Sun Interview

Today's Baltimore Sun has an interview with EN on Pride and Glory.

Edward Norton is in the zone

By Michael Sragow

August 29, 2008

Pride and Glory is a New York City cop movie about police venality, but it may also become the first Iraq war-inspired feature to make a dent at the box office and win mainstream awards.

How does a story based in Washington Heights resonate with the atrocities at Abu Ghraib? Credit the collaboration between a gutsy writer-director, Gavin O'Connor (Tumbleweeds, Miracle), with family roots in the NYPD, and his audacious star, Columbia's own Edward Norton.

Overthe phone from a getaway spot in Ontario, Norton recalled telling O'Connor, "I have to ask the question, what's going to make it worthwhile for me to make a very good example of another cop-corruption movie?"

The answer, it turns out, was blowin' in the wind. When the Abu Ghraib scandal broke and dominated the news for weeks, it led Norton and O'Connor into a charged conversation.

"We started saying to each other that the institutional lying at the center of Pride and Glory mirrored the crucible the country was going through. What's so fascinating to me about Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo or any flash point is that somewhere around it there is a person who surely has deep feelings of loyalty to his fellow soldiers, his unit, his army, his country.

"Yet he reaches a moment where he says, 'I'm going to distribute a disc with the pictures because they show a corruption of the things we're supposed to be standing for.' For an actor, that's an incredibly interesting tension."

This movie was personal for O'Connor, who called late Monday night from Pittsburgh, where he's preparing his new picture (Warriors, set in the world of mixed-martial arts). "My dad retired from the NYPD as a detective sergeant," he says. "My uncle was a cop; my mother's father was a cop. There are a lot of things we got right in the script, including having cops talk as cops talk.

"But when Edward got on board, he was great about challenging me, pushing me."

Looking like the folk tune's "worried man who sings a worried song," Norton walks into what he calls the "zone of truth" in the opening minutes of Pride and Glory, and doesn't leave it for two hours. He plays Ray Tierney, an NYPD detective from a family of cops - his influential old-school father ( Jon Voight), his Washington Heights precinct-chief brother (Noah Emmerich) and his slippery brother-in-law ( Colin Farrell), a cop in the same precinct. When Ray's investigation of a horrific group murder leads him to believe that his brother-in-law may be operating a drug-dealing hit squad, he's caught in a waking nightmare. No contemporary actor except Philip Seymour Hoffman can play ethical confusion as eloquently as Norton can, because he captures its volatility. Sometimes it comes out as distance and impassivity, sometimes as molten rage.

O'Connor acknowledges Norton's reputation for upsetting certain directors (Tony Kaye in American History X) and certain producers (Marvel Entertainment, The Incredible Hulk) with the scope and intensity of his input.

But this director says, "Edward's very involved in a positive way. Most actors are just concerned with the role. He needs to know how his work fits into the piece as a whole. He needs to understand the whole puzzle and how his character tentacles out into the other pieces."

And Norton's commitment extends to the film's release. He'll be avidly promoting Pride and Glory. (He didn't do that for The Incredible Hulk after reports of his and director Louis Leterrier's disagreements with Marvel in the editing room threatened to distract from the film.)

Pride and Glory boasts the zest and grit of New York police-corruption movies from the 1970s and beyond, and Norton can ring off a whole list of them. "Amazingly," Norton laughs and says, "they're all by Sidney Lumet. For me, the Lumet movie that stands out from that bunch is Serpico, because that was the police-corruption film for its generation. Frank Serpico was the hippie cop who spoke to the counterculture." Norton saw Pride and Glory as a chance to explore "how words like pride and glory and patriotism are used to co-opt my generation into participating in things that it knows are not right. And when you frame something that way, to me it starts to rise above genre."

Norton credits O'Connor's script for supplying the clues he needed to fill out his character. Ray's family both admires and doubts him because of his intelligence - and no matter how brainy he is, he can still go all Fight Club on Farrell. O'Connor says, "Edward works like an investigative journalist or an archaeologist when he digs into a role. ... He doesn't play Ray as a cliche, but as a compassionate, troubled, internally struggling guy."

When I ask Norton whether in some scenes he was consciously echoing Brando's Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront, he says he thinks Brando's character acted from personal betrayal and anguish; Ray is more "pro-active" about fighting corruption and is full of "rage."

Was the idea of rage what fascinated him about doing The Incredible Hulk?

"No," he says with a chuckle, "that was more the fun of seeing whether you could make a film that makes you feel the way those comics did when you were a kid, as if you're entering a slightly illicit fantasy world." Norton say it's up to Marvel whether his and director Leterrier's cut will ever make it to DVD.

For now, he's happy talking up Pride and Glory and preparing for his next picture, actor and writer-director Tim Blake Nelson's Leaves of Grass. Norton calls it a "smart-funny" comedy about an Ivy League professor who goes back to Louisiana to confront his roots, including his "nutbar brother," who's an "unreconstructed redneck." Norton plays both - they're identical twins.

