Original subtitles

[gun cocking]

[gun shot]

[Narrator] What is magic?

The power of magic is not in the trick we think we see.

Oh, my God!

It's the act itself.

The image the magician creates.

[man] Wait, wait, wait!

The way it makes us feel.

[clamoring]

[man] How you did that?

That certain sense...

of childlike... wonder.

How are you doing? Come on, let me show you all something.

Hold your hand out for me

Let me see... Let me see if you're... Oh, perfect.

This is good. See that little triangle right there?

-Yes. -In the center?

I'm gonna mark the triangle with X's, just like that.

-[woman] This is my baby. -Mom.

-Oh, my God. -Go inside, Ma.

No, no. Tell me something.

Did it dry out? Is it dry?

Is it dry? Just rub it a little. Make sure it dried.

That looks dry.

I just need a quarter. Oh, good. Somebody has a quarter.

If we put that in the middle of the triangle, here's what happens. Ready?

What I try to do with this is-- Watch, can you all see?

I take the first X like this and I throw it.

I take the second X... See how I do that? And I throw it.

And I take the third X like this and slide it right under.

See, 'cause right under the quarter, look.

[shouting]

[man] That is crazy.

[man] I'm a tattoo that on my hand.

Out of all the cards in the deck, touch one with your finger.

Touch one that you like. Which one? Right here?

That's what you like? Sign it.

Give it a good signature, I'll hold it nice for you.

Good. You can see it? You signed it? You all see it?

-Yeah -Good. Now look, I do this,

I leave it right here. You shuffle the cards up for me.

Yeah, leave it out.

Mix 'em up, nice and neat. Push it in, yeah.

And give it a good mix. I'm gonna get rid of this.

Good mix. Oh, that's good.

Great, great. Perfect.

-One in the middle? -No, I'd leave it that way.

Now look. Come this way. Keep these cards right here.

Keep these right here so we can see these.

Good. Come right over here.

Right next to-- Good.

You guys, come in. Come over here, I want you all to see this.

Now, hand me a dart.

Give me a dart, give me a lucky dart.

I'm going to try this. All right?

-This is the one? All right. -That's the one right there!

I'm going to try to get this right.

See, 'cause I test his dart, he's gonna get it now.

[shouting]

I told you!

Is that it?

-It's real! -It's gotta be signed!

I can't even explain it. It's like, he's got me speechless.

David Blaine is the [bleep].

-Do you have a dollar I can borrow? -I think. I don't know.

Oh, great. Can I have you just-- Or I'll have you just sign it.

Put your signature.

Oh, that's great.

You can all see that, yeah?

See the signature?

See the bill? Can you all see?

Let me ask you another question, here,

Can you hold your finger like this for me? No, the other...

Just hold this one on the bill.

Now you see on the bill, see the number six?

That always represents the letter F 'cause it's the sixth letter.

Some people don't know about.

That means it's the bank where it was printed.

Look at what we can do.

See, if I take the letter F, see that F? Hold it tight.

And just put my thumb above it and just rub it.

See how I could actually slide it off?

[crowd clamoring]

-Take it. -What did he just do?

Oh, my God.

-What did he do? -He put it on this side.

-Look at it. -Oh, my gosh!

-That's enough for one day. -That is awesome.

This D, he moved it from over here to over here, with his thumb.

-No way! -And I can't even move it back.

You can't move it back?

OK, so here's the idea.

OK, now I want you to hold that number one for me.

Good, now what happens is--

Not too tight. That's good. Tight but not too tight.

-See the letter B? -Mm-hmm.

If I take it, just like this and rub it just a bit...

Just do that rub... Hold tight.

Tight. See, I could actually...

[exclaims]

What the...?

So here's how it works.

Look at all the cards in the deck, right?

Now what I'm saying to you is that the subconscious part of your brain

knows the order of this deck.

-Name any card. Say it out loud. -Two of hearts.

OK, you saw the two of hearts in the deck or not?

-Yeah -OK, good. Put the deck down.

Give it a cut and complete it just so you don't know where anything is.

Good. Great. That's OK. Perfect. Good.

Now what I want you to do is I want you to just remember

the two of hearts as you try to find it.

Flip the deck, anywhere you want it. Just rub your finger and flip it

Go, flip.

