"Murder by illusion."
F/X

F/X Collection

F/X is a 1986 American action-thriller film about Rollie Tyler (Bryan Brown), an expert in the art of special effects (F/X) with a reputation built by his work on many low-budget hack-and-slash films such as I Dismember Mama. The Department of Justice hires him to stage the murder of a gangster about to enter the Witness Protection Program. He agrees, but then things get complicated. Meanwhile, New York City police detective Leo McCarthy (Brian Dennehy) is investigating the faked murder and cannot understand why the Justice Department is even less helpful than usual. A sequel, F/X2 was released in 1991.