"Whenever I hear an actor say his character wouldn't do something, I have to laugh," says Norton. "Because for me, when I'm working on a character, and he starts to do contradictory things, that's when I know we're in the zone of truth." And maybe, now, the comedy zone, too.

edward norton

Age: 37

Born: Boston; raised in Columbia

Education: Columbia's Wilde Lake High School, Yale University

Norton's favorite films:American History X (1998), Rounders (1998), Fight Club (1999), 25th Hour (2002), Down in the Valley (2006), The Painted Veil (2006)

Copyright © 2008, The Baltimore Sun

Obama doc, comments on Obama, Woodstock Film Festival

indieWIRE.com has a little bit on EN's Obama doc. It references a 8/26 blog entry by Sharon Waxman that has more on documentary including comments by EN and the possibility that the doc will be purchased by HBO. Below are some comments from EN about the doc

..With two years of behind-the-scenes access to the candidate the film, co-produced by Edward Norton and directed by Amy Rice and Alicia Sams, may turn out to be a uniquely historic account.

Norton believes it will be. “Whether he wins or not, this will be one of the most intimate records of a presidential campaign,” he said in an interview. “I’d say with confidence there’s never been as thorough a documentation of a presidential campaign from the inside.”

[Further down in the blog entry]

...But a key component of the crew’s access has been its agreement not to release anything before the election.

That’s fine by the filmmakers, said Norton. “We’re very much taking a non-partisan approach,” he said. “It is not in any way a laudatory or partisan angle on him. It’s not a campaign film. Our angle is we wanted to document for the historic record as intimate a portrait as possible of the first major African-American candidate for president.”

Norton admitted, however, that the Obama machine has frustrated the filmmakers in restricting access at key moments. I asked if there was footage from the tense days around the Rev. Wright affair. Norton said: “No one in their right mind will put their toughest moments on film. We hope to get a few of them. But we’re sticking to the mission statement, which is to reveal the country through his candidacy, as much as to reveal him.”

More Obama related news from a blog. sinisterwilliam mentioned an interview he heard with EN where EN talked about Obama. Here's part of the blog entry

I, on the, other hand, had the pleasure to listen to Ed Norton's measured and considerate endorsement of Obama on WVUA's airwaves during his conversation with my friend Corbin Martin on Crimson Conversations during a 'Get out the Vote' drive. Norton hadn't come on the air to tell anyone who to vote for, he came on merely to encourage college students to vote in the primary as part of a national call list for celebrities and no doubt politicians (Master P had called in as well- readily endorsing Obama).

He respects Sen. Clinton and he had worked with both Obama and Clinton, his home state being New York, but felt Obama was inspiring. He felt the country was ready for a "shift to new leadership." He felt the uniting potential was his reason for supporting Obama. Also that Obama was 'calling to an idea of a collective mission' - citizenship and service, I think those are good reasons. And, at least most important to me he described Obama as someone that I relate to, he referenced that a conversation with him that went something like this (Norton speaking of Obama):

"I was talking to Senator Obama one time about Lincoln...he was talking about how people misunderstand Lincoln sometimes- because we attach such ideals to Lincoln, that we tend to think of him as the champion of those ideals- which in many ways he was because he articulate those ideals so well. "Lincoln was an incredible pragmatist politically, he often said if he could save the union by abolishing slavery- he would do it, if he could save the union by allowing some states to retain slaveholding- he'd do it..." and Obama's assertion, "People sometimes think that politics are revolutionary...I don't think they're revolutionary...Politics is about respectful incremental change."

I don't think a comparison of Lincoln to Obama is without credence, in fact I think it is hopefully and eerily similar in how history seems to be repeating itself.

The fact of the matter is, in addition to also being from Illinois, Lincoln was ALSO new to National politics- went from a short lived senate career to the presidency.

Pride and Glory will make its U.S. Premiere on the opening night of the Woodstock Film Festival on Oct 2nd.

Ad campaign, Hulk DVD

EN has signed on to the Breil Milano men’s ad campaigns until 2010. The ads will come out next month. Breil Milano Signs Ed Norton [Thanks to Robin and Yasemin for the info!!!]

The Incredible Hulk will come out on Oct 21 in three different versions: three-disc Special Edition DVD (limited time only), a two-disc Blu-ray collectible edition (limited time only) and a single-disc DVD edition. For info on the special features, check out the article on Comingsoon.net [Thanks to Robin for the info!!!]

Making a Difference, Glory premiere, A look at Marlon?

