Criss Angel reveals details of his exploding building stunt

Rockstar magician and illusionist Criss Angel variously calls the event his “most challenging escape ever” and “the most dangerous thing I have attempted in my career” -– a stunt in which he’ll flee a building set for destruction and rigged with hundreds of pounds of explosives before 4,500 tons of concrete come barreling down on top of him.

Handcuffed to a seventh-floor balcony, the Sin City sensation will have just three minutes and 30 seconds to get through a series of locked doors and climb three flights of stairs to the roof. His salvation: a helicopter hovering above with a dangling 30-foot ladder. The event will be broadcast live at 7 tonight on “Mindfreak,” Angel’s popular A&E show.

Just days before making his way to Florida for the “demonstration” (the New Jersey-born 41-year-old feels it cheapens things to call them “tricks”), Angel sat down with a reporter before a taping of “The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson” to answer a few questions about the building escape -– but, more importantly, its affect on his new Cirque du Soleil-produced show, “Criss Angel: Believe,” which cost a reported $100 million to produce. "Believe" premieres at Las Vegas’ Luxor Resort Hotel and Casino in October.

Complete conversation after the jump...

Criss Angel: On July 30, I will do my most challenging escape ever. I will be manacled in front of thousands of viewers, some of them randomly picked to come up and secure me, shackle me, manacle me to the seventh-floor balcony. I will be in full view, nothing to hide. And I will have a specific amount of time to escape before the building implodes.

LAT: Why do a live demonstration instead of taping it and airing it later like you usually do?

Criss Angel: I’ve done nearly a thousand demonstrations on “Mindfreak” now. Whether it’s taped on television, I’m still doing it live in front of an audience. We always wanted to bring the show live. People always want to see what’s going to happen. And because it’s taped, anything can happen. Probably –- well, not probably, definitely -– this is the most dangerous thing I have ever attempted in my career. I’ve done a lot of escapes and a lot of pretty crazy things.

LAT: You’ve had fishhooks pierced through your back and hung from a helicopter. You appear to walk across a lake in one of your shows this season. What makes this the most difficult thing for you?

Criss Angel: Each one has its own set of challenges and risks. Walking on water isn’t necessarily something I’m going to kill myself with. I could be embarrassed or exposed. We now live in a day and age with technology at our fingertips. People know who I am -– it’s not like the first season [of “Mindfreak”]. They have helicopters out there overhead. Tourists shooting from every angle. So if I’m not on my game in a public forum that I cannot control, it will be all over the Internet and very embarrassing. That’s the risk in that. But a building implosion is death if I’m not successful.

LAT: You don’t have to do this. The show is already connecting with fans. Going live just seems like a liability. How much do you feel you need to prove what you are doing is legitimate? How much do you need to remove that layer of doubt for your fans?

Criss Angel: You hit the nail on the head. I don’t have to do this. I have an amazing show [“Criss Angel: Believe”] that we feel is going to revolutionize modern magic shows. Because No. 1, I’ve been working on it for 15 years and we’ve got the greatest artists and conceptors in the world working on it. So night after night, the people that are skeptical are welcome to see the [stuff] that I do live, 10 times a week, 46 weeks a year for 10 years –- which equates to 4,600 performances. The proof’s in the pudding. What you see on my show is what you get live and what you get on the TV show. People will see that for themselves.

I do all of my demonstrations for no one else but me as an artist, an escape artist, as a magician. When I lost my father in 1998, he was such a proponent of mind, body and spirit –- and that anything is possible. I do what I do to be the best I can be with the time I have on this earth. I’m just very grateful that the public has connected to that message. It’s a much bigger message than me just doing an illusion and how do I make that work. I don’t care about how it works. I care about how people connect to it and how it makes them feel. I hope it inspires them.

LAT: Cirque just plunked down $100 million for a new show for you. They must not be too psyched you’re doing the building thing.

Criss Angel: Cirque is not very happy about my decision to do this because they have a lot of money invested in me and in the show. They would prefer that I don’t do it. Whether I kill myself or twist my ankle, it would still have a detrimental effect –- obviously one more than another –- on us opening. And there’s a lot of money that ticks away every day that show’s not open and we’re not ready to roll. So they don’t want me to do it. They’re not happy with this decision.

LAT: How strenuously have they tried to discourage you from doing it?

