Ruben Fleischer Confirms: No AI Behind the Magic in ‘Now You See Me: Now You Don’t’
Director Ruben Fleischer is pushing back against any ideas that artificial intelligence helped craft the illusions in Now You See Me: Now You Don’t. In a recent conversation with Variety, he made it clear that the production relied on practical filmmaking, not algorithms or AI-driven visuals.
When asked if AI had any part in building the movie’s tricks, Fleischer gave a direct answer: “No, we didn’t use any AI.” He explained that the film’s opening scene references deepfakes, and within the story, the characters might be using AI to create holograms. But the movie itself did not use those tools.
According to him, the team created the visuals the traditional way—shooting the actors on green screens and blending those shots into the final scenes through standard compositing work.
The opening sequence nods to deep fakes. I think you can assume the characters in the movie used AI to generate the holograms of the Horsemen from scratch, but we did it the old-fashioned way, which was shooting them on green screen and then compositing them into the scene, which didn’t require any AI whatsoever. He said.
The third film in the franchise brings back familiar faces like Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan, and Morgan Freeman. New cast members include Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, Ariana Greenblatt, and Rosamund Pike.
The FINAL trailer for #NowYouSeeMe: Now You Don’t. In theaters November 14. Get tickets now. pic.twitter.com/dkRYn8j3Ob
— Now You See Me (@NYSMmovie) November 3, 2025
This movie also marks a shift for the series, as it is the first one without Michael Caine following his retirement.
Now You See Me: Now You Don’t premiered in The Netherlands on November 11, before arriving in U.S. theaters on November 14 through Lionsgate. Critics offered mixed reactions, but many agreed that the film showed growth compared to earlier installments. Reports suggest that another sequel is already being planned.
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