Criss Angel Mindfreak (2005) s06e01 Episode Script

The Grand Canyon Death Jump

The grand canyon.
To some people, It represents the grandeur of the american west.
But to me, it's a 4200-foot chasm That will push my skills to their limits As I attempt one of my most dangerous demonstrations ever.
And if I make a single mistake, It will be the last thing I ever see.
oh, my god.
Yeah! Oh, my god.
Are you ready? I'm here at the very sacred hualapai nation.
Literally at the edge of a more than 4000-foot drop To the bottom floor of the grand canyon west.
The grand canyon west is really magnificent.
It's breathtaking.
It's majestic.
It's iconic.
It exudes peace and tranquility.
I'm here to change all that.
The elements in this demonstration together Is a recipe for disaster.
This is right out of a movie.
Grand canyon death jump is called that for a reason.
Just the magnitude, the distance, It's definitely way up there in scary.
I don't know where he comes up with these ideas.
The grand canyon death jump Is something I've been thinking about since I was a boy.
Ever since I saw evel knievel attempt his jump Of the snake river canyon.
That left such a lasting impression in my mind.
I wanted to take my fascination with motorcycle jumping I did it! And put an illusion twist on it.
Criss is going to attempt to take the t-rex.
It's a hybrid of a bike of a trike of a car That's gonna head up a ramp Over the edge of a canyon.
There's going to be at least 25 different explosions Going on.
Make the jump There's my target right there.
Within the blink of an eye He's gonna try and make it into that cage somehow.
Criss has never performed an illusion This dangerous before.
'cause if I fall 4200 feet There's no going to a hospital Because I'll be in pieces.
There's so many safety issues.
It's absolute suicide, really.
This is a very, very dangerous stunt.
A lot of things can go wrong Between the rotor wash, The 30 pounds of pyrotechnics, 20 by 60 foot ramp, the t-rex.
It can do 0 to 60 in less than four seconds.
A cage that's hovering below the helicopter More than 4200 feet above the floor Of the grand canyon west.
And somehow there's gonna be magic Or disaster.
There's certain things-- Certain elements that can go wrong That are just an act of god or nature.
Traveling up that ramp and off the edge, You got to deal with more than just your typical Evel knievel-like stunt.
Let's do it! If he overshoots that ramp, It's a 4000-foot drop to the bottom.
That means he plummets down to his death.
That's why it's called grand canyon death jump.
'cause when you combine all these elements, It's suicide.
In addition to grand canyon death jump, I'll blow your mind With some of the most insane new mindfreaks.
Watch.
And you want to miss the most amazing demonstration, The grand canyon death jump.
I'm either gonna be on the front page of the paper Or the obituary section.
Let's do it.
I am here at my second home, the luxor.
Now, when I lived at the luxor, I had, obviously, my pet hammie.
And I had another little pet that lived outside For obvious reasons.
Now, if you come to the luxor and you come to the sphinx Right over here, If you come down here, This almost looks like a dog house.
I actually did that because I found a little friend.
His name is spike.
I'll introduce you to him right now, folks.
Now, we've never met, right? No.
No.
All right, now, I want to clarify That this is not in the luxor.
He lives outside the luxor.
But you can visit him.
Just don't hurt him, okay? Probably don't want to touch him.
Let's see if I can find him.
Oh, there he is.
Let me get him.
Come on.
Come on.
He's hiding over here.
Here he is.
Oh.
Eew.
This here Is, uh, my little pet scorpion.
He stays outside here in the, uh, in the luxor.
As you can see, they don't like the sunlight.
They're nocturnal.
So he likes to be-- he likes to be in the dark.
Let me show you something.
It's really pretty cool.
Now look.
Now look.
If you get it just right-- Now, I want you to see him.
Right? He's right there.
I'm gonna put him in the shadow.
You can see he almost plays dead.
You see that? You see how he almost plays dead? Mm-hmm.
You can kind of see that.
Watch.
I'm gonna show you something crazy.
What's your name? Maria.
What's your name? Maria.
Maria Janet.
Janet.
