David:
Do you wish you weren’t this obsessive, is it like a curse?
Criss:
Sickness. It’s a sickness, that’s what it
is.
David:
I know that sometimes it could be a
positive thing, but do you wish you
could switch off sometimes, because
it sounds to me like you don’t switch
off.
Criss:
I can’t. This is the thing. My dad, when
I was a kid, always told me to set your
goals and then work towards those
goals. My dad was a hard working
man, he was an amazing man, and he
was just incredible. You can’t always
equate success with happiness, because to do this the journey is much
greater than the destination. Bill Coin
told me that a long time ago, Enjoy
the Journey. It is much greater than
getting there. When you get there it’s
harder to stay there. So I work harder
now than I’ve ever worked in my life.
To be honest I’ve never worked this
hard before.
When we walk into the studio area of
the facility the fist thing I am met by is
huge green screen environment.
Criss:
This is one of the largest green screens
in Las Vegas! Sixty feet! Everything you
saw in the live show was shot here,
and that over there was the false perspective room. It gives you the ability
to look a lot bigger in the shot.
Criss directs my attention to the multiple sets that provide different environments for recording video footage.
I recognise some of the sets from Criss’
online broadcasts that use to go out on
a weekly basis.
Criss:
We still use these sets for other pieces,
like this was used in the Mindfreak
Live show at the Luxor when I’m on
the throne, that background. A tour’s
going out right now and that’s why
you have all of this lighting and equipment.
32
1996 Criss floating
David:
I am amazed how the team keeps
track of everything!
Criss:
Every single trunk has what’s in
there on a label, and it has a barcode
on it that goes into the system. We
do photos, all the photos that you
see anywhere, are all shot here with
our in-house photography.
This set over here is the magic shop.
When I was a kid, that first magic
shop I told you about, I created this
as a studio set.
that my Aunt Stella taught me.
Basically, you have a card selected, you put it back in the deck
and you’re able to find it. So it
was based on a key card. The
first trick I ever bought was the
pencil through the glass, which
then gave me the idea to walk
through the glass in a storefront
window, in a real environment.
David:
And when did you decide magic was your life. It was what you
were going to do?
David:
What was the very first trick you
learnt Criss?
Criss:
When I was a kid. Magic and music, those were the things that
were really intriguing for me.
Criss:
The very first trick I learnt? I was six
years old, and it was a key card trick
David:
Tell me about the time in your
life when you had that sort of