are y'all pretending not to understand this movie?
Christian Bale had a twin brother and they were both committed to the act
Christian Bale tried to mislead Hugh Jackman, sending him off on a wild goose chase. Or so Bale thought. Jackman had Tesla build him a machine to teleport people, but the machine actually made a perfect copy rather than teleport.
Jackman had blind stage hands so they would not see that they were transporting a drowned person in that tank, which is also why the tank was covered when transported
Bale is an actual magician, illusionist, relying on tricks, misdirection, sleight of hand. Jackman is a poor magician, but a good showman. Jackman takes the work of others and creates a show out of it. That's it, that's the movie.