[cheering]

How the hell did he do that?

Now I'm going to lose sleep over that, man.

[David Blaine] Six of hearts, go.

That's weird.

-That's real nice. -That's physics straight up.

That's good.

-Say your favorite insect. -A butterfly.

A butterfly? She said a butterfly. Let's call the butterfly. Call it.

-Right now. Butterfly. -Butterfly.

-Yeah. -Butterfly.

-Butterfly. -Oh, look over there!

[kids shouting]

-Can I touch it? -I want to touch it!

-Come back here! -There it goes.

[indistinct yelling]

Magic is all I wanted to do since I was a little kid.

That was my only dream.

I would say, "Mom, I'm gonna be a magician."

And then my mom would say, "That's amazing!"

My mother worked three jobs so I was on my own a lot.

I had to grow up pretty fast.

I was taking the train to school by myself at the age of six.

I remember I'd take the subway from school to here

and then I would walk the two blocks to this library

and because I always carried a deck of cards with me,

I was given books by the librarians that related to card magic.

So I remember as a little kid thinking, "Wow, I want to do things like that."

-Where are we right now? -113th street.

A hundred and thirteen street?

Yeah?

And who used to live here?

-Houdini. -Yeah.

Welcome to Harlem.

You wanna see some magic real quick?

-Hold on, you're on the phone? -Yeah, I'm on the phone.

Ask them... Ask that person-- Hold these for me.

-Who is that? -This is Tasha.

-Tasha? -Yeah, this is Tasha.

-Do I know her? -I don't think you've ever met Tasha.

Ask her if she ever plays the New York lottery.

Have you ever played the New York lottery, Tasha?

-Does anybody here ever play that game? -Do you play the lottery?

-What is it? The mega-millions, right? -Mega's tonight.

Oh, yeah? It's tonight? You know, I bought a ticket.

Ask her to name any number from 1 to 50... What is it? 54.

-Give me one number from 1 to 54. -Yeah.

Yeah, you. Give me one number... All right. She gave me the number.

-What number is it? -You want me to tell you?

-Say it out loud. -30.

-30? -Yeah.

30? She's sure that's the one she wants?

Remember her number.

Oh, that's the ticket right there.

Why don't you name a number for me since you've got it right behind you.

-Say a number. Which one? -25.

25?

Pick one of those numbers on your ticket and say it out loud.

-34. -What number?

-34. -34?

And you got 25 and you got 30 from Tasha, right?

-You got one? -18.

18? 18. So we're already up to how many, four?

So we need two more. How do we randomize that?

-[woman] Seven. -Oh, he just hit one, three?

And who just said seven? You said seven.

So three over here and seven over here.

Now remember, I said I also had a ticket.

[woman] Right.

Let me-- No, no, but I didn't check it if it matched.

I don't know. No, no, no.

[crowd laughing]

No, but look. Look, in my wallet.

No, in my wallet, I keep a New York state lottery ticket, right?

[man] Holy [bleep].

Read the numbers out loud.

Read 'em out loud. Read 'em out loud.

Three, seven, eighteen, twenty five, thirty and thirty four.,

[all speaking indistinctly]

How does he get that number?

-What was your number? -44.

-What was yours? -42.

-What was yours? -[woman] Eight.

-What was yours? -21.

-What was yours? -Five.

-What was yours? -27.

Shut up. It's on the front!

No!

[women cheering]

Shut up, it's on there!

No way!

I do not know what to say.

That is-- that is the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life.

[man] It's nutty.

Do you want me to try something with a bottle?

I gotta use the cap. That's good.

That must be the-- Hold that for me for a second.

Here, give me that bottle. Watch.

Let's see how-- Can I pour this out? Is that all right?

-You're gonna pay for it. -Yeah?

-Yeah. You give me $2 for it. -Can I pour it out?

[all speaking indistinctly]

Where should I pour it? Here, here, look.

Here.

-That's all right, like that? -Yeah

Where's that--

Where's that cap we just had? Oh, here.

How do we get this-- come close, so look. How do we get this like this?

How do we get this? Hold on. Look, look.

Watch how this works. Ready?

Can you all see? Look. Ready.

One, two, three!

[man] Oh, yeah.

