that Tesla never was able to fix the teleporter he tried to create. Angier was using the machine as a teleporter for the trick, but each time one of two resulting Angiers fell through a trapdoor during the performance and drowned in the water tank. Why did Cutter betray Angier in the end? Cutter's motivations are never detailed in the film, either at the end or even during the trial. Thus, his motivations are probably varied and contain elements of several possibilities: (1) Cutter may have felt betrayed by Angier. Angier kept the secret of the trick from him and on some level he probably also felt like he was used by Angier. In Cutter's discovery that Angier was not dead, he seemed to realize the real secret of the machine and would have been angry at Angier for allowing Borden to hang. (2) Cutter may have felt guilty for his part in Borden's hanging (not being honest in the trial about not really knowing the trick, not asking the stagehands what really happened at every performance, and claiming that Borden was just watching Angier drown) turned to anger at Angier.

(3) Cutter's motivation may have been to get the machine for himself, presumably to make some money on it. He lied on the stand that he had the rights to sell the machine. When it became clear that he was not going to get the machine to sell (he did not even get the watertank), he tried to buy the machine. Since one of the Borden twins was dead, with Angier dead, he would be the only one with a teleportation trick. (4) Cutter may have been trying to get the machine in order to destroy it; he seems suspicious and somewhat disturbed by it, although this may have been an act on his part, as he is never shown to have reservations about the danger while Angier is alive. (5) Finally, Cutter may have had elements of a more noble motivation. Cutter did not seem pleased that Angier had taken Jess away from her father and Cutter may even have felt he could have done more to prevent Borden from hanging just to keep the secret. (6) Cutter didn't exactly betray Angier. At the end Cutter realized how the competition between Angier and Borden was so toxic and was affecting everyone around them.

Sarah committed suicide, Olivia was caught in a love triangle between the two men before finally leaving, now Borden's daughter was to be left in the care of Angier after Angier let Borden hang. That was probably too much for Cutter to take as he believes Borden's daughter should be with her father. So Cutter decides once and for all that he wasn't going to be involved in their competition anymore and simply washed his hands of the situation by walking past Borden, knowing full well what would probably happen to Angier. Cutter probably knew all along or at least suspected that Borden had a twin brother because he was adamant that the "teleporting man" trick had to be done with a double. Because Cutter is our narrator. He knows all along that Borden uses a double, and he feels that Angier has crossed the line, and worse, has made a huge moral change. We must remember that it was Angier who claimed no interest in "killing doves", but by the end of the film, is prepared to watch any number of people die to serve his ends. Cutter sees this, and sees that Angier has lost it.

As narrator, he needs to be trustworthy to the audience, and thus takes the role of social and moral centre who brings to a close the one "right" solution. Return the child to her father. How closely does the film follow the novel? Those who have both seen the movie and read the book say that the two are quite different. There are some themes and ideas taken from the novel and many of the same character names are used, but the story is very different and even the characters themselves are different individuals. The book is set up as a mysterious frame narrative in a contemporary setting from the point of view of descendants of each of the magicians, and we learn about the rivalry through diary entries read by the descendants as well as their personal experiences and discoveries. Major plot points were completely changed: Julia does not die; Sarah does not die; Borden is not hanged. (He is not even convicted, tried, or accused of killing Angier); Borden and Angier are not colleagues, they barely know each other; Borden does not kill Angier; Cutter is only a minor character. Cutter convinces Angier relatively early in the novel that the Bordens are identical twins.

Later, Angier investigates the birth records and discovers that there is no record of a twin. (Albert has a brother, Freddy, who is 2 years younger, but a photo shows that they look nothing alike, having different builds and facial features. In the novel, this is revealed to have been doctored, and that they had planned their trick from an early age.) Another major change deals with the Tesla machine. In the novel, the machine is clearly shown to be a teleportation device, but does not create living duplicates. The item or person in the machine is teleported to a new location and inert material that looks like the original is left behind (in the novel, Angier refers to these as "the prestige materials"). The prestige materials do not decompose over time, even after a century, but remain exactly as the were at the moment of duplication. The only time two living duplicates are created in the novel is when an incomplete transfer occurs after Borden turns the machine off in mid-teleport. Most of Angier stays behind, but a small mass (he is viewed as a ghostly image) is teleported. There are two distinct minds (with similar memories) with very different bodies.