You see the scorpion, right? Watch.
I'll do it right into the camera.
It's gonna happen.
Watch.
Watch.
Wow.
Watch.
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! My god! Oh, my god.
What? Stop it.
Stop it! Stop it! ! What the is this, man? My mind was blown away.
I'll never forget this.
This was the most incredible experience Of my life.
Wow.
That's a mindfreak.
It starts crawling out of her mouth.
Oh, my gosh.
All of us are, like, flipping out.
It was so crazy.
I would totally prefer tongue next time.
don't let me kiss ya.
You know, we're burning the candle At both ends right now.
We're cramming To get this grand canyon death jump done.
And it's just been, you know, very chaotic At the warehouse.
So there's a lot going on there.
And I frequently go there to see how progress Is, uh, developing.
This has been an insane process To try to get ready for the grand canyon death jump.
And we're trying to cram so much in.
And we don't have a ramp.
I know.
We're doing one final flight test on here For safety is all.
You already did one.
Well, I just want to make sure everything's-- Listen, we don't have a 60 foot by 20 foot ramp, doug.
I love you, but you got to get that done.
Dougy, if I was you, let's just stop.
And let's go inside.
Let's get that ramp going.
Guys, this--seriously.
Okay, you got it.
Doug, enough of that.
Enough.
Can you just-- just cut the camera.
I'm not really in the mood for this And I got to take a leak.
One of the fun parts about working with criss Is that he's a prankster.
Doug.
I'm gonna go get on that now.
You got--listen to me.
Don't worry about that.
You know that's gonna lift, right? You know it's gonna lift so it's fine.
Just don't worry about it.
We have an idea Of how we're gonna finally prank the prankster.
God.
Are you touching this thing, doug? Doug, what are you doing? I just got to test one more thing.
Hang on.
You're kidding me.
I'm trying to take a leak.
We're gonna go work on the ramp.
What are you doing What the-- oho, I'm gonna kill you! What the ! I'm taking--I'm gonna kill you! Ha ha, criss.
What the hell are you doing? Dougy, we got him! Hell yeah! What are you doing? We got him back! What are you doing? We got him back! I'm glad--I'm glad-- I'm glad you find it-- I'm glad you find it amusing 'cause you're gonna pay for it you u ds.
Ricky, you little .
That's what you get, criss! Yeah, you set me up, huh? Yeah.
Yeah, you set me up, huh? Yeah.
You're gonna pay for it, man.
How you gonna get down, criss? How you gonna get down? Don't blame me.
How you gonna get down? Don't blame me.
He's not going anywhere.
Look at that.
My pants are falling down.
Hold on.
Hold on.
That's what you get! Dougy was going "hell yeah"! Look at that! We got him! Guys, I'm trying to take a leak.
I'm gonna kill you.
You u ards! I'm gonna kill you, man.
Hold on.
Now! Yeah! Yeah! What the hell, man? How'd you get me up here, dude? What the hell I quit.
I'm done.
I'm done.
This isn't funny.
This isn't funny.
I'm gonna leave you hanging up there All day.
Don't.
This isn't funny.
You see that? The minute you think you know, man, I flip it right on you.
Mindfreak.
Psyche! In addition to building a jail cell, Doug and his team are building an enormous ramp For death jump.
We're gonna hang a cage from the helicopter.
I'm gonna be in a t-rex.
And I'm going to attempt to jump this ramp 4200 feet above the grand canyon west floor.
We have a big pile of wood, essentially.
And then we're gonna put fire on it.
The only reason for the fire Is so criss can pull off this demonstration.
Obviously, he doesn't have supernatural powers.
So in that split second when the fire goes off, He needs to figure out a way to make it safely Into that cage.
Bottom shoots a propane bottle Up into a puncturing device.
Puncturing device punctures the bottle.
Propane gas spills out.
This device lights the propane.
Big hairy ball of fire.
If it makes it to the end of the ramp not on fire, That'll be spectacular.
If anything were to go wrong, Criss would not survive the fall in this cage.