[indistinct talking]

Here's your question 'cause once it's too big to get in,

you can't get it out, right?

How do you get this out without breaking it and making a mess?

-[man] That magic you do! -No, no, here. Just do me a favor.

Put your hands right behind it like this, right here.

And just really think about this thing coming out of here.

Just about...

[all] Ohhh!

[indistinct talking]

He broke the bottle.

[David] This is Coney Island,

one of the first places I ever saw a magician perform.

You have a cell phone that takes pictures?

-I do. -Take a picture of his face.

Closer. Get closer. No, no. Turn this way, you can't see it this way.

Turn this way.

And don't even smile, just stare straight.

Yeah, yeah. Just... Yeah, come on.

-I don't know what he do, but... -[David] Yeah.

Can you see it?

All right, so look, I need a dollar.

Oh, you have one? Great.

Look. Perfect.

Hey, here's all I need, look.

Look at Washington's face on the bill.

Look. Can we all see that picture?

-[together] Yeah. -[David] Yeah?

Hold... Hold the bill for me. Right here...

Hold it right there. Now look, if I take the phone...

Watch. When I take the phone.

Can you see?

If I just use this picture, right?

Look, see George Washington?

Right? Watch this.

If I take the bill.

[crowd cheering]

[man] His face's on the bill!

[woman] Oh, my God. That's his face.

[man] Let them see it. Let them see it.

-That is my face. -[David] That's you.

[man] It's my face.

First Black president.

[David] You know how cellphones emit radiation?

Look.

Do you have a recorder or some couple-or some change?

Can we make two phones call,

and two phones call each other at the same time?

[phones ringing] Yeah, there he goes.

Great. Let me see.

Right.

[phone ringing]

Just get 'em close enough.

You try to call mine, that one's callin'...

Yeah, but if two pick up, that should do it.

[crowd cheering]

Nice.

[woman] Oh, my God!

[woman]So we could just do this at home, right?

[David] I think so.

So out of all the cards in the deck, just touch one.

Good. Okay, great.

Put your name on it. Write on it. Here.

Oh, good.

Perfect.

Now hold your fingers, just like this for me.

-This your card. -Yeah.

I use the card like this,

we place it right here, OK?

Do you have a light? A light?

Could you light a match for me?

Now, Aaron, I want you to think of any card for me.

Think of any card.

-Name it. -Jack of clubs.

Jack of clubs? Put that under there.

Yeah... Hold on, I think it's almost done.

Almost done.

Turn it.

[men laughing]

That was crazy, man. That's good stuff.

Wait. Wait, wait, wait...

So do you know where the other card went?

'You know where the card went? That you signed with your name?

Yes, he has it. That's right. How did you know?

You're holding it. Show them.

Turn the matches over.

Light a match.

Light one.

-[David] Open. -[man] Oh, God!

That was bad, man.

[David] Show 'em. Show 'em, show 'em.

Look at that.

[man] Aaron.

Does anybody have a bunch of change?

Oh, good. Pull it all out.

What are these? Are these stretch coins?

-[woman] Yeah, they're-- -[David] I like that.

Have you ever seen a person do that with their fingers?

-No. -Do you want me to try?

-Yeah. -Sure.

Look closely.

I take a quarter, yes? Like this, and I...

Look. No, look. Look, look.

-[David] Can you see? -Uh-huh.

Watch.

[breathing heavily]

[woman] Ew! Oh, God!

Oh, my God!

That's, like, half this.

[David] Look. No machine needed.

No machine needed.

I'm gonna try something...

and I don't do this on TV ever.

Only today.

[crowd cheering]

Let me see if I have a marker,

which I do,

and I need, uh, a dollar.

Uh, can I borrow a dollar, please? Good.

And you take the marker.

Oh, good, good. One dollar. Perfect.

-You take the marker. Take that. -Mm-hmm.

-Can you just sign your name on it? -My name?

Can you all see? You can all see. Sign this.

[man] Yes, we can all see.

[David] Oh, good.

You can all see the signature, yes?

-Yep. Yep. -Like that.

What I do... I use this, to do this.

[woman] Oh!

OK.

-[woman] Did he just... -[woman 2] Yeah.

[man] Finish it.

