Reprinted without permission
Sitting tall and upright in his chair, Edward Norton is trying to articulate exactly what it is he dislikes about celebrity. "Well, it's not that I'm repulsed by the idea of it," he says, looking intensely at the floor. "I just think in some ways it's unhealthy."
Norton made his feature film debut only four years ago, but in that short space of time has gained a reputation for being one of the finest screen actors currently working. He's made only seven films, including the likes of Fight Club, American History X and Primal Fear, but that body of work already has people comparing him to greats such as Brando, De Niro and Hoffman. He's been nominated twice for an Oscar, directed his first film, and has other actors lining up to work with him.
"I feel I've been able to strike a relatively comfortable balance with it," he continues on the subject of fame, "but it's absurd.
I mean, celebrity culture is understandable given the potency of movies as a kind of common cultural dialogue at the moment, but I don't think it's always very healthy - for anyone involved."
A movie star denouncing celebrity? A movie star who can say things like "common cultural dialogue" without sounding like he's reading from a cue card?
If there's one thing that quickly becomes clear about this 31-year-old actor, it's that he is a lot more clued up than your average Hollywood performer.
Although he