July 29, 2013, 12:30 pm

A Documentary by Teller Explores the Magic of Vermeer

By DAVE ITZKOFF

Mauritshuis, The Hague “Girl With a Pearl Earring,” one of Vermeer’s most famous works.

 

A picture may be worth a thousand words, and Teller, the nonspeaking partner in the illusionist team of Penn & Teller, is a man of few. Still, he’s interested enough in pictures, paintings and the creation of fine art that he has made them the subject of a new documentary, “Tim’s Vermeer,” that has been acquired for distribution by Sony Pictures Classics.

On Monday, Sony Pictures Classics said it had picked up the worldwide rights to “Tim’s Vermeer,” a nonfiction film that is directed by Teller and that chronicles Tim Jenison, a Texas-based inventor who explores how Jan Vermeer created his photo-realistic paintings in the 1600s, a century and a half before photography was invented.

In a decade-long exploration, Mr. Jenison travels to Delft, Holland, where Vermeer painted, and meets with the British artist David Hockney, who has made his own inquiries into how Vermeer and other master painters created their works. Ultimately, Mr. Jenison’s project “succeeds as he uses 17th-century technology — lenses and mirrors — to develop a technique that might have been used by Vermeer, supporting a theory as extraordinary as what he discovers,” Sony Pictures Classics said in a news release.

Penn Jillette, the more verbal performing partner of Teller, explained the origins of the film in a statement. “My buddy, Tim Jenison, told me over supper he was going to try to paint a Vermeer,” Mr. Jillette said. “Tim is a genius, but I’m a skeptic. I wanted to see him do it. Teller has been the Penn & Teller de facto director since our beginnings, so we made a movie of Tim’s whole monomaniacal trip. Having Sony Pictures Classics as the first words on the screen means it’s more than just a couple of Vegas magicians and an eccentric inventor in his garage. Now it’s a real film that will change the history of art.”

Sony Pictures Classics said it will release “Tim’s Vermeer” next year.