[man] How does it taste?

His signature.

[indistinct conversations]

[man] Taste good?

Oh, you swallow it?

-What? No! -OK.

[crowd cheering]

[indistinct conversations]

[woman] Oh, my goodness!

It don't stop. It never stop.

[David] So Houdini's famous trick was that,

he would take punches from people, but...

I don't think they had people that were as scary as Kimbo Slice.

[men grunting]

Houdini actually died by getting punched in the stomach

when he wasn't ready for it.

[men grunting]

Pretty much rupture the liver, break a spleen...

Pretty much from a shot to the body.

You know...

So this is pretty serious.

[crowd cheering]

Into my office.

[breathing deep]

I'm ready.

-You're gonna go right here. -Right there.

[David groans]

Man...

-Whoa! -That sounded pretty solid.

I am impressed.

-Should we do one more time? -[man] Yeah, one more time

[indistinct yelling]

Hey, man, he's calling me out.

He's calling me out.

Just tell me when again.

-Uh-oh. -Ready?

Yeah.

-Ooh! -[man] See?

Damn!

God!

You're still standin', man.

Wow!

Wow!

I aimed right to that location. I wanted to set him down.

I turned into it. I put everything into it.

I went full throttle. You know what I'm sayin'?

I hit him. I hit him hard.

-It was badass, man. -You are badass, man.

[man] Damn, Dave.

I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it.

[man] That's right. I wouldn't do it.

You guys, come here, and I'll show you a li'l somethin'.

So out of all these cards, take one out that you like.

You know, whatever you like.

The king of hearts?

Put your name on it just so, you know, so we know it's your card

with your signature.

[indistinct conversation]

All right, you can all see this, right? You all see that little signature?

Now look what I do. Hold... Let me take this.

Hold your hand palm-up for me, just like this.

Now look, I use the card like this.

Put your other hand on top of it like a sandwich.

Here's the hard part. How do I get-- OK, the four of spades...

How do I get the four of spades from here?

Watch closely.

-That's it. See? -Damn!

-[man] No! -[man] Oh, man!

Come on, man!

In your hand!

-You're in on this. -Right, that's right.

-You're in on this. -Yeah.

Training camp is over.

[car beeping]

[man] Oh! Oh!

[speaking indistinctly]

[rooster crows]

-[David] Do you have a quarter on you? -[man] No, sure don't.

Whose quarter was it, yours?

See that boy in that four-wheeler over there.

Let me see that. Now...

Put your name on it for me.

-Put my name on it? -Yeah.

-Give it a good little signature. -Want my initial?

All right, that's good.

Let the camera see the quarter, as well.

Hold it.

[David] Are you, uh... What hand is yours, righty or lefty?

-Stay here so you can see this. -I'm a righty.

Hold your right hand out for me.

Now look, here's what we do with the coin.

Squeeze the coin in your hand.

-Mm-hmm. -Not too hard.

Now this is about...

You know this... Hold your other hand out.

Loosen, loosen... Loosen the fingers, just loose.

Now look, relax.

-See when I do that? -Yeah.

See how your fingers kinda go in, like, the grip?

-Right. -I'm gonna do that on this hand.

-OK. -As I do it, you're gonna squeeze. Ready?

-OK. -Squeeze.

See? It makes you stronger when I do that?

-'Cause it adds to the... -Right.

-Ready? One more time, squeeze. -Yeah.

-I'm 58 years old now-- -Open. Open.

Well, son of a gun, boy!

Oh, man! Oh, God!

How in the world did you do that? I'd never believe that.

Come here. Look 'what they've done to your quarter.

-Come and look what they've done to it. -Come and look at your quarter.

Come and look at your quarter, what I've done to it.

-You won't believe it. Come here! -Oh, man!

[man] Do they cockfight up around where y'all at?

-[David] Nah. -[man] Oh, we cockfight down here.

-[David] Do they bet on it? -[man] Oh, yeah. Big money.

-Hey, we got better than that. -Yeah.

We got churches down in here handling copperheads and rattlesnakes.

They get a handful of 'em, get out, praise the Lord, play electric guitars...

and they'll be having five or six copperheads or rattlesnakes in their hand.

[David] Let me try somethin'.

Take this.

Take a card out.