The teleportation device becomes Angier's way to immorally improve his position in society, because, against Tesla's warnings, he uses it almost entirely to create duplicate gold coins, and sometimes paper money amassing a fortune for his family. At the end of the novel, Angier is in fact still alive, in this ghostly form, even a century after the novel's main Victorian events. The novel even suggests that there is some psychic link between the teleported body and the prestige, suggesting that they think and feel the same to some extent. It makes the ending of the novel more haunting as we imagine he may have lost a part of his "soul" with each teleportation. The end of the novel in fact verifies that the prestige material (the duplicate body) while rigid and immobile, possess a soul. Only one person other than Angier is transported, and this is a child we learn is speaking telepathically with the main narrator of the novel, the grandson of Borden. The "ghost" version of Angier asks him, are you leaving, or staying here with him. Obviously suggests that he is aware that these prestige materials have souls. What does Tesla's machine do? The movie does not explicitly answer this.

The consensus interpretation is that the Tesla machine, whatever it was designed to do, results in two identical copies of an object or person (including memories, personalities, etc). One remains in the Tesla machine, and the other is either created or deposited a short distance away. Angier's lack of knowledge on its workings is part of his character's journey/development.

There are four main possibilities: (1) The original stays in the machine and a duplicate is created at the destination, (like a fax machine) (2) the original is teleported and a duplicate is created within the machine, (Angier went to Tesla for a teleporting machine) (3) the original is destroyed and 2 copies are created, one in the machine and the other at the destination, [A variant of 1,2, & 3 is that instead of the machine creating the copy, the machine pulls the copy from a similar "quantum reality"] (4) some suggest that the machine may randomly switch between the first two option each time it's used (Tesla says "exact science is not an exact science") For example, one time the duplicate might be left in the machine and the next time the trick is performed, the duplicate might be the one to show up elsewhere. What is important is that Angier doesn't know. He says as much when he talks about not knowing if he'd be the man in the box or the prestige. This is intended to indicate just how identical each version of Angier is, including all his memories, character etc. Can Tesla's machine be calibrated to choose the destination?

The novel explains that it is possible for the teleported man to indicate where he will show up. In the film, however, the cats and hats all appear at one spot during Tesla's experiments. Angier never appears at multiple sites, or as far from the machine as the hats and cats. Some viewers have concluded that the mass of the object may be related to the distance of the projection. In one scene, however, Tesla's assistant Alley ( Andy Serkis ) mentions "calibration," suggesting that it is possible to adjust the "destination." He is later said to have written Angier a detailed set of instructions, and when Angier first tests the machine, we see him making a chalk mark on the floor. Presumably he's testing the calibration and making sure the teleported Angier appears at the location he's tried to set. It's also notable that Angier's first double appeared significantly closer to the machine than the subsequent ones who appeared behind the audience during the shows. Where does the new matter for the duplication come from? The question is not answered or even alluded to within the film. Some theories that have been suggested are that the new matter could be created from the machine by converting electricity that powers the machine into mass.

The new matter could be pulled from the "air" (that doesn't exist) or some alternate universe / quantum reality. It is even possible that the machine transmutes some of the mass from the destination (or the machine) into new material. Some viewers have suggested that Angier could be split into two identical beings, each with half the matter of the original Angier. Others have suggested that the machine may just be a prop in an illusion done by Angier, and that the scene with the double being shot is merely Angier thinking of lying to Borden about the machine as the scene is shown in flashback. In the end, there is no provable physics that would account for this duplication. But this is not really the gist of the whole film. The idea is that people will see "Magic" where they want to; as Cutter tells Jess, "You want to be surprised." The average person will not care or understand the reason, especially anything remotely scientific, behind a magic trick. This is why the science (not that there is any) is skirted when it comes to transportation. People don't care. The main point is fooling them.