Criss Angel: Oh, they’re looking for all contractual things and different things. I know a lot of things have been written, but I have an incredible relationship with Serge Denoncourt, the director of the show, and Cirque. But when I got involved with them, I said, “I’m still going to do what I do.” I have an insurance policy on my life that’s worth a few dollars. But I wasn’t going to alter my lifestyle because of this show or anything else. I have to live my life to the fullest and enjoy it because you don’t know when your last moment is. I’m not going to change my lifestyle for any job. I ride motorcycles. I have go-carts that go 160 miles per hour. I do jumps that are 100 feet long. I do that stuff. And the chance of me getting hurt? Yeah, it could happen. And yeah, I could screw up the Cirque thing. But I don’t want to alter my life and not be true to myself as an artist. Then I shouldn’t cross the street because I could trip and fall down. Where does it end? I’ve been OK up to this point where I’ve never been to the hospital with serious injuries.

LAT: So how confident are you that you are going to escape the building?

Criss Angel: I have an amazing team and we’ve been doing due diligence. I’m going to be picking locks, handcuffs, and I’ve been doing that since I was 14 years old. It’s not a big deal. But that pressure of live television, your heartrate, your aim, your focus -– everything has a detrimental effect. I thrive on that challenge of performing, though. Cool and collected as if I was here with you doing something.

* For the record, a Cirque du Soleil representative denied the production has investigated any contractual loopholes to prevent Angel from performing the stunt. She voiced concern for his safety but described his choice to perform on “Mindfreak” as a “separate business entity” over which Cirque du Soleil does not have any control and with which it does not interfere.

“Criss is the star of our upcoming show and of course we are concerned with his safety. We want him to come back home to Vegas in one piece as soon as possible,” said Anita Nelving, director of public relations for Cirque du Soleil. “But in terms of us being upset or angry, that’s not the case.”

So is Angel simply drumming up hype for his show by mischaracterizing how worried Cirque is?

“There is an element of an illusionist creating exponential danger around what he is doing,” Nelving said. “But we respect Criss as an artist and trust in his skills that we’re going to get him back safe and sound.”

-- Chris Lee

Photo: Criss Angel in Las Vegas on May 2008. Credit: Andrew Gombert / European Pressphoto Agency

Comments

[Will]

"It's not a trick Michael, it's an ILLUSION!"

Pretentious much?

[Kathy]

I really do not know anything about Criss Angel but this was the biggest fraud I have ever seen. I live about 5 miles from the implosion site so I thought it would be interesting to see. Instead of the advertised roof top escape, the local newspaper reported prior to the implosion that a rumor of "oh no, the building collapsed and no helicopter escape", like maybe he died and then he walks out of the building. Guess what. Thats exactly what happened. He's not even a good actor.I imagine the whole thing was a fake.

[casey]

kathy, if you want to discredit criss angel, then provide factual information and not sum it all into one word, as a fake. your a fake kathy. you suck at life.

[Barry Houdini]

Dear God and baby Jesus was that ever horrible.

The announcer was Horrible...the acting was horrible. Just ridiculous!

Hes showy but a suckarse illusionist and actor.

Whatever works for you bro

[talktohand]

i think criss is awesome he knows how to please a crowd. way to much oversized bling and sometimes it looks like hes forgot where he came from.

[james mills]

I am extremely relieved that that this stunt in which Criss Angel Pulled off tonight, was his last. And extremely grateful that he has promised not to do anything dangerous ever again.so thank you and Hope to being seeing Criss Angel at the Luxor later this year.

[Trav]

You don't have to be a brain surgeon to figure this one out. When he kicked through the initial window the footage shown (i.e. multi-angle) was pre recorded. During the 2 or so minutes he had pleanty of time to go downstairs and lay down at a safe distance from debris while the footage played itself out. That’s why the cameras all the unmanned cameras go to static at the same time; otherwise you’d see the building not falling around him. If you ever watch footage from inside an implosion cameras work right up until the final moments showing the building falling away. The fact that they all cut off before the building began to fall was a dead giveaway.

[Kelly]

I find it amusing that Criss Angel feels that referring to last night's farce as a trick cheapens the act. We sat down - in good faith - to watch what we initially believed would be something amazing. At some point during the pre-trick hype, my roommate and I looked at each other and almost simultaneously said "The building will collapse. He'll be in it. He'll walk out without a scratch.

Lo and behold ...

Unfortunately, this has blown any credibility that he has with me. There's a fine line between illusion and lie. I feel as though Angel just crossed it.

[Sam]

I live in Tampa and watched it live on A & E and that was the biggest waste of time. I am so mad that I stayed up to watch it. It was the worst "stunt" I've ever seen and alot of his stunts are really incredible but that was career ending. It would have been more entertaining if he would have actually escaped the way he said he was going to. That was just God awful.

[Betty]

what a load of crap. this was the worst thing i've ever seen and I will never get that hour back! I want my hour back!

[k-la]

I was very disappointed watching that last night. Were there people around the back of the building? It looked like the whole thing was pre taped (the inside) and he had an escape route. I don't know, it just didn't feel like an illusion, just a waste of an hour watching it.