BroadwayWorld.com has an interview with actor Josh Davis. He talked about a teacher who made a difference in his life

While at Centennial High School, Davis had a faculty member named Robin Norton who was his English teacher for two years. "She was this petite, tough as nails woman with a raspy voice that I can still hear in my head to this day. You know there is that one teacher that you think back on and say - man she really inspired me? - Well that was Mrs. Norton. We were working on scenes from Hamlet in her class I did a scene between Hamlet and his mother and Mrs. Norton videotaped all of the scenes we worked on in class. She took them home and one day she called me up after class and told me that she had shown her husband all the videos and he felt that I really stood out. She said that I should really consider pursueing this at some point in my life. Again, I never thought of acting as a career, but this instance made me realize how acting could affect the audience. I was doing it because I enjoyed doing it, not because it was affecting others. Sadly, she passed away from a brain tumor after I graduated college but her voice and enthusiasm always stayed with me and was a motivating factor when I made the decision to pursue this professionally. Ironically Mrs. Norton's son Ed was a few years older than me and he too went on to become a professional actor." The world has surely gotten to know Edward Norton.

Pride and Glory will make its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on Tuesday Sep 9, 2008.

I had an ultrasound today to check the baby's growth. She's right on target at approx 4 and a half pounds. I got a good look at her face and she looks like...Marlon Brando in the Godfather (I'm hoping that will pass). At least, that was my first thought when I saw her cheeks. On the bright side, I guess we have a new option for her first Halloween costume. The second pic is a little outline of the face courtesy of the ultrasound technician

EN in Toronto

CTV reports that EN, Colin Farrell and Jon Voight will be on hand for the screening of Pride and Glory at the Toronto Film Festival.

If you have a chance to see Tell No One (Ne le dis à personne), it is a wonderful thriller. Tell No One official site

LA Times

Today's LA Times covers the problem of Warner Brothers glut of films ready to be released. It mentions that Warners is "open to offers on Pride and Glory". To me (with my complete ignorance of the film industry), this is worrisome. The film is only just over 2 months from release. Shouldn't the studio's primary concern at this time be the publicity campaign leading up to the release? If they're trying to get rid of it, they are probably not putting much time or money into publicity. If it is bought up, then would it be delayed again? I guess we'll find out.

EN's 39th birthday is this coming Monday (Aug 18). I don't know how he will be celebrating it. The only thing I do know is that he is planning on attending the Democratic National Convention in Denver which starts on Aug 25.

Glory at Toronto Film Fest

Today's Variety has an article on Pride and Glory and mentions that there will be a screening at the Toronto Film Festival in September. Pride and Glory will be in theaters on Oct 24.

New Pride and Glory trailer

CinemaBlend has posted a new trailer for Pride and Glory. The only question I have about this new trailer is that it seems to me that it gives away an important plot twist. >New P&G trailer. The old trailer is up at the official site. Pride and Glory will be released on Oct 24.

SFGate.com has a nice comment about EN's acting [Thanks to Robin for the info!!!

Incredible Hulk Tokyo premiere

EN and Liv Tyler were on hand for the Tokyo premiere of The Incredible Hulk View the pictures. EN worked as an undergraduate in Osaka for his grandfather's Enterprise Foundation and he is able to speak Japanese

Zak Penn on EN, Bustin' director interview

EW.com has posted an interview with Zak Penn and his thoughts on EN [Thanks to Robin for the info!!!]

On Norton and the Hulk script, which Penn ultimately received sole credit for (he had been concocting the storyline for 16 years): "Yes, [the fallout] prevented me from collaborating with him [during production]. I don't really know the guy, he has his own process and he chose to do it the way he wanted to do it. That said, I kept in touch with the people making the movie — but he, you know, has his own particular way of working and...it was unusual. I really don't know, I wasn't there, I was off making another movie, so it wasn't a situation where I was banging on the door saying, 'Let me come to the set.' But that was disappointing, I won't deny it. I wasn't happy with him coming to Comic-Con saying that he wrote the script. I can't tell you that made me go back and watch Fight Club."

As he said, he really doens't know EN. But that didn't stop him back in a 4/07 interview from offhandly referring to EN by the sophomoric nickname "El Norte." This is okay to do with your college roommate, sneaky to do just among friends behind the guy's back, but to a reporter about a two-time Oscar nominated actor who you barely know and is starting work on a movie you wrote, it seems a more than a little obnoxious. And in the same interview, he makes it clear that it is HIS movie. He doesn't talk about director Louis Leterrier and the strengths he'll bring to the film, he states that Leterrier "plans on employing a lot of the techniques that I use in my films". He concludes by saying that "So I think you will see a lot of the so-called Zak Penn style in this production." Collaboration- the Zak Penn way. Variety's Anne Thompson wrote a highly detailed account of all that went on behind the film in Incredible Hulk: Setting the Record Straight. Here's an excerpt describing how EN signed on to the film and rewrote the script. Below that is an excerpt on how Penn receieved sole credit

When Marvel approached Norton to do The Incredible Hulk, he initially declined. They asked him to meet with director Louis Leterrier (Transporter) to discuss his objections to doing the movie; there Norton offered some ideas as to where he'd want it to go. Marvel agreed to hire a screenwriter to work with him. This is totally normal. At this point Penn was off the movie.

Marvel realized they didn't have time to hire a new writer and asked Norton to do it, offering him an uncredited producer credit as well. With about two months to go before the movie started filming, Norton did a page one rewrite--knowing that he couldn't do anything radical, because sets were being built, locations found, etc. The entire Brazil sequence was already story-boarded.