It may also be an allegory for the way in which Tesla's very real science about alternating current as superior was hamstrung by Edison and Westinghouse, in their greed, thus reducing a very real physics application (which we now use universally, by the way), to a parlor trick. Just so, Cutter (by sympathising with Borden?) eventually dismisses Tesla's machine and Angier's "Transported Man" as tricks. If Tesla was so short of funds, why didn't he simply use the machine to duplicate precious items like gold, jewels, or banknotes? This is never answered in the movie, nor is it even a part of the film. Just because the real Tesla died poor, however, does not mean that the fictional Tesla did. In the fantasy world of the movie, perhaps Tesla did use a Tesla machine to live in the lap of luxury or provide funds for research for the rest of his life. He had the perfect source; all he had to claim was that he had a gold mine. The movie indicates that people had come to this area at this time for gold prospecting. Duplicating banknotes would have been not only been illegal but unethical since banknotes have no intrinsic value.

Duplicating gold, jewels, or other items with intrinsic value would neither be illegal nor unethical. Another possibility is that this is a clue that machine did not duplicate at all, but was just a prop that Tesla sold as a con. One other explanation is that the process of creating such a machine was so unpredictable that he would be simply unsure whether he could create another. The duplication aspect was a glitch rather than being part of the design. The one duplication machine that he had ultimately did not belong to him. Is Borden a Twin or a Clone? Borden, as he explains at the end of the film, is a natural born twin. Other than his word there are several bits of evidence for this. First, Borden is seen to bilocate when he is a struggling magician working in basements. At that point he never could have paid for the duplication machine. Secondly, when Tesla creates the machine he is stymied as to how it works, something which he would not be if he had created one previously. Furthermore, when confronted by Angier, Alley confirms that Tesla never made the machine for another magician before.

Most importantly, when the Bordens see Angier's final show they are totally stymied as to how he does his trick and completely shocked when he shows up alive after he drowned. If they had been duplicates then they would have immediately known, or at least suspected, that Angier was using a duplication machine, especially since they were the ones who sent Angier to Tesla. Another way to tell that the Bordens are natural twins is that they have distinctive personalities. One of them, the Borden hanged by the end of the film, is very rash and hot-headed. The one who lives and is reunited with his daughter is much more reserved, honest, and is willing to accept defeat to end the feud. Are there alternative explanations for the tricks performed by Borden and Angier? The question and answers presented above deal with what is portrayed within the film and as suggested by the film's creators. However, there has been considerable discussion and debate about possibilities not presented within the film. Following are some alternative theories. Are there alternative theories for Borden's trick?

One alternative theory is that Borden at some point learns about the existence of Tesla's machine and creates a duplicate of his own, which he then uses to do "The Transported Man" trick and with whom he shares the "Bernard Fallon" persona. What were Nikola Tesla's famous inventions? | HowStuffWorks What were Nikola Tesla's famous inventions? Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic/ Getty Images Who is Nikola Tesla? He has an electric car company and a rock band named after him. Legendary rock musician David Bowie even played the eccentric scientist in the 2006 movie "The Prestige." Tesla had hundreds of patents registered in his name -- yet he never won a Nobel Prize for his lifelong work with electricity . The inventions and discoveries he made over his lifetime, particularly in the late 1800s, are the basis for much of our modern lifestyle. Let's take a look at his most famous and influential works. Rotating Magnetic Field (1882): Tesla's first breakthrough came when a professor in his native Croatia (he was ethnically Serbian) told him it was impossible to create a motor powered by alternating current (AC) instead of direct current (DC).

Tesla was sure this wasn't the case, and after two years of performing experiments in his mind, the solution came to him like a bolt of lightning: a rotating magnetic field that would allow alternating current to power an engine without being first converted to direct current. AC Motor (1883): Tesla carried detailed plans for this AC motor in his head (a particular talent of his) until he could build a physical model the next year. The alternating current created magnetic poles that reversed themselves without mechanical aid, as DC motors required, and caused an armature (the revolving part of any electromechanical device) to whirl around the motor. This was his rotating magnetic field put into practice as a motor; within two years, he would use it in AC generators and transformers as well. Tesla coil (1890): The electrical coil named for its inventor is one of Tesla's showiest inventions, and he used it to its full dramatic extent in demonstrations held in his New York City lab. The coil uses polyphase alternating currents -- another of Tesla's discoveries -- to create a transformer capable of producing very high voltages. It brought forth impressive crackling sparks and sheets of electric flame that impressed the electrically savvy and the layman alike.

