Abracadabra, insecurity! Justice Smith talks approach to twisty ‘Now You See Me’ character

Justice Smith plays one of the new, up-and-coming magicians in Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, and without giving too much away, his character, Charlie, is certainly more than what meets the eye.

“[Director] Ruben [Fleischer] and I talked a lot about the specific nuances of Charlie’s front-facing personality,” Smith tells ABC Audio.

Smith describes Charlie as “the ultimate magic nerd” who “has such a reverence” for the Now You See Me franchise’s original characters, the Four Horsemen, played by Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco and Isla Fisher. Mostly, though, he “shies away from the spotlight” while he works behind the scenes for the benefit of the other members of his troupe, played by Dominic Sessa and Ariana Greenblatt.

“It was important for me to try and slip in as much insecurity as I could into Charlie,” Smith laughs. “Like, making sure I apologized in, like, every scene I could, or I freaked out … every time I met one of [the Horsemen].”

“Sorry” might be the word Smith says the most as Charlie in the film, much of which was off-script.

“All the fanboy moments I improvised, all the ‘sorries’ I improvised,” Smith says. “Except for the one in the scene with Isla. I think that was scripted.” 

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, the third film in the franchise, is in theaters now. It opened at #1 at the box office.

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