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David Copperfield talks about summer camp, nasty rumors, Enron, women's underwear and making Mike Alstott disappear.
By THOMAS ZUCCO, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 8, 2002
He dated Claudia Schiffer. He levitated across the Grand Canyon. And now he says he's going to do something the entire Green Bay Packers defense couldn't do: make 250-pound Buccaneer fullback Mike Alstott disappear.
Illusionist-magician David Copperfield, who also made the Statue of Liberty, an airplane and several other large objects vanish, will send himself, Alstott and several other people to Hawaii during performances at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center Friday through Sunday.
No waiting in line at airport. No rotten airline food. Just gone in a puff of smoke.
If you believe.
We caught up with Copperfield before a recent performance in Fort Myers.
Question: How about a real quick preview of your new show? You're going to pull a Capt. Kirk and instantly transport a group of people from Tampa to Hawaii?
Answer: It's based on the idea that people close their eyes and dream of a perfect place. I get signatures from the audience, they sign my body, take photos, and we hang ourselves over the audience's head and vanish and reappear on the beach in Hawaii, with the signatures and the Polaroids.
Question: Wow. Another blow to the airline industry. Anything else?
Answer: Fifty people travel with me to make the show happen, and I do lots of other things. I get cut in half with a laser, I make women's underwear change places while they're still wearing them . . . .
Question: Just how is that done? Speaking as a professional, of course.
(Silence.)
Question: Mike Alstott, the Bucs fullback -- how did you talk him into doing this? The frequent-flier miles? All the leis?
Answer: I think someone from my team talked to him.
Question: You a football fan?
Answer: Yeah. In fact, I predicted the results of the Super Bowl last year. The one in Tampa. The exact score, too.
(We checked. He did.)
Question: You picked the winning team and the exact score. You made a fortune, right?
Answer: No. It was locked and sealed in a box and kept in the mayor's office in Tampa.
(Sounds of reporter weeping.)
Question: So Ravens or Patriots? Who did you like this year?
Answer: To be honest, I was in the middle of doing other stuff, so I hate to tell you, but I'm not an expert this year.
Question: Join the club, my friend. So anyway, there are lots of illusionists and magicians out there. . . . Why are you different?
Answer: I like telling stories. I like taking people's dreams and making that the basis of what I do. Like the dream of flying that everybody shares. And I used to make it snow in the theater because a lot of people have that same dream. Or they think of a beach.
Question: I dream about Sandra Bullock.
(Silence.)
Question: So, who's the next great illusionist?
Answer: I'm not sure. But if you do something really special, it lasts. It's like in directing. . . . Orson Welles was a friend of mine, and Citizen Kane is still so great. He was a magician. He loved magic."
Question: Yes, he was a big man in his field.
(Silence.)
Question: So you made the Statue of Liberty disappear, you walked through the Great Wall of China, you levitated over the Grand Canyon, you escaped from Alcatraz. . . . Good lord, man, what's left?
Answer: I've really gotten involved in going inside people's hearts and dreams. This idea of traveling around the world.
Question: How did Sept. 11 affect you?
Answer: I was there. I watched it happen. From my apartment I saw a plane fly past my window really close. A little too close. I walked outside and it just . . . it sucked. It was really bad.
Question: Why do some people have a hard time with magic? They just can't seem to relax and go with it.
Answer: That's okay, too. They're welcome, too.
Question: It takes you years to develop a new illusion. . . . Why?
Answer: It's a long process and a lot of trial and error. It's like making a feature film. And I do most of the work on tour. In fact, when I'm finished with you, I'm going to the theater to work on a new thing that will go into the show tonight. In kind of rough form.
Question: What's the most impressive magic trick or illusion you've ever seen?
Answer: I think the birth of a child. Things that amaze me are things that are around us every day.
Question: Which brings me to Project Magic, a program in which disabled people are taught simple magic tricks. That's very important to you. How did it start?
Answer: A young magician was writing me letters, and it turns out he never mentioned that he was disabled. He perceived himself as able-bodied because he had a skill that able-bodied people have. I thought he had a great self image, and I thought back to my childhood and how magic made me feel special and that I could achieve things.
Question: You were born and raised in Metuchen, N.J. Where is that?
Answer: Central Jersey. Right in the middle.
Question: I was a counselor at the YMCA Camp of the Oranges near Newton, N.J.
Answer: What? I went to a YMCA camp. Was it a day camp or a sleepover?
Question: Sleepover. The girls' camp was Minisink and the boys' was Kittatinny.
Answer: I went to Camp Kittatinny!
Question: Amazing. But we're close to the same age. You couldn't have been a camper there when I was a counselor. You're what? 46?
Answer: 45.
Question: Great place, wasn't it?
Answer: Oh, yeah. Someday I want to open a camp. Just for fun. You can go back and be a counselor.
Question: Right. When this newspaper gig dries up. Which could be any second now. So, is it fun being David Copperfield?
Answer: Sometimes. There's a lot of stress.
Question: How do you alleviate that? What do you do in your down time?
Answer: I shop for antiques. Restore arcade machines. . . .
Question: On your Web site, you address the Claudia Schiffer rumors ("We had six happy years together but we broke up. We were married to our careers. We're still friends.") and the gay rumors ("Gimme a friggin' break. Of course not. Besides, if I were, I wouldn't hide it.") What do you make of all this?
Answer: A lot of people are on major drugs. What can I tell you? There's a lot of crack out there. Some of your colleagues are f--- up. You've got to understand that.
(Silence.)
Question: So, do you want to get married some day, start a family?
Answer: Sure. Sure I do.
Question: Are you dating anyone now?
Answer: Yes. Got a girlfriend. (Belgian model) Ambre Frisque. We've been seeing each other for two years.
Question: What do you do that almost no one else knows you do?
Answer: I'm funny. People who haven't seen my show don't think of me as funny. But we have a lot of fun.
Question: Speaking of magic tricks and illusions . . . how did the Enron executives make all that money disappear?
Answer: In the next few months we'll discover the secret to that.
Question: You grew up at a time when Leave It to Beaver was on TV . . . the wholesome late '50s and early '60s. Things are so much different now. Does that make it easier or harder for a magician to entertain people?
Answer: Well, I'm not that wholesome. (Laughs.) I love Leave It to Beaver, and I love wholesomeness, but I also like being unwholesome. I have a dark side. Not too dark, of course.
Question: Last question. Houdini vs. Copperfield . . . who'd win?
Answer: I'm alive, man (more laughter). Pretty soon, we'll be equal. But not that soon. I've got better-looking girlfriends, that's for sure.
David Copperfield performs at 8 p.m. Feb. 15, at 1, 4 and 8 p.m. Feb. 16, and at 1, 4 and 7 p.m. Feb. 17 at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in Tampa. Tickets are $24.50-$45.50. Call (813) 222-1001.