Christopher Nolan’s film The Prestige was released in 2006.
The film is a mystery thriller about Alfred Borden and Robert Angier, rival illusionists in Victorian London. It stars Christian Bale as Borden and Hugh Jackman as Angier, with Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, and David Bowie in supporting roles.
The Prestige was based on Christopher Priest’s 1995 novel of the same name. Nolan and his brother Jonathan Nolan developed the screenplay, shaping the story around rivalry, sacrifice, deception, and the secrets behind stage magic.
The film opened in the United States on October 20, 2006, after its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier that year. It is sometimes confused with Nolan’s later historical or science-fiction films, but The Prestige is specifically a period drama centered on two magicians.