Put your name on it.

-On the back or the front? -[David] On the face. Good question.

Right.

[man] Yeah, he graduatin' this year.

We got one out of 190 that's graduatin'.

[man 2] Yeah, he's that. I'm pretty sure it's him.

[indistinct conversations]

-[David] All right, that's good. -[man] They got a camera down here.

[woman] I don't wanna be over there.

-Come over here. -[woman] No!

-Come over here. -[indistinct conversations]

Look, this is...

-See this? See the card? -Yeah, now, I looked it.

Yeah?

Look, here's what I do, I place it in the middle of the deck, right?

Just like that. In the middle.

Name a suit for me.

A suit other than the suit of your card.

Just name one to eliminate.

-Spade. -Spade?

Eliminated.

Eliminate another suit, not the suit of your card.

-Eliminate another one. -Club.

Club? Eliminated.

Look, I'm gonna show you that I'm not kidding.

Yours is a diamond? Eliminated. Watch.

First I get rid of the spades, 'cause you said those first.

See how they start to just disappear?

Then I get rid of the clubs.

See how they start to disappear?

-Then I get rid of the diamonds. -[man] Evil.

[David] See? The whole deck disappears.

All except for what's left, the hearts, plus your card.

[man] Look at that, Allen.

-Oh, my God. -You'd smoke your dad.

Y'all know how long he's gon' last down here?

-He'd last for long time. -I don't know if he would or not.

He'd take somebody's money in a poker game easy.

-And the whole deck would be gone. -Where did the cards go?

We're gon' have to protect 'im down there.

Where'd they go, Scotty?

Hell, if I knows.

♪ We'll help you get there, magic man ♪

♪ Dum dum dum We'll help you get there, magic man ♪

♪ Dum dum dum We'll help you get there, magic man ♪

♪ Dum dum dum We'll help you get there, magic man ♪

♪ Dum dum dum You're gonna get there, magic man ♪

♪ Dum dum dum If you get outta here, magic man ♪

[All laughing]

[man] Do you want me to go get my guitar?

[David] You see all the different cards?

Take one out.

Now say, "Stop."

-[woman] Stop. -OK, put it back.

Now look, what happens.

If you get it right...

See, I think...

Here, let me just...

If you get this one just right...

See how you can kinda...

-[David] See how one card... -[woman] Oh, my God.

Are you kidding me?

[David] Show that. Show that.

Oh, my God.

Do me a favor, just think of a card,

and, uh... name it out loud.

-Eight of hearts. -Eight of hearts?

Just touch a card, touch one.

-Which one? -This one.

-Are you sure? -Yes.

-So this is the one you want? -Mm-hmm.

Yep. Ace of hearts.

-[whispers] I said "eight." -Oh.

-I said "eight." -Oh, you said "eight," not Ace?

-OK, yeah... You misheard me then. -No, no, that's...

-Well... But hold on, you know what? -Sorry.

-Here's what we do. -OK.

-Hold your fingers like this. -Sorry, I didn't speak clearly.

You know, sometimes... No, no it's my fault. Look.

-Let me just do this. -OK.

Um, hold it right in the middle for me.

Hold it. Yeah

I want you to squeeze it as hard as you can.

[woman] I came back.

-You said your card was an eight. -Oh, an eight, yes.

-Not the ace. -Right.

Turn the card over for me.

Squeeze it tighter. Yeah. Oh!

Let me see what you did with your fingers.

-[David] What's that? -[women gasp]

[woman] OK.

-Like, no way! -[women laughing]

[woman] Really?

Name a number. Say it.

No, no, you say it. Go ahead. Say it.

-What number? -10.

Done! Look!

Six, Nine, switched.

[all laughing]

Oh, I didn't show it in the front.

-You know why I didn't show it, right? -[man] Why?

I was busy tryin' to make myself a little profit.

You know what I mean?

Well, I noticed somethin'. I noticed those...

[all laughing]

[man] Oh, my God!

I'll let him handcuff me. Here.

-He can handcuff me. -Handcuff him.

The only problem is, my watch might be too big if you do that.

Bro, how the hell did you get my watch, bro?

[all laughing]

-[man] He stole your watch! -[screaming]

Hell no! Hell no!

