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Actors took magic lessons for their roles

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Movie is third installment in film franchise

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Director and cast tried to avoid special effects

By Danielle Broadway

LOS ANGELES, Nov 11 (Reuters) -

For Ariana Greenblatt, learning magic tricks at The Magic

Castle clubhouse in Los Angeles was the best part of starring in

the third installment of the American heist film, "Now You See

Me: Now You Don't."

"Before opening hours, we would spend a couple hours in there

and just learn as much as we possibly could in the time given,

and it was so much fun," the former Disney Channel star said of

the month the actors spent at the home of the Academy of Magical

Arts learning illusions seen in the film.

"It's so weird. I feel like we have newfound skills, which

is my favorite part of this job," said Greenblatt, who received

several film award nominations for her role in "Barbie."

The new movie, directed by Ruben Fleischer, features

returning actors Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco,

Isla Fisher and Morgan Freeman, along with newcomers Justice

Smith, Dominic Sessa, Rosamund Pike and Greenblatt.

The film, distributed by Lionsgate and opening in U.S.

theaters on Friday, continues the story of "The Four Horsemen"

as they reunite to recruit three skilled illusionists for a

high-stakes robbery of the world's largest "queen diamond" from

a crime syndicate.

"We learned so much, ... a lot of card tricks," said Sessa,

whose debut in "The Holdovers" earned him the Critics' Choice

Movie Award for Best Young Performer. "Ariana did a lot of

pickpocketing (in her role), and she was constantly trying to

use me as her prop to practice on."

For franchise veteran Franco, the magic tricks he learned over

years of working on the films paid off.

"We're playing the greatest magicians in the world. So, as

an audience, when you're watching us, you want to believe that

we're actually doing some of these tricks," he said.

"Our director, Ruben, encouraged us to learn as much as we could

to make it look as real as possible," he added, noting that his

card-throwing skills have become especially advanced.

It was important to Fleischer and the cast that the

illusions looked convincing.

"The director really wanted to make sure that the magic was

real, that it wasn't just computer-generated effects, which

meant for us as actors, practicing every day, the tiniest little

hand moves," fellow franchise veteran Eisenberg said.