So Norton mostly changed dialogue, filled in gaps of motivation and developed character. For example, the scenes in Brazil about finding a serum in the Amazon to cure him, and Banner's emails with Tim Blake Nelson, were Norton adds. Marvel agreed to shoot Norton's script.

The Incredible Hulk filming was well under way in Toronto when the team flew to San Diego to do a Comic-Con panel last July. When the panel moderator asked Norton to address his enhanced role on the film--which was supposed to be revealed on the panel, but not by him--both Norton and producer Gale Ann Hurd recognized that his announcing his own role as screenwriter would play badly. And so it did.

[Further down in article]

As for the script, Marvel submitted both Penn and Norton (under his pseudonym, Edward Harrison) to the Writers' Guild; Penn (who had substantial economic incentives to want to win the arbitration) wrote an impassioned argument that Norton had not considerably changed his screenplay. The Guild tends to favor plot, structure and pre-exisiting characters over dialogue. Given the final version of the movie, they gave the sole credit to Penn. (Another early writer was seeking story by credit and didn't get anywhere.)

Another interesting thing to mention about Penn is that he is currently writing the Avengers script. If you read yesterday's update, EN is thought to be "confirmed" for that project. We'll see where this goes.

Indie Wire interviewed Bustin' Down the Door director Jeremy Gosch

EN in Avengers?, another review

Den of Geek reports that the Avegers cast is "confirmed" to include EN (Hulk), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Sam Jackson (Nick Fury), and two other "A-list" actors (Captain America and Thor). Who is the source? Apparently, it came from Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier. The expected release date for the Avengers movie is 2011.

Another review of Bustin' Down The Door is in the NY Times [Thanks to Robin for the info!!!]

Bustin' Down The Door review

Variety has posted a review of Bustin' Down The Door. The film opens in select theaters on July 25th. Bustin' Down The Door official website

More on Bustin' Down The Door, Remake Critique

It was reported in January that EN was narrating a surfing documentary Bustin' Down The Door right before it was going to premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. At the time, there wasn't anymore info on EN's involvement. Now, a small article on the film by The Press Association has a little more on how EN became involved. There is one thing I'd like to point out about the article- the title of the article implies that EN didn't know how to surf before becoming involved with the film. The comments from the filmmakers made it sound (to me) like the film reenergized an interest in surfing. Here's the article:

Hulk actor Norton learning to surf

Press Association, July 23, 2008

Incredible Hulk actor Edward Norton has been learning how to hang ten.

The quiet US actor couldn't be a "cooler guy" according to the director of Bustin' Down The Door, a small surf documentary which Edward narrates.

Speaking at the film's Hollywood premiere, Jeremy Gosch said: "Originally we basically had a 20 minute short film and we were taking it around and showing to people.

"He ended up seeing it and we met him and he just really loved the idea of the project."

The documentary looks back at a group of young surfers from Australia and South Africa in the 70s, who travelled to Hawaii to help turn surfing into a sport and the billion dollar industry that it is today.

According to the director, Oscar nominated Ed can't get enough of the ocean.

"Right now he's really stoked on surfing," he said. "We weren't even thinking of him as a narrator just because I didn't know he surfed.

"Then we got a call the day after we met him and he was like 'hey, I'd love to do your narration' and we were like 'that's great!'"

And there were no great showbiz demands when it came to recording with the A-list actor. "We went up to Toronto where he was filming the Incredible Hulk and he couldn't have been a cooler guy, or done a more professional job for us," said the filmmaker.

MTV.ca News has a list of the 10 upcoming remakes they're not looking forward to and one of them is a remake of Straw Dogs titled Fear Itself that EN was planning on producing (but whether or not he would star was not announced).

Straw Dogs (2009)

Sam Peckinpah's 1971 film is known for drawing great controversy that the director aggressively defended throughout his career. Now it draws new controversy as threats loom about it being remade. While the original film drew heat for allegedly being responsible for the escalation of violence in cinema as well as ongoing debates regarding one infamous and uncomfortable scene, Straw Dogs still leaves its mark on cinema today. So the question is: Why? If it ain't broke, why fix it? Apparently Edward Norton is interested in starring in this remake, filling in for Dustin Hoffman who starred in the original. Mr. Norton should note that filling in these shoes is going to be a little more difficult than doing a remake of 'The Hulk'.

Democratic convention

Washington Post's The Sleuth blog reports that EN will be one of the celebrities attending the Democratic Convention in Denver which starts Monday, Aug. 25.

Edward Norton PSA

EN is featured in a PSA on affordable housing and Enterprise's Green Community Initiatives. Paterson's Affordable Housing Ads

Thanks to everyone who emailed me about my earlier post. I feel a lot better about keeping the name. I also received some good news. Last week, my 1 hour glucose test came back elevated and I ended up having to take a 3 hour glucose tolerance test on Saturday morning (work is crazy right now) to determine whether I have gestational diabetes. The results were normal, so that is a big relief.