I'm outta here.

Before-before my gun go missin'.

[David] Tell me what happened.

So Katrina came in, everybody got wiped out?

[man] Yeah.

-[woman] He was stuck down here. -[man] I was swimmin' in it.

[woman] He was in a convention center for days.

I was in a convention center for six days.

Oh, well, I swimmed up to the bridge and then I saw somebody

had let me get on their boat.

-[woman] Devastating. -Mess your-mess your mind up, man.

Is your mum or dad here?

[indistinct]

You guys like magic?

Yeah!

-We'll try somethin'. -Papa!

Papa!

How you doin', my man?

What's happenin', man?

All right, you wanna see somethin'?

Look, I'm gonna show you somethin' real quick.

-Touch one. -Anyone?

Yea-yea-yeah, touch. Which one? Seven?

-Mm-hmm. -All right, good.

Put your signature on it. Full signature.

Put the whole signature right there.

Yeah, that's good.

That's perfect. Good. Now, D, look.

Could you do me a favor?

Could you hold your fingers just like this?

Now look, I use, I use your card like this.

Watch, here's what we do.

Ready? I use it

and you hold on to it just like that. Now, listen.

Think, think of--

No, I need a light.

-I need a light. -A light?

-Yeah. -A lighter?

No, matches are good. That's perfect.

This is the fastest one that we can do.

Take one-one match

and think of a card.

Think of your favorite card, let's say.

Light one.

Carefully, hold-hold the...

Hold that match under the card. Carefully, underneath.

Carefully, underneath.

You're thinking of a card?

Name your card.

-Ace of spades. -Ace of spades?

Turn over the... Turn it over. Turn it over.

Whoa!

-Come on! -Wait! Wait! Wa-wa-wait!

Stop! Wait! I wanna say one thing.

D, listen to me, right now, wait, listen,

listen to me D, no, right now--

D, right now you're wonderin'

where your seven of spades is, right?

-D? D. -Wait a minute.

You're wonderin' where your card is right?

-Yeah. -You're holdin' it in your hand.

-How? -You're holdin' it in your hand.

Right here, look. Just gotta flip it over.

What the [beep]?

-Oh, lord! -Open it. D, let me see it.

-Hold up, hold up. -Let me see it.

[man] I need a cigarette.

You serious? Hold up!

-How-- You serious? -Yeah, he's serious.

[indistinct]

-Man, what? You serious? -Come on, D.

Man! Yeah that...

-The matchbox feel so cold. -Man!

Man, I'm really flipped out there, boy.

Man!

I do really need to go smoke.

[stammers] How you did that?

Can I have, uh, bills? You got a bill?

-Oh, good! Can I take all of 'em? -Mm-hmm.

All right, so look. We got one.

-Can you all see? -Mm-hmm.

Two,

three,

you see, four,

five.

One, two, three, four, five.

Here's the idea, look.

If I get this just right, right?

Look.

-[screaming] -Hundred dollar bills.

[indistinct]

Wait, wait, wait.

You serious?

-For you. -Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

-[woman] What? -How you-how you did that?

Wait, wait, wait, wait.

How you did that? How-how you did that?

That's yours.

[clamoring]

-We will never know. This has been-- -Wait a minute, wait a minute.

We will never know.

How in the name of God did you that?

-[David] Look at it. -It's real.

The real thing.

I got my very own $100 bill.

Oh, my God. [Indistinct]

And you turn it into 5000?

We on hard times down in here.

I wanna know how he did that, man.

[clamoring]

[woman] You will never know.

It's amazin', right there.

[woman] I would love to say, thank you, David.

Us people need it.

I feel blessed, I mean, I had a mother that...

gave me unconditional love and gave me everything in the world

that she could.

But she didn't give me things.

What she gave me was 100% belief

that anything is possible. There is no limitations.

I think she'd be proud but worried with those stunts.

A little bit, well.

I probably wouldn't do those things.

You think I would do those things if my mother was alive?

In a weird way, you become free almost 'cause you're not afraid of death.

[David] So today is September 20th,

and the goal is, I'm gonna have a 22 caliber bullet

fired from a rifle,

into a little

steel cup in my mouth.

Now, obviously, there's not much margin for error.

