My Yahoo!The Daredevil
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Mixing equal parts Harry Houdini and Fear Factor, magician Criss Angel attempts his greatest stunt: superstardom.
On a chilly evening in April daredevil magician Criss Angel frantically struggles to escape from a covered barrel of water that dangles in midair 80 feet over a Las Vegas parking lot. He has two minutes to wriggle out of handcuffs, grab a safety bar and disengage the barrel body before the entire thing crashes to the ground. Suddenly he screams:"Stop!" The barrel is lowered to the ground, and a shaken Angel emerges. His body had gotten too twisted to let him escape. Moments later he ascends again, this time sliding his shackles off and pulling the release. The barrel plunges to the asphalt and shatters, while Angel hangs on overhead, bare chested and triumphant. "We weren't sure he was gonna make it," one cameraman murmurs.Angel was shooting the stunt for his new reality TV show, Criss Angel Mindfreak, set to debut in July. The next day he would seal himself inside a wooden crate and blow it apart with dynamite; by week's end he would hover over a nearby canyon, dangling from a helicopter and suspended by fishhooks in his skin.
This is the year Criss Angel aims to transform himself from cult hero into mass-media star--if he doesn't kill himself first.He is a rock-star version of a magician, tossing timeworn trappings--the tux, the sequined babe assistant, the same old tired tricks--in favor of pain, mortal danger and a palpable underpinning of sex. His dark, shaggy mane cascades over his shoulders, and six-pack abs peek through an unbuttoned shirt, which he rarely passes up the chance to shed.Adorning his chest are a medallion said to ward off evil spirits and a diamond-studded cross bearing the word "believe," the code Houdini agreed to use if he was able to contact his wife after death.
Angel laces his view of magic with talk of profit margins, reinvestment and diversification. You're expecting Tommy Lee, and out comes Donald Trump, but with way better hair. "Magic is a wonderful art form, but it needs to be updated," he says. "I grew up on MTV and wanted to break the caricature of a magician pulling rabbits out of a hat or shoving a girl in leotards in a box. Why are magicians still doing what they did 100 years ago?" His manager, David Baram of the Firm, adds:"We think Criss can do for magic what Cirque du Soleil did for the circus. He understands what he needs to do to build a company and a brand."
But turning a magician into a superstar is "almost impossible," says Richard Kaufman, editor of Genii, an industry trade magazine. He counts six, from Houdini to David Blaine, and says, "Criss Angel will be the next."
Born Christopher Sarantakos 30-some years ago, he grew up in East Meadow, New York, on Long Island, the youngest of three sons in a close Greek-American family. He got interested in magic at age 6, after his Aunt Stella did a trick for him. He did his first paid gig--for $15--when he was 12. By age 19 he was making $3,000 a week performing at children's parties and nightclubs.
Soon he began experimenting with bigger stunts, mixing magic with loud, pulsating rock music that he composed. "I wanted to combine magic and music in a much grander vision that required a band, larger illusions and more equipment." This paid off in the mid-1990s when Angel landed a spot in an ABC special. Then came a show on Halloween at Madison Square Garden in 1998; he took in $50,000 signing Criss Angel memorabilia for fans. In 2001 he produced Criss Angel Mindfreak, a bona fide off-Broadway hit, investing $300,000 (borrowed against his mother's house) and reaping $4 million in 14 months. Later he landed appearances on the ABC Family channel, TBS in Japan, MTV, Discovery Channel and Sci Fi Channel, with most gigs paying him $300,000 to $450,000 in production fees.
Last summer Angel signed with the Firm, which manages Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz. Baram, the president, matched Angel with Johnny Depp's stylist, who stripped the magician's black nail polish, cut his waist-length hair and traded his leather wardrobe for a more artsy, athletic look.
His new show on A&E premieres July 20, featuring his music, live street magic, behind-the-curtain preparation and family life. Filmed in ten weeks of 20-hour days, 16 half-hour episodes will allow viewers to trail Angel as he catches bullets in his teeth, gets run over by a Hummer while lying on a bed of nails, is buried and is burned alive. A&E will run on-air spots, post billboards in Times Square and on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood and stage a stunt in New York's Bryant Park in which Angel will submerge himself in a tank of water for 36 hours and then escape. Presumably.
Next spring he may take a three-month tour of Asia expected to gross $3 million. Also in the works: magic tricks, DVDs, brand sponsorships, speaking engagements, a U.S. tour and a standing gig at a Las Vegas casino. Angel makes $1.5 million a year, and his handlers dream of surpassing the $57 million a year earned by David Copperfield. "The show gives me built-in marketing. Without money to reinvest, I can't make more art," Angel says. And more art means more money.
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