Nothing to do with Edward Norton

When your pregnant, you become obsessed with things, chief among them the name of the upcoming baby. It should be a name that is a little uncommon, yet hopefully one that people will know how to pronounce and doesn't cause the relatives to roll their eyes. So I picked one right away for my little girl due in October: Vivienne (either Vivienne Selene or Vivienne Avalon, with the nickname Vivi). This covers my longstanding interest in mythology: with Vivienne a variation of the name of the Lady in the Lake in King Arthur tales; Selene, the Greek goddess of the moon, and Avalon, the mythical island also of the King Arthur legend. I get up this morning, and find out that Angelina Jolie had her twins, a boy and a girl, and named the girl Vivienne. So now, people will assume that I just copied Angelina Jolie, instead of all the time and thought I put into the name. Now, I realize that this means absolutely nothing to most of you and plus you are mad that you had to read this crap (since I pay the bills on the website, I post what I want). But I'm sure a few of you understand and have had the same kind of experience or apprehension. It's silly. It's like the Seinfeld episode about George's telling fiancee Susan his choice of the baby name Seven out of tribute to Mickey Mantle, only to have Susan tell another couple about the name and have them choose to give their soon-to-be-born son the name. But in pregnancy, it is really the only thing you can control so you obsess over it. My pregnancy had been going along unbelievably smooth and a few weeks ago (at 23 weeks), I fell. The baby was given a clean bill of health at the ER, but I had nightmares after that. I had cut out caffeine, artificial sweetner, cold cuts and soft cheeses (for the Listeria risk), and just about substance that had ever been mentioned in reference to an adverse outcome, but still it was a stupid little accident that could have nearly make the difference.

No Hulk sequel

Today's Hollywood Reporter speculates on whether there will be a sequel to The Incredible Hulk. Below is the Reuters version of the story

Latest "Hulk" may not spawn a sequel By Carl DiOrio

Wed Jul 9, 1:17 AM ET

It's a tale of two movies, with an oddly similar ending.

Five years ago, "Hulk," the first movie based on Marvel's hulking green comic book character, rang up $245 million in worldwide box office but was widely dismissed as a commercial failure.

The second attempt, "The Incredible Hulk," amped up the fun factor and dialed down the brooding of director Ang Lee's original but is unlikely to gross significantly higher than its predecessor and might not spawn a sequel. And it's been dubbed a success.

What gives?

"We're happy with the financial results, even if they (only) reach the first film's levels," a Marvel insider insisted. "Having a sequel is not the definition of success."

That's fortunate, as even outpacing the first film's worldwide haul by 10% looks optimistic at this point, and that's not likely to stoke enthusiasm for a franchise follow-up anytime soon.

After four weekends, the Louis Leterrier-directed "The Incredible Hulk" has earned $125 million, the same as what "Hulk" had pulled in at the same time in its run. "Hulk" finished with $132 million, and its successor is unlikely to do much better.

Its foreign rollout is still in progress, with comics-friendly Japan among the territories the remake has yet to bow, but it appears likely that the Edward Norton starrer will struggle to reach $130 million internationally. The first film tallied $113.2 million overseas.

Action films tend to outperform internationally, though comic book adaptations can be a different matter if the fan base skews American. Marvel touts the Hulk comic franchise as its second most popular worldwide, after Spider-Man.

"All we can say as a studio is that we are very pleased with the result," Universal domestic distribution president Nikki Rocco said.

Despite the similarity of the Hulk films' theatrical runs, industryites suggest the lighter tone of the second film makes it more the vehicle to generate sequels, and some suggest the remake will prove a more lucrative DVD title than the Eric Bana-starring original. On the other hand, production costs and marketing expenses were steeper the second time around, totaling more than $200 million. The first film cost about $150 million to make.

Still, the dark original so turned off the Hulk character's fanboy base as to require a complete reworking of its big-screen rendering before a film franchise could be christened.

But Marvel has yet to greenlight a Hulk sequel. So other observers suggest the films' most important distinction lies simply in how well market expectations were managed in advance of their respective bows.

"Hollywood is always about perception," said David Davis, managing partner and entertainment analyst at Arpeggio Partners in Los Angeles. "The first Hulk (movie) had such high expectations after the NBC-Universal merger and was supposed to be critical-favorite Ang Lee's breakout commercial blockbuster.

"Then with the new Hulk film, Marvel was able to underplay the importance of the success after the great success of 'Iron Man' this summer," Davis said. "So the new one overdelivered, relative to its underpromise."

The Marvel-produced, Paramount-distributed "Iron Man" has fetched more than $563 million at the worldwide box office.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Pride and Glory release date

Great news! According to Hollywood Elsewhere, Pride and Glory's release date has been moved up to October 24, 2008. Not the best timing for me though: either I'm going to be busy with my brand new daughter or I'm going to be overdue and in my 41st week of pregnancy. [Thanks to Eva for the info!!!]

