David Blaine has made a habit of blowing people’s minds. The magician and mentalist is known for such feats of endurance as burying himself alive for seven days and holding his breath for more than 17 minutes. But he’s also gone viral with his filmed magic tricks, often shot on the street as strangers observe and react to them. In expressing their disbelief, people have been known to run away screaming or even burst into tears while Blaine maintains his deadpan, stoic facade. Their responses are often as memorable as the trick itself — such as when Harrison Ford pulled his playing card from inside a freshly cut orange and promptly told the illusionist, “Get the fuck outta my house.”
But now it’s Blaine who gets to react with wide-eyed disbelief to what he calls “real-life magic” in his new six-part “David Blaine: Do Not Attempt,” launching March 23 on National Geographic before hitting Disney+/Hulu the following day. (Following the premiere of the first two, subsequent episodes will air each week.) In the series, produced by Imagine Entertainment, Blaine travels all over the world to meet with people from different cultures who perform remarkable feats of endurance, from eating nails to lighting themselves on fire. After a crash-course with the masters, Blaine attempts a few stunts on his own — including covering himself in scorpions, inserting a knife up one nostril and kissing a king cobra on its head. But perhaps most surprising of all, the series reveals a much more personal and vulnerable side of the artist as his journeys unfold.
People have strong responses to your tricks but in this series you’re on the other side — you’re the one who’s in total awe.
Exactly, I’m the one running away screaming, going, “That’s crazy!” That’s what’s different about this show. And that’s how I really am when I see my favorite magicians do things — I scream and go crazy. But when I’d doing magic for others, I have to not react. You can see the real me peek through sometimes. In my first show, “Street Magic,” there are girls who run away screaming at me in Times Square, and if you look closely, you can see me crack a smile. But I try so hard not to.
Do you consider this stoic, serious persona a character different from the real David Blaine? How did that develop?
When I was six or seven, my mother was a single mom in Brooklyn, and she gave me a deck of Tarot cards. I would do magic for her friends, and they would go crazy. I thought to myself that if a real magician existed, he wouldn’t go: “Ta-da!” He would be the opposite; he would do something amazing and let it sit, let them wonder what I was thinking about. So when I started filming and making TV shows, I just kind of kept it. It was a “less is more” approach. But at the time, a lot of magicians were really angry because magicians were supposed to have patter. I would say nothing; I’d almost mumble. It just felt right.
But we see a very personal side of you in “Do Not Attempt.” Were you prepared for how revealing it would end up being?
No! Definitely not, and I’m still not. The funny thing is, all of my friends, they like this show because this is a side that they know of me. They all like the goofy, ridiculous side of me. But for me, it’s super awkward to show that.
Did you ever consider editing around it or censoring yourself?
When you’re doing these things, you’re not really thinking too much into that part of it. You’re focused on learning something that’s like that, you’re not filtering yourself, which is rare for me. So again, this was that part of me stepping outside of my comfort zone, more than sitting with the black mambas.
I think the main question people might want to ask you is simply: “Why?” Why put yourself through these frightening experiences? I have my own answer to that, but I’d love to hear it from you.
Let me hear what your answer is.
Why not? I don’t pursue experiences, but if you have the opportunity, why would you not take it?
Exactly. And there’s also something to be said for testing your limits. If you see our Brazil episode, you meet Karina. She’s an ER doctor who walks on lava, and we didn’t get into her whole backstory, but she was diagnosed with Lyme disease. Her doctor told her she wasn’t going to be able to function normally. She couldn’t get out of bed. And it was getting worse and worse, and doctors said that at this point, there’s nothing we can do. So she, in her mind, said, “You know what? Since there’s nothing they can do, I’m going to go do the craziest things I’ve ever dreamed of doing. I’m going to climb Mount Everest. I’m going to walk on lava.” And she feels that pushing herself to that level and extreme, she rid herself of the effects of Lyme disease and didn’t just return to normal, but feels better than ever. So I think there’s a big part of me that believes to go out there and push yourself, don’t be comfortable.
But comfortable can be nice.
It’s funny, when Imagine came to me they were talking about different ideas and acts. I said: “Here’s your parameter. When you say it to me, you should be uncomfortable explaining what you want me to do. And if it makes you uncomfortable to say it to me, then it’s probably right.” So I need to push myself.
And have these endurance tests proved helpful in real life?
That’s really how it began, with me trying to overcome simple problems. You know, my family’s last name is Weiss and that was Harry Houdini’s last name was well. So I felt this weird connection. And when I was five or six years old, I found a book in the library and read about how he could hold his breath and do all these things. It made me want to push myself with things that were specific to me. I was on the YMCA swim team and wasn’t as fast as the other kids so I thought I would try not turning my head to breathe. The coach would say, “You need to turn your head and breathe!” And I’d say, “Why?” And eventually I could do multiple laps, going back and forth and then compete against the older kids. So I started to build this love of using my mind to overcome physical limitations.
There was a period of time where you were being parodied in media or characters seemed inspired by you — I’m thinking of Jim Carrey in “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” or the “South Park” episode. What did you think of those?
I love all of it! With [“Burt Wonderstone”], they actually asked me about it. I said, “Well, don’t do me exactly…” So they veered off a little bit and made it kind of a mix of people. But I love those spoofs, and they make me laugh. The YouTube “Street Magic” parodies back in the day were amazing — that was Mikey Day before he was on “SNL.” Again, those are the things my friends find hilarious. The one thing I wondered about was “South Park” because they would have me say “twah” at the end of sentences. So I asked them, “Where did the ‘twah’ come from?” And [Matt Stone] told me, “Oh, there’s a guy I went to high school with that always said ‘twah’ and I had to use it, so I threw it in there.”
Obvious but sincere question: do you believe in real magic?
Anytime I see my daughter do anything, that’s real magic. That’s, absolutely, real magic.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
