“You’ve probably seen a lot of those shows – Mentalists, Magicians, Illusionists and wondered if they’re the real deal. Your skepticism tells you it’s just an act. That way, you can sleep at night. You’d be shocked to know that sometimes, not often, but sometimes, it is the real deal, masquerading as an act, hiding behind a few 50-dollar tricks, hiding in plain sight. Because if the magician doesn’t do that…the alternative is impossible to live with…”
-Cris Johnson in Next
In Revolution Studios’ sci-fi thriller Next, Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage stars as Cris Johnson, a Las Vegas magician with a secret gift that is both a blessing and a curse: He has the uncanny ability to tell you what will happen next.
Johnson can see a few minutes into the future, an extrasensory talent that comes in handy for his job as a magician and mentalist in a seedy Vegas club where he performs nightly. It also has its uses at the blackjack tables when Cris needs some extra cash.
But his talent is no mere parlor trick, and his dexterity with the portals of time has not gone totally unnoticed. Vegas security guards are watching through their all-seeing casino floor cameras, eager to decipher his knack for consistently beating the odds. And FBI counter-terror agent Callie Ferris, played by Oscar nominee Julianne Moore, is eager to tap his brain to help thwart a terrorist group’s planned attack on Los Angeles with a weapon of mass destruction.
With the nuclear time bomb ticking, Cris Johnson could be key in averting a nuclear holocaust. If he doesn’t use his powers to back-channel through the right portals and change the present, his future – and the future of hundreds of thousands – could be a thing of the past.
Revolution Studios and IEG Virtual Studios Present A Saturn Films/Broken Road Production directed by Lee Tamahori, Next, starring Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage, Academy Award nominee Julianne Moore, Jessica Biel, Thomas Kretschmann, Tory Kittles and Peter Falk. The film is directed by Lee Tamahori from a screenplay by Gary Goldman, Jonathan Hensleigh and Paul Bernbaum and a screen story by Goldman based on the short story The Golden Man by Philip K. Dick. The producers are Nicolas Cage, Norm Golightly, Todd Garner, Arne L. Schmidt and Graham King. The executive producers are Gary Goldman, Jason Koornick and Ben Waisbren.
The film’s sharp, fast-paced look is evoked by director of photography David Tattersall, BSC. The production designer is William Sandell. The editor is Christian Wagner. The costumes are designed by Sanja Milkovic Hays. The music is by Mark Isham. Next is distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violent action and some language.