National Geographic Interview

EN talks to National Geographic in a good interview about the "greening" of The Incredible Hulk.

Hulk Box Office, EN's contribution to Hulk

Variety reports that The Incredible Hulk has scored an estimated $54.5 million domestically in the weekend box office, the second-best gross ever for Father's Day weekend.

Unfortunately, not all the the press about EN and his contribution to the Hulk has been favorable. Variety's Anne Thompson corrects a lot of misconceptions about EN's work on the Hulk on her blog. I feel that it fills in some important gaps: how much of the screenplay did EN actually write, why was he denied screenwriter credit, what went on in the editing disagreements between him and Marvel, and why didn't he do more publicity around the opening of the film. This blog entry addresses these items and I am including it below.

June 13, 2008

Incredible Hulk: Setting the Record Straight

The real question when looking at The Incredible Hulk--given all the sturm-and-drang in the media about Edward Norton--is what did he contribute to this movie?

Here's the real deal:

Zak Penn wrote the original script, which includes two pivotal scenes from his 16-year-old first screenplay for the Hulk, which was not used on the Ang Lee movie written by James Schamus. Marvel came back to Penn and wanted the two scenes in the movie: Bruce Banner jumping out of a helicopter to the earth below, not knowing whether or not he would morph into Hulk, and a lovemaking scene in a motel where Banner's rising heart rate becomes an issue. Both are among the best scenes in the final movie.

When Marvel approached Norton to do The Incredible Hulk, he initially declined. They asked him to meet with director Louis Leterrier (Transporter) to discuss his objections to doing the movie; there Norton offered some ideas as to where he'd want it to go. Marvel agreed to hire a screenwriter to work with him. This is totally normal. At this point Penn was off the movie.

Marvel realized they didn't have time to hire a new writer and asked Norton to do it, offering him an uncredited producer credit as well. With about two months to go before the movie started filming, Norton did a page one rewrite--knowing that he couldn't do anything radical, because sets were being built, locations found, etc. The entire Brazil sequence was already story-boarded.

So Norton mostly changed dialogue, filled in gaps of motivation and developed character. For example, the scenes in Brazil about finding a serum in the Amazon to cure him, and Banner's emails with Tim Blake Nelson, were Norton adds. Marvel agreed to shoot Norton's script.

The Incredible Hulk filming was well under way in Toronto when the team flew to San Diego to do a Comic-Con panel last July. When the panel moderator asked Norton to address his enhanced role on the film--which was supposed to be revealed on the panel, but not by him--both Norton and producer Gale Ann Hurd recognized that his announcing his own role as screenwriter would play badly. And so it did.

In post-production, when it came time to edit the movie, Marvel wanted a streamlined cut. Norton wanted more of his stuff, some 20 minutes worth. Norton is a serious actor who wants to be cool. Marvel convinced him to star in a movie on which he would have considerable input as writer-co-producer-star. A collision was inevitable. Their heated debate was leaked to Deadline Hollywood. Marvel had final cut, not Norton. He did not get his way. Some 50 minutes of outtakes will turn up on the DVD.

Post-Ang Lee, Marvel wanted the most commercial version of the movie, while Norton wanted something more nuanced.

As for the script, Marvel submitted both Penn and Norton (under his pseudonym, Edward Harrison) to the Writers' Guild; Penn (who had substantial economic incentives to want to win the arbitration) wrote an impassioned argument that Norton had not considerably changed his screenplay. The Guild tends to favor plot, structure and pre-exisiting characters over dialogue. Given the final version of the movie, they gave the sole credit to Penn. (Another early writer was seeking story by credit and didn't get anywhere.)

Interestingly, the reviews have been mixed, 61 on metacritic; some have criticized the movie for being light on character. Here's Todd McCarthy's review and a funny one in The Guardian.

When it came to marketing the pic, Universal's Adam Fogleson talked with Norton about his schedule and what PR they wanted him to do. The studio wanted to sell the Hulk, not Norton, finally--they avoided the traditional print junket in favor of a more superficial Adam Sandler TV-friendly media sell (not opening up to lots of questions about what Norton wanted the movie to be). Norton did Access Hollywood, Jimmy Kimmel (see below), lots of Internet stuff and attended the L.A. premiere. Then, as planned, he went off to Africa for his own purposes--and will do Japan PAs later this month.

This LAT Norton story addresses his image problems, which are substantial. He is seen as a gifted writer and actor, but opinionated and persnickety.

This Jimmy Kimmel spoof heads in the right direction.

Finally, my sense is that Norton's issues were with Marvel, which misled him into believing that he would have more control over the picture than in fact he did. Norton didn't take his issues to the press. When told about Deadline Hollywood, he had never heard of the blog. He's fine with Universal. Here's EW, with Norton's statement. Whether Norton will play Hulk again remains to be seen.