Well, if somethin' was to go wrong, if the metal cup didn't catch,

if they aimed a little too high, a little too low.

I mean, a lot of things could go wrong.

22 caliber, the way that works

is if it makes entry into, entry into your skull,

it'll just bounce around and cause a lot of damage.

This is Bill [indistinct].

Bill is a magician and a very good friend of mine

for about 16 years and he's actually the one

that's gonna be firing the 22 caliber bullet

from the rifle at me.

There's only one person that I would trust to actually do this, in the world.

He was busy so Bill's here.

We have a 22 caliber rifle

that shoots 22 caliber bullets.

It's very accurate. It's used in the Olympics.

I have a-a mouth guard that I'm gonna put in.

And then I have a metal cup that I'm gonna put in,

So, he basically just has to hit right into the middle

while this is in my mouth.

There's only one guy that's ever done it this way in history,

His name is Carl Skenes and he's here and he's been helping me with everything.

-Do you think it's real or its a trick? -It's for sure real.

-How do you know? -Um, 'cause Carl's my dad.

-[laughing] -Oh, Jesus! Wow!

-I guess you know. -For sure.

We have two high speed phantom cameras here.

These are shooting at 10,000 frames a second,

so you will see that bullet fly.

How do you feel about it?

Well, you know, I'm... a little nervous about it

because it's life and death.

How many famous magicians have died doing this?

Or not famous but performed it.

-How many have died that... -That we know of.

That we know of? In the neighborhood of 20?

The latest guy who died was a guy named Zomba Powers

That was his stage name.

He was an African magician who traveled around.

He was in Ghana, just last June.

Hands a rifle to the guy... [mimics gun] Kills him.

Then the guys throws the gun down and runs away. They never found the guy.

We're gonna get used to holding the cup in my hand so that I can feel the impact

that I have to deal with.

If my-if my arm even flinches just a bit

one of my fingers will come right off so...

If there's any discrepancies, we won't do it.

[man] Guys, there's a chance of a ricochet in this shot

so if you're not directly involved with this,

I need everyone behind the shooting post.

I think it's just as nerve-racking to shoot it with fingers.

You got a lot less room for error there, man.

You have such a small target.

I can't see through the scope.

I just gotta say this,

do you-do you need to do this?

I think it's good for a comfort

-I think it's good for a comfort thing. -All right.

[man] All right, hold still, David.

[woman] David, are you ready?

Bill, are you ready?

Ready.

David, are you still ready?

-Proceed. -[gun shot]

Should we give it a shot?

[Bill] I'm ready.

Let's just do it. All ready?

-Pat? All good? -[man] All cameras are ready.

Crash, you're good?

Talbot, you're good?

Ramirez?

My man right here, you good?

You got a full tape, you got full stock, full battery, the whole thing?

Anybody has an, uh, a bad feeling, just say "cut".

Something's off, something's not right,

Bill, you wanna read anything, just...

[man] OK, step back. Move a bit.

Yep, that's fine.

Now up, just slightly.

Just a little bit.

Little bit up.

Little bit, no. Little down.

Little down.

Little left, too much, OK.

All right.

I'm ready.

[woman] David, are you ready?

Bill, are you ready?

Ready.

[machine whirring]

David, are you still ready?

Proceed!

[crowd applauding]

[cheering]

[applause continues]

That was [beep] cool!

[crowd cheering]

[narrator] What is magic?

When the magician provokes us into wonder.

When he demonstrates the impossible.

Wow!

We ask ourselves, how?

Why?

The answer is...

it's all magic.

Magic! You do magic?

What is magic?

Man! This dude took them one dollar bills and--

-Five dollars. -Wait a minute.

Hold up. And look, look, look.

[stammering] I put a fire to the...

I put a fire to the card.

You put a fire to this?

Look. Look. Look.

That's a box of matches.

This is a box of matches. Look.

He had the card...

He had the card like this.

-[man] Show me the box. Show me the box. -All right. Look.

I took one match out and I struck the match,

and I put it under the card

and next thing I know... Look, look.

And turned it over, it was this card.

And I unfolded it,

and this was the matchbox, my card I signed on.

Yeah. Yeah, that one. He had a bent one in his pocket.

-[speaking indistinctly] -How you did that?