David Copperfield Magic is Sharing of Wonder

Hailed by audiences and critics as the greatest illusionist of our time, David Copperfield has elevated the ancient art of magic to new heights and redefined it along the way. He has vanished the Statue of Liberty, walked through the Great Wall of China, flown through the air. Copperfield’s approach to his venerable art has transformed the way the world looks at magic.

Journalist: Is there anyone in this world who knows all the secrets of your magic?

Copperfield: No.

Journalist: No? Not even a single person?

Copperfield: No.

Journalist: But you yourself know everything, right?

Copperfield: Right, that’s correct.

Journalist: How can you make sure other people don’t know -- you have to work with other people, right?

Copperfield: Yeah, but they, some, for some pieces... people have to know 1)portions, but no one person knows everything. Even when we construct the stage, it’s constructed with many different people who build individual things. No one person does the entire thing, so it’s good.

Journalist: Do you have any plans, like you will tell everything to your kids in the future?

Copperfield: I don’t think so. I think it would be better for magic to not tell and have people be 2)motivated to come up with their own way of doing things, invent something new not take the easy way out. And I think that’s what I’m going to do, probably.

Journalist: What kind of world are you living in? Do you think you’re living in a sort of 3)isolated 1 world in some way?

Copperfield: No, because I’m sharing it. I’m not isolating 2 it. I’m sharing the stories, I’m sharing the wonder with people. So, it’s not isolated at all, you know it’s just what’s behind it. It’s like a singer sharing their music, a sort of sharing the music. They don’t have to know the process to create it. They don’t have to see how the 4)vocal 3 cords are 5)vibrating, or know exactly how difficult it is to play the instrument. All that matters is that you’re sharing the result, the beauty of the result, and that’s what we do.

Journalist: But I heard when you saw 6)Claudia, you even had to sign a contract with her, so that she wouldn’t tell any other people about what you’re doing every day, how you do your magics. Look, you even can’t share everything with the most 7)intimate person.

Copperfield: No, but that really wasn’t about the secrets of the magic, per se, that was really, you know, a more, a publicity 4 thing saying that secrets are important. She really didn’t know what was behind the scenes, per se, she didn’t want to know. It’s so funny that the smartest people really don’t want to know.

Journalist: Why is that?

Copperfield: I did a Broadway show and Francis Ford 5 Coppola was my 8)collaborator. He is the guy that directed The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, a great film director. And he came to many, many 9)rehearsals of the show, and he didn’t want to know how anything worked. Even his associates that were working with him would try to take him behind the scenes to see it and he wouldn’t want to see. And I thought that was great, because he wanted to feel the amazement 7 and feel the wonder and not spoil it for him. I think that says a lot. CE

05、大卫·科波菲尔

魔术是一个美好的分享

记者：这世界上有没有人知道你所有的魔术秘密？

科波菲尔：没有。

记者∶没有？一个也没有？

科波菲尔：没有。

记者：只有你自己才知道一切？

科波菲尔：对，是这样。

记者：你怎样确保不让别人知道？你也要和别人合作的，是不是？

科波菲尔：是的，但每人只是各知一部分……他们得要知道部分内容，但不会有人全盘了解。甚至搭建舞台也是这样，舞台是由很多不同的人一起搭成的，他们各搭一部分。没有知道全部，这点很不错。

记者∶你想不想将来把一切秘密都告诉你的孩子？

科波菲尔：不想。我认为保持魔术的秘密更好，更能推动人们自己去创新，想出新的点子，而不是坐享其成。我想，我自己也会这么做。

记者：你的世界是怎样的？你是否认为从某种程度上说，你是生活在一个孤立的世界里？

科波菲尔：不是的，因为我在和人们一起分享。我并不孤立，而是在与人们分享这些故事，分享惊奇的感受。所以根本不存在孤立，只不过是带着秘密。这就像歌手与人们分享音乐一样，但人们分享音乐并不用非得知道音乐的制作过程。他们不用亲眼看着声带是怎样振动的，也不用知道弹奏乐器有多难。重要的是你分享了这个结果，一个美好的结果，我们的目的正在于此。

记者：我听说你和克劳蒂亚约会时，甚至也要和她签协议，好让她不能向别人公开你每天做什么和你的魔术秘密。所以你看，你甚至连最亲密的人也在提防。

科波菲尔：不，那其实和保守魔术秘密无关，那只是要宣传魔术秘密的重要性。她根本不知道魔术秘密，她也不想知道。有趣的是，最聪明的人往往都不想知道秘密。

记者：为什么？

科波菲尔：我跟法兰西斯·福特·科波拉一起合作过百老汇表演。他导演过《教父》和《现代启示录》，是个很棒的导演。他曾多次来看过表演彩排，但他却不想知道效果是怎么做出来的。就算和他一起工作的同事想带他参观幕后，他也不要。我觉得这很棒，因为他要感受到那份惊讶，以及那份惊喜，不想把这感觉给破坏了。我想，这很能说明一切。CE