It's probably time for Norton to take charge via directing. (He debuted with the 2000 relationship comedy Keeping the Faith and has been developing Jonathan Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn as a directing vehicle.) The smartest movie stars--Clint Eastwood, Warren Beatty, Mel Gibson, Robert Redford, George Clooney and others--have figured out how to take control of their careers. Instead of fighting with studios over final cut, they earn it.

UPDATE: Norton is already producing: 2005's Down in the Valley and 2006's Painted Veil, plus Tim Blake Nelson's upcoming comedy thriller Leaves of Grass and a doc about Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama

Hulk First Day Box Office

Variety reports that The Incredible Hulk had a good Friday the 13th, opening with an estimated $21 million.

EN interview

The Daily Record has an interview with EN.

More stuff

The Associated Press talks about the Hulk and the Marvel superhero franchises.

Kimmel update, Hulk reviews, other Hulk features

EN's comedy skit is on the PRIMETIME special of Jimmy Kimmel Live, not the late night. I didn't point this out in earlier updates because I didn't figure it out until right before it started.

Rotten Tomatoes has The Incredible Hulk running 73% favorable among the reviews to date. The Washington Post gives Hulk a good review and even rates it a critic's pick. Roger Ebert give the film 2 and a half stars (the users on his site rate it four stars). The next four reviews of the Hulk rate it as good but not outstanding: The New York Times, The LA Times, Chicago Tribune, and USA Today. Wired gives it a good review and singles out Tim Roth with getting the movie's best bits. But after all these reviews, what really matters in the long run is the box office. After this weekend, we should know whether there are any more Hulk movies in EN's future.

LA Times's Calendar Live has a photo feature on EN and his relationship with studios over the years. Contrary to the LA Times assertion, EN has done press for the film: red carpet interviews, the Moviefone interviews, the Jimmy Kimmel skit. Calendar Live also has a photo gallery comparing EN to Lou Ferrigno

Jimmy Kimmel Live, Hulk Premiere interviews, EW review

Don't forget to catch EN in a comedy appearance TONIGHT on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

IESB has video clips of interviews from The Incredible Hulk premiere.

Entertainment Weekly gave The Incredible Hulk a B- in its review.

Hollywood Reporter review

The Hollywood Reporter has given The Incredible Hulk a good review.

Variety review

Variety has given The Incredible Hulk a good review.

writing credit, Unscripted, Hulk featurettes, interviews

According to IESB.net, EN is no longer listed as screenwriter for The Incredible Hulk. The WGA is giving all writing credits to Zak Penn, who wrote the original script. EN also wrote the screenplay to Frida, but was denied screenwriter credit. [Thanks to Robin for the info!!!]

Moviefone has posted "The Incredible Hulk Unscripted". It's a video of EN, costar Liv Tyler and director Louis Leterrier answer questions answer questions submitted by the public.

Superherohype.com has posted links to two new Hulk featurettes.

IGN has posted a new interview with Tim Roth, who plays Emil Blonsky/the Abomination. Liv Tyler talked about the Hulk to Metro.co.uk. Director Louis Leterrier told Coventry Telegraph that he would love to do a Hulk sequel and Avengers movie. Leterrier has another interview with G4. Lou Feriggno gave a few comments toIGN. The Hulk (Sergei Ivanev) was interviewed by IGNThe next is not an interview but I like this post from Adam at CHUD about EN and the press.

The

Hulk Premiere, TV appearances

IESB and Just Jared have pics from the premiere of The Incredible Hulk which was held yesterday at Universal Studios.

An Incredible Hulk sneak peek will be shown on TONIGHT's WWE Raw on the USA Network. HBO also has a First Look special on the film (starts airing Tuesday) . The TVGuide channel will feature the film in a Big Movie Premiere (starts airing Thursday). EN is supposed to make a comedy appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live [Thanks to Lynn for the info!!!]. An EN interview (from the press junket) is also supposed to be on Entertainers which will air next weekend (check local listings). TV appearances tend to change without notice.

Variety has a review of the videogame (which includes EN's voice). /FILM has a clip of a new TV spot that features Iron Man's Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr). It's been well known for months about a Tony Stark cameo, but Wired reports that Captain America will also make an appearance. Hollywood.com releases some tracking poll data about how The Incredible Hulk compares to Iron Man in an effort to guess how it will do at the box office.

MTV Movie Awards, Other Hulk Interviews

EN and Liv Tyler were presenters at TONIGHT's MTV Movie Awards. If you missed it, MTV will replay the show several times for the next few days. They introduced Coldplay during the first half hour of the show. Below are the 1st pics I've found of them (from Wireimage). There are also some up at Getty Images

Hulk cast members Liv Tyler (another Tyler interview, another Tyler interview), Ty Burrell and Christina Cabot have given interviews on the film. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige talked to Variety about the film.

Hulk Interviews

IESB has on-set interviews with the cast and crew of The Incredible Hulk.