They're primarily used for entertainment today. Radio (1897): Tesla first sent a wireless transmission from his lab at Houston Street in New York City to a boat on the Hudson River -- 25 miles (40 km) away -- in 1897; he would've done this sooner but for a fire that destroyed his previous lab in 1895. Tesla invented everything we associate with radio -- antennas, tuners and the like -- but an inventor named Guglielmo Marconi was given the actual credit. In 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Tesla's patent had precedence, but the public already considered Marconi the father of radio [source: TSMNY ]. Tesla built on these discoveries and inventions to create the first wireless remote control boat, fluorescent and neon lights (which he did indeed bend into letters), wireless bulbs that were lit by energy from the earth and an AC power plant that harnessed the hydroelectric power of Niagara Falls . He even had a hand in the creation of robotics. His system of delivering power to homes and businesses using AC eclipsed the DC power advocated by his former employer Thomas Edison.

(We still receive AC power in our homes today.) By the time Tesla died in 1943, his money and fame were on the wane, but his inventions and discoveries have made much of our current technology possible. Up Next The Tesla Phenomenon The Tesla Phenomenon getmedia/fe611f7d-a1c2-4f24-a00e-340589ccecbf/The-Tesla-Phenomenon_thumb.jpg.aspx?width=60&height=60&ext=.jpg Nikola Tesla at the age of 37. Photo taken in 1893 by Napoleon Sarony. It was an ignoble end for a self-proclaimed genius. Nikola Tesla died broke and alone (and maybe passionately in love with a pigeon) at the Hotel New Yorker in Manhattan in 1943. The prolific inventor had long been overshadowed by his rival, Thomas Edison, who had gained worldwide fame for the light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion-picture camera. Today, more than 70 years later, there is a revival for the man responsible for alternating current and the induction motor. The name Tesla is now considered very cool.

Thomas Edison may have invented movies, and Mickey Rooney played Young Tom Edison while Spencer Tracy starred as Edison, the Man, but there hasn’t been a film about him since 1940. Tesla, on the other hand, is something of a pop-culture phenomenon. In the 2006 Christopher Nolan film, The Prestige, rock musician David Bowie played an eccentric version of Tesla capable of building a teleportation machine. More recently, Jim Jarmusch (director of such films as Mystery Train and Night on Earth) and composer Phil Kline have been collaborating on a “modern baroque opera,” about Tesla in New York. Bernstein Artists, Inc., the New York production company developing the project, describes the opera as “a ‘more or less’ true series of fantasies based on the incredible life of Nikola Tesla …A man has conversations with birds, invents electric ray guns, and makes a ship disappear. The reality presented will be that of dreams or memories. Or myths.” Tesla in his Colorado Springs laboratory with his "Magnifying Transmitter." Image: Wikimedia Commons Tesla’s even a television star. For four seasons of the SyFy series Sanctuary, a fictional version of Tesla has appeared as a part-human, part-vampire scientist.

And celebrity industrialist Elon Musk named his high-end electric car company “Tesla.” Would driving an Edison have the same flash appeal? Maybe we should have seen this coming thirty years ago, when a rock band from Sacramento, CA, named itself Tesla. Ten years later, New York City named the intersection of West 40th Street and Avenue of the Americas the Nikola Tesla Corner. And anyone passing through can rent room 3327 at the Hotel New Yorker where Tesla died. There’s a plaque on the wall verifying it. According to rumor, this is where Tesla, in declining physical and mental health, developed a romantic attachment to an all-white female pigeon. For those eager for more things Tesla, there is the Tesla Memorial Society of New York. Its companion website hosts a searchable database of about 4,200 pages of documents relating to Tesla published in his lifetime. It claims to include every major newspaper article on Tesla from 1886 to 1920 and provides a look at the early days of X-ray, remote control, and robotics, and also at Tesla’s efforts to develop wireless electricity.

Iwona Rudinska, editor of The Tesla Collection, says that part of Tesla’s appeal and the reason that his memory is making such a comeback today is that, “He is comparable to Steve Jobs in that he was a visionary who changed the world.” That’s true of Edison, too. Tesla, she added, was “not just an innovator, but a scientist whose mind operated within a philosophical framework that made his writings fascinating. He was a man who traveled his own road.” View the current and past issues of Mechanical Engineering. [He] was not just an innovator, but a scientist whose mind operated within a philosophical framework that made his writings fascinating. He was a man who traveled his own road. Iwona Rudinska, The Tesla Collection

Question: Which musician played Nikola Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige?
Answer: David Bowie