If this cage were to fall, It's not gonna protect him If there was any sort of catastrophic accident.
It basically would be like a food chopper.
Chop him up, like, into little pieces.
When you're, uh, flying up that ramp there, You're gonna be going, like, 50, 60 miles an hour.
Uh-huh.
It's gonna be kind of tough to hit that cage.
I would hope that criss-- Although he said he has it worked out up here, Has it worked out here.
Because traveling up that ramp and off the edge, You've got to deal with more than just your typical "evel knievel-like" stunt.
It goes really beyond that.
We have an issue with his helicopter Creating wind and drafts That could literally throw off the pyro That could blow into criss While he's going up the ramp.
Let's do it.
I have so much on my mind.
The jump.
The explosives.
The helicopter.
The cage.
The t-rex.
A 4200-foot freefall.
4200 feet falling is a real l h.
This is unbelievable.
It's crazy.
I was supposed to go on a double date.
Whatever.
I must admit.
Las vegas is a crazy lifestyle.
2011 coming up.
Check it out.
Psyche.
Just wanted to make sure you're watching.
I'll do it a little slower.
I'm gonna do it really slow so watch very carefully.
It's gonna start to happen now.
Sarah, what are you doing between my legs? Come on.
Get up.
Quit messing around, criss.
Let's go.
Now! Sandra.
What are you doing here? What's going on? You're late.
We're supposed to go on a double date.
Right, ladies? Come on, please.
Why hang out with one When two is more fun? Grand canyon death jump Is something that I've been wanting to do Longer than any other demonstration in my life.
It really started when I saw evel knievel Attempt to jump the snake river canyon.
The guy's a legend.
Christopher, at a very young age Was dramatically influenced by evel knievel.
As a young--young kid-- I'm talking about maybe six, seven, eight, nine-years-old, He would just take his bicycle and constantly push his-- Push his own envelope and try to jump further or higher With his little bicycle.
No double christopher was influenced by evel knievel.
No doubt.
For so many years, This has been brewing in my mind.
How could I take, you know, the madness, the talent, The provocative nature of evel knievel And incorporate it with an illusion twist? And I think we have it.
Today you'll see the grand canyon jump.
A tribute to evel knievel.
Criss has put himself into his own magical world.
He built this extraordinary place called serenity.
Criss' office in his new home Has some amazing memorabilia from magicians Throughout history including from one of his inspirations Doug henning.
Doug henning was the guy Who single-handedly was responsible For magic's resurgence.
So for me, I'm honored to be able to own Many of his props.
And his magic lives on through his props.
Many evenings I spend in this room After I perform, Looking at these amazing props And thinking about the legendary performers Who entertained millions with them.
There's not one quite like this one though.
This one has a very special meaning.
It was the only doug henning chest For his floating ball.
Every time I touch it, I feel his presence.
Every time I open it, I feel doug henning's spirit Still contained in his magic.
Now! I'm here with david neault, the owner of campagna.
The actual designer of the t-rex.
I contacted the owner of the t-rex.
I told him what I wanted to accomplish.
My first impression was "criss, you're crazy.
" Part stunt.
Part illusion.
Driving that t-rex over that ramp, Anything can happen.
I actually s you on a television show.
And they were reviewing the t-rex.
And the t-rex boasts that it's 0 to 60 In less than four seconds.
It's awesome the amount of horsepower it puts out.
The sleekness of it is insane.
T-rex is amazing.
I mean, literally, you could sit From a stationary position and do donuts all day long.
It's the closest thing to a formula car street legal.
You feel the g-force.
Yeah.
Because it's so light and has so much power.
And it's on three wheels.
You can do anything with it.
I just hope that we're able to have that torque And that power in this short distance With a very rough terrain.
We'll see.
Well, thanks, that gives me a lot of comfort.
yeah! Death jump--be there.
I've proven that a solid can pass through a solid.
I've demonstrated it literally when I passed through A storefront window Now watch.
Hit it.
Check it out.
As I passed through a taxi cab Go.
A metal door Take it away.
Oh, my god.
But a metal gate has its own set of challenges.