It's a GIRL!!!, Brain Tumor Research, MTV Movie Awards

Yesterday, I went to my sonogram and found out I'm having a girl!I have to admit that I've been climbing the walls for the past week over the wait. I have been unable to concentrate, dealing with insomnia, and constantly counting the days and hours left until the sonogram. Plus it's not exactly good timing to be in a barely functional state since I had to attend a conference for work last week and have spent this week trying to catch up on the work I missed. It was almost as bad as my two week wait to find out whether I was pregnant. But the important thing is that everything from the sonogram indicates a healthy baby and I was very anxious to know the sex. The sonogram itself was quite amazing to see: the four chanbers of the heart, the hands, feet, kidneys, etc. It is always fascinating in documentaries, but when it's your own body and your own baby, it's breathtaking. I've included some of the scans: The first is the baby in profile lying on HER back: it's the head and the upper chest and the bright white blotch near the head is the baby's hand, as if she's about to suck her thumb. The next scan is the right hand. The next scan is a side view of the right foot (on the right hand side kicking up).

The world was shocked at the news this past week that Senator Edward Kennedy was diagnosed at with a malignant brain tumor. For many people, this news hits close to home. One of those people is Edward Norton. His mother Robin died of brain cancer at age 54 in 1997. Edward has held benefit premieres of his films Everyone Says I Love You and Red Dragon to benefit Johns Hopkins Department of Neurosurgery Brain Tumor Research. Please consider making a donation to Johns Hopkins Department of Neurosurgery or to Massachusetts General Hospital (where Senator Kennedy was diagnosed) Stephen E. and Catherine Pappas Center for Neuro-Oncology

MTV News reports that EN and Hulk co-start Liv Tyler will be presenters at the MTV Movie Awards, broadcast live this year on Sunday, June 1, from Universal City, California [Thanks to Tenika for the info!!!]

EN testifies on Capitol Hill, Civil Rights Dinner, Charity Poker

Last Wednesday, EN testified to the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming on sustainable and eco-friendly building. Washington Post and Ecorazzi (with 3 pics) [Thanks to Tenika, Marina, Mary Beth, Eva, Mary Ann, and Robin for the info!!!]. You can view EN's testimony on YouTube [Thanks to Eva for the info!!!] Pics of EN testifying [Thanks to Mary Beth and Robin for the info!!!]

The same night, EN attended the Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Awards Dinner with Patricia Rouse (I believe she is not his grandmother but the widow of his grandfather James Rouse; I believe EN's grandmother's name is Libby Rouse) Photos from the event [Thanks to Mary Beth for the info!!!]

Satuday night, EN participated in the Partouche Charitty Poker Festival at Cannes. Official Site. Dean Piper's World. [Thanks to Eva for the info!!!]

Wolong, Contribute interview

We've been hit with back to back tragedies lately with the Myanmar cyclone and the China earthquake. The China earthquake coverage has been very difficult for me to watch since I had been in China on vacation last September and met wonderful people. However, the most memorable part for me was my visit to Wolong Nature Reserve, the main research and breeding site for Giant Pandas, and the people I met there. Unfortunately, it is located close to the earthquake's epicenter. There still has been no word from the center since the earthquake. It is difficult to reach, especially if the only road was damaged by the quake. I worry about how supplies will make it to the area. The National Zoo will provide updates as information comes in. So now I guess we wait. BBC News: Quake fears for key panda reserve. UPDATE: National Geographic has posted that the Wolong pandas are safe. The road has been damaged. There is no additional information on safety of the staff or whether there has been damage to the center. My pics of Wolong are below.

EN gave a great interview to Contribute [Thanks to Kristi for the info!!!]. The LA Times has published a few interesting articles: one on the Hulk: 'Hulk's' biggest obstacle: Ang Lee's version [Thanks to Robin for the info!!!] and then one on movie title names, which talks about trying to name Pride and Glory Some movies are entitled to do well. A snippet of the article is below.

When they met last year with executives at New Line Cinema, marketing consultants Seth Lockhart and Jamil Barrie pitched their 10 favorite alternative titles for "Pride and Glory," a police drama starring Edward Norton and Colin Farrell. Then they passed around a report with dozens of others that didn't make their cut.

"One of Our Own" caught the eye of Russell Schwartz, New Line's marketing chief at the time, who asked, "What's wrong with this one?"

That's when Lockhart, who hated "One of Our Own" because it sounded to him like a tag line, gave a kick under the table to Barrie -- who thought it perfectly suited the tale of cops betrayed by a corrupt colleague. When even the partners who call their consulting firm TitleDoctors disagree, it's clear the business of naming movies can be tricky.

EN attended the Barnstable Brown pre-Kentucky Derby gala. Barnstable Brown partygoers revel in the 'Girls' and the vibe . Eva found some pictures from it on Getty Images.

new Incredible Hulk trailer, EN's father interview

Apple has posted a new Incredible Hulk trailer [Thanks to Jane, Robin, and Mary Beth for the info!!!]

EN's father Edward M Norton and his wife Ann McBride Norton spoke at a high school in Baton Rouge early in April. An article on them has been published on 2theadvocate.com [Thanks to Robin for the info!!!]