[Melinda]

I was there too and I swear to god I had a mini heart attack. It was all so overwhelming, but i dont think it was fake. I've always believed that the things he did were real watching them on tv, but last night i got the chance to witness it for real, and he was too shaken for it to have been planned that he was going to get out.

[Melinda]

I was there too and I swear to god I had a mini heart attack. It was all so overwhelming, but i dont think it was fake. I've always believed that the things he did were real watching them on tv, but last night i got the chance to witness it for real, and he was too shaken for it to have been planned that he was going to get out.

[Maxwell]

Criss Angel FAILED to complete the challenge, he did Not escape to the hellicopter on the roof by getting through "locked" doors, he did not prove anything more then breaking plastic lock and going Down through unlocked doors and hiding in the parking lot to emerge from the dust. What a Joke!

[Sean]

Criss Angel is the best I live in Orlando and sorry for Kathy but I've seen him live in person after the implosionso he told me that when the building feld he dug him shef out so when the fire rescue come it would be to late he would of been deadbecause of the impact

[Corey]

Are those that believe this illusionist's slight of hand for real. Please Santa let the tooth fairy in as Easter bunny is to busy to answer the door!!!
Poor acting aside it was a waste of time. Glad I only caught the last half.
Trav you have it all figured out well done.

[Scott]

In response to pre-tape footage, I agree. Only, I think we were watching pre-taped footage after he picked the 2nd lock. If you remember (I watched numerous times on my DVR) when he picked the handcuffs, he put them in his right-front pocket, but he did not get them all the way in his pocket. When he is inside the room, they are still visible hanging out the pocket. Then, when he gets through that lock and is running down the hallway, there are no handcuffs hanging out of his pocket. I believe that is the point at which the taped footage begins. I thought something was fishy when he did not show his "volunteer from the crowd" and the rest of the audience the rest of the locks in place. I contend that after getting out the room, he simply ran up to the roof, and climbed DOWN the ladder from the helicopter.

[Sandi]

I was on the beach in Clearwater & watched the implosion live & in person. I predicted his "escape" to happen just the way it happened....not making it out in time...yadda, yadda, yadda. Considering Criss Angel is an ILLUSIONIST...and it was obvious that this was going to be an ILLUSION...it was an awesome SHOW. Hennce the words ILLUSION & SHOW! I just love Criss. He's performs the most incredible trikery stunts!

[katie]

i love criss angel and that was an amazing stunt. i was crying and shaking uncontrollably throughout the whole thing lol

[Terra]

HE IS A BIG LOOSER ITS ALL FAKE HE SUCKS

[Sherlock E. Dog]

I used to think Criss Angel was amazing and still do when it pertains to "magic". However, that stunt last night pretty much sucked. Do they really think people are that stupid. I was very disappointed last night.

[Ray Galindo]

Criss is entertaining us folks! What a bunch of eggheads! Relax and enjoy! Jees!

[untiy]

criss angel is the best he makes it alive evry time and hes realyy good about making illusions

[Cletus]

I agree with Trav about this stunt. It was quite obvious how it was done... We all knew he was gonna be fine, they weren't going to blow the building up while he was in it... If that had been real they wouldn't have blown it up. So obviously once he was inside the switched to prerecorded footage of him running through the building frantically picking locks. I watched live and figured out what was gonna happen before it did. I am a fan of Criss Angel, but that was ridiculous. I hope he stops with the ridiculous stunts though... This was obvious that he wasn't even inside the building once he went in the initial room. I am very disappointed in chris' performance on this one, and it really makes it look like he has ran out of material completely. That was the most unoriginal new take on an old trick. -Cletus

[Courtney]

I think Criss Angel is really great. It was supposed to be an ILLUSION.... That's exactly what it was... But When He was trying to get the locks on the hatch leading up to the roof undone and the helicopter had to fly away without him, I had to leave the room while he still had 24 seconds left, I was crying, I thought he was dead.... then I ran upstairs to find he was perfectly fine! So I guess they have more safety measures then they initially let on, but thats good, because if he died on live TV.... well, it was scary. But Criss, you rock and you know it!!
You could tell he panicked at the beginning... so during the whole demenstartion he was panicking because he didn' start out on a good foot. He kicked the glass out of desperation, and you could tell he was realyl scared and frusterated that he couldn't get the locks quickly.

And to all you people who say he is a bad actor - Go to youtube and type in "CSI New york - Sleight Out of hand" Criss guest stars as the murderer and at thev ery end of the episode for the last 5 mintes he is pretty much on his own and HE IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!! A great actor!

So either way Criss rocks. :)