What's your name? I'm messy.
What's your name? I'm messy.
Messy.
Are you really? Some days.
Messy.
Are you really? Some days.
Some have we ever met before? Honestly.
We have never.
All right.
Cool.
I've seen you on tv.
But I've never met you in person.
All right.
Do I look the same? Awesome.
Yeah.
Really? Oh, yeah.
You're attracted to me, huh? Some days.
All right, what I want you to do, messy, Is I want you to examine.
I will.
We have a, uh, a gate here.
I want you to check it out and examine it for me.
All right.
Make sure it is solid iron.
Is that true It's solid? Solid.
Yeah.
Cool.
I also want to show the inside So that everybody at home realizes That there's no one hidden inside.
As a matter of fact, take a look.
Mike, you want to get in there And just take a look at that? Go ahead.
There's no one hidden in there.
You have a nice, huge trash can there.
We lock it because a lot of people Always empty their trash In my can and I have to pay for it.
So I'm sick and tired of the .
So now this kind of avoids that.
Thank you very much.
I'm gonna close this up.
And, messy, would you be so kind to literally lock me in here? You got that? I got it.
You got that? I got it.
Good.
Lock it.
Check the lock.
Is that fair? Fair enough.
Good.
You see that cardboard, Just pick it up and hold on to it.
Now, there's only one way out and that would be If I climbed over the wall or the fence.
Or, of course, there's another way.
Let me show you what I'm going to do.
Messy, hold on to that for a second.
I asked you before.
I'm gonna need that.
But first, I'm gonna take my foot And I'm gonna place it right through the gate Just like so.
Watch.
Let me have that.
I examined the fence.
It was cast iron.
Nobody can get through that.
It was unbelievable.
It's solid metal.
It's all real.
It's just crazy.
As soon as I get home, I'm gonna tell mom that criss angel Just passed his whole body through a solid door.
It's gonna be-- she's not gonna believe it.
Magic is not real to me.
But seeing that up close and personal is amazing.
Can solid pass through solid? Abso--lutely.
We're arguing again.
Mom, what did you just say to me? Tell the camera.
What? I asked my son really to tell me how he did it 'cause I really don't know.
And I want to know how he did it.
How did you do that? I mean, seriously.
How did you do that? I mean, seriously.
I'm your mom.
You can tell me everything.
You know what.
So you going to tell me now? On the air? I'm not gonna tell you now on the air, mom.
Come on.
Well, the grand canyon west Is really a seventh wonder of the world.
When you are there and you kind of take it in, It overwhelms your senses.
You've never ever experienced anything like this.
My name is wilfred whatoname, jr.
When we arrived at grand canyon west, We were met by wilfred, The ambassador of hualapai nation.
Well, I want to thank you so very much For having me here at the hualapai nation.
A very sacred land.
And, uh, an amazing opportunity to be able to shoot My grand canyon jump right here.
And we welcome you to our country.
And we're gonna have a really good day today.
In their tradition and in their concern, They want to present me with something That is handmade That they believe will protect me When I attempt the grand canyon death jump.
I have, uh, a piece of our country.
A small piece.
And on--on the stone, You see this etching here.
And this is an etching of a-a desert bighorn sheep.
Our people regard them as guardians of the canyon.
It's to protect him.
That's terrific.
So you're gonna give this to criss in the t-rex? Uh, yeah, wherever he wants.
You want to make sure this goes with him.
He and the entire nation of the hualapai Have been very hospitable to myself, my crew, Uh, my family.
Everybody.
They've been just amazing.
It's been an insane demonstration logistically To get together.
And now that the time is here, I got to admit, I feel the pressure.
Check it out.
I'm in the high limit room.
I'm gonna show you something with three coins.
It's gonna happen fast.
So fast, I'm only gonna use two coins.
As a matter of fact, a solid piece of glass.
Two half dollars.
Check it out.
Completely solid.
Gonna do it really, really slowly.
1, 2, 3.
There it is.
Now check it out.
Don't leave the shot.
Stay right there.
Look, you see the coin goes right through the glass.
Right there.
Check it out.
One coin and there's absolutely no hole.
Nothing.
Bam.
1, 2, 3.
I wanted to give the fans all over the world A taste of my live show believe.
We are shooting today at the believe theater With the cast, the crew of believe.
The cast, the crew of mindfreak.
And you're gonna see it right here.
In believe, there's so many elements coming together To create an experience.
My favorite believe effect is enigma.
Enigma is so many elements of magic all at one time That it literally will boggle the mind.
I want to do something What? That's brand-new! Yeah! Folks, what you're looking at is a four-foot cube.
And as you can see, it's completely Solid.
It sits upon this table six feet above this stage.
The cube itself is completely And utterly empty.
And there is absolutely, positively nothing Below, above, or around.
My head is literally 16 feet above this stage, folks, Creating truly impossible conditions.
I call this one enigma! Kayla, are you ready? Go! Now.
Now! Now! Whoo! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! That's what's most important.
It's not getting a shot.
It's criss' safety.
I'm, like, Just so you know This helicopter.
And hanging from here.
We went over everything.
I know that, but Everything with a fine-toothed comb.
Everything is solid.
On the money.
What I just found out, which I wasn't supposed to know, Is that the helicopter is capable of holding a payload.
But there's a button right by the control.
And if you hit that button, it releases the payload.
So I'm I'm a little nervous.
I got to be honest with you.
Sitting in the helicopter and you need To get rid of that load, You toggle this switch and it releases it.
Now, that payload has been known to release mysteriously.
And normally, the payload may be a bucket of water If you're putting out fires.
But in this case, the payload could be criss angel.
In the event of this helicopter Possibly crashing or going down, The first step is to get rid of the load.
Now, if you get rid of the load, That means you get rid of criss.
That means he plummets down to his death.
You have serious risks.
And you're not walking away from a disaster Because you're 4200 feet above the ground.
We have a helicopter in the air.
A t-rex going off the ramp Playing a game of chicken with the helicopter in midair.
It's an insane game of chicken.
You have a desert environment with dry brush.
And you have accelerant.
Explosives.
Pyro balls.
You have fuel in the t-rex.
You're dealing with massive fireballs That are very, very dangerous.
He wanted to take everything that's been done With the canyon before and just do one better.
And it's either gonna be a miracle or disaster.
Come here, guys.
Magic guys, come here.
I got matt from fusion.
Good friend of mine.
You're about to see something that's so damn good, I'm actually gonna teach it.
This is great.
And I'm not gonna plug what brand this is, hopefully, But you can do an amazing thing with the can of soda.
Watch.
Whoa.
Look at that.
Check that out, right? Look.
Check that out, right? Look.
And you can just lift it back up.
Take a sip.
Do the same thing again.
You put it down and check it out.
You kidding me? And I'll teach you how to do that When we come back.
What's up, mom, what? I want to know.
Is it wind that made it go around? Wind Ha ha.
We are here and I'm gonna teach you this amazing affect That you can do with a soda can.
I got matt from fusion.
Good friend of mine.
Did my whole house.
Technological system.
Is that--would that be the proper terminology? Absolutely.
Technological system? Technological system.
Now, there's no technological system To making this can balance.
What you have to do is get the proper soda can That has this type of bottom.
And you have to drink about half of the can.
You'll feel it actually balance.
When you drink, if it falls over, You know you have too much soda.
If it doesn't balance, you know you have too little.
So it's a fine point.
And now the wind is moving it.
But it looks crazy, doesn't it? And that's a trick that you can do With a soda can.
Practice.
Practice.
Practice.
And then bug out your friends.
All right, criss, here.
I have something for you.
It's something for good luck.
This is a piece of the canyon.
And also on here is etched the canyon guardian And it's to protect you on this little endeavor today.
Thank you so very much, sir.
All right, thank you.
Thank you.
During a practice run, Wilfred presented criss With a very unique, sacred flat rock From the hualapai nation That wilfred designed himself.
And criss has decided to keep that on him During the entire stunt.
I'm here at the very sacred hualapai nation.
Literally at the edge of a more than 4,000-foot drop To the floor of the grand canyon west.
I'm here for my latest and most insane demonstration Of my career.
The grand canyon death jump This is incredible.
Criss is gonna try and jump off the edge of a canyon With this empty canyon below him And a helicopter hovering above With a cage dangling.
And he's gonna try and make it into that cage somehow.
There are four key components to my attempt.
The first is the ramp I'm walking down.
It is literally 20 feet tall, 60 feet long, And will be my direct route to the edge of the canyon.
At the base of the ramp, We have a specially designed t-rex Capable of going from 0 to 60 in less than four seconds.
That is faster than my lamborghini.
And what we have over here Is a six-sided steel cell.
Think of it as a jail cell.
The only difference is that it will be a flying jail cell.
This helicopter will lift it more than 4,000 feet Above the grand canyon west floor.
We have cameras literally everywhere.
We have them inside the helicopter, Outside the helicopter, inside the cage, On the ramp.
We have manned cameras.
We have unmanned cameras.
A total of 23 in all.
I wanted to make sure that the cameras captured The essence of this demonstration.
Quite frankly, I'm risking my life.
So you're damn straight I want to have it captured correctly.
I'll be in the t-rex over here.
I'll hit about 60 miles an hour when I hit that ramp.
There'll be more than 30 pounds of explosives that will go off.
Somehow, some way, I must end up in that locked jail cell.
Unfortunately, we're just not able To have the public here.
The demonstration itself is just way too dangerous.
And understandably, the hualapai nation Would not allow us.
Between the pyro, the t-rex, the helicopter, The wind, everything that could go wrong With this demonstration, We could not put anyone in that kind of risk.
Before I begin, I want to point out two things: I have a hearing device and a microphone.
That's my only communication.
And that's to the pilot, glenn, of the helicopter.
Let's do this.
Let's bring her up.
Whenever you're ready, glenn.
Go! Let's do it.
Yeah.
Let's do it.
The helicopter's getting in position.
To prove that I'm not using any camera tricks whatsoever To accomplish this, We're gonna show you a continuous shot Of the helicopter hovering over the ramp With the empty cage.
That shot will never cut And will not go off-screen until I'm safely in the cage Or at the bottom of the canyon.
I want you to see that this is me.
This is not a double.
This is not a twin.
There's only one of me.
Helicopter's in the place.
Glenn, I'm set.
Criss, it's very windy.
Trying to keep steady.
I want you to go.
I want you to go, michael.
Get a continuous shot.
We're all set up here, criss, whenever you are.
Let's do this.
3, 2, 1.
Go! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Right there, baby! Whoo! There I am! Right there! Check it out! Yes! Yes! Whoo! Yes! Yes! Yes! When it goes right and it all goes well, Man, you just want to rush the guy And go "yeah-eah-eah.
" Check out this replay.
This is not .
There is absolutely no one in that cage.
And this is one continuous shot.
We're gonna use picture-in-picture So that you caclearly see that it's me in the t-rex And there is still nothing in that flying jail cell.
And again, this shot will not cut way.
Explosions.
Bam! And there's me in the cage.
Yeah! One continuous shot until that helicopter lands So you can see at home that it is absolutely me in the cage.
No .
No doubles.
What you see is what you get.
Yeah! Right there! Here I am! There I am! Right there! Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
You're welcome.
You're welcome.
You did it.
He vanished and appeared in the cage Just as he planned it and it was freaking awesome.
That fireball was amazing.
The heat that came off of that.
Even though we were at a distance, We still felt the heat from the pyro.
We're gonna replay this one more time for you.
We got picture-in-picture.
Empty jail cell.
Me in the t-rex.
One continuous shot.
Bam! Me in the cage.
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Was just crazy, man.
All of the sudden, you heard the explosions And then "whoa, where'd it go?" Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Whoo! My heart was pounding with elation.
It was incredible.
I was honestly surprised To see this went as smoothly as it did.
All of the challenges presented And especially the wind, which was so uncooperative.
Yeah!
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