The Best Cutter Quotes

Robert: I thought you said I'd have to get my hands dirty.
Cutter: Maybe someday you will; I just needed to know that you could.

[last lines]
Cutter: Now you're looking for the secret. But you won't find it because of course, you're not really looking. You don't really want to work it out. You want to be fooled.

Cutter: Take a minute to consider your achievement. I once told you about a sailor who drowned.
Robert: Yes, he said it was like going home.
Cutter: I lied. He said it was agony.

[last lines]
Cutter: Every magic trick consists of three parts, or acts. The first part is called the pledge, the magician shows you something ordinary. The second act is called the turn, the magician takes the ordinary something and makes it into something extraordinary. But you wouldn't clap yet, because making something disappear isn't enough. You have to bring it BACK. Now you're looking for the secret. But you won't find it because of course, you're not really looking. You don't really want to work it out. You want to be fooled.

Alfred: He's progressive, he's predictable, he's boring. I mean, Milton's got success, whatever that means, and now he's scared, he won't take any risks at all. I mean, he's squandering the goodwill of the audience with these tired, second-rate tricks...
Robert: They're all favorites, please...
Alfred: Favorites? Come on, give me something fresh, he wont even try a bloody bullet catch!
Cutter: A bullet catch is suicide, all it takes is some smart-ass volunteer to put a button in the barrel...
Alfred: Fine, use a plant!
Robert: You can't use plants for every trick!
Julia: There'll be no seats left for the punters!
[laughs]
Alfred: Fine, no bullet catch, whatever, but the point is... a real magician tries to invent something new, that other magicians are gonna scratch their heads over, you know?
Cutter: Right, then you sell it to him for a small fortune?
Alfred: All right...
Cutter: I suppose you have such a trick?
Alfred: Actually, I do.

Cutter: Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called "The Pledge". The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn". The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet. Because making something disappear isn't enough; you have to bring it back. That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call "The Prestige"."

Robert: He's a dreadful magician.
Cutter: No, he's a wonderful magician. He's a dreadful showman.

Cutter: Obsession is a young man's game

Cutter: I knew a sailor once, got tangled in the rigging. We pulled him out, but it took him five minutes to cough. He said it was like going home.

[after finding Gerald Root, Angier's new double]
Cutter: He's perfect. He needs some work, but when I get through with him, he could be your brother.
Robert: I don't need him to be my brother, I need him to be *me*!

Judge: What a way to kill someone.
Cutter: They're magicians, your honor. Men who live by dressing up plain and simple truths to shock, to amaze.
Judge: Even without an audience?
Cutter: There was an audience. You see, this water tank was of particular significance to these two men. Particularly dreadful significance.

- ...I will require the assistance of two volunteers.
- Mr. Merrit, if you would oblige me?
Cutter: Yeah. Okay. Bring your hand around.
- Under?
- Under, yeah.
- There. I put it around its foot.
- ANGIER: Careful.
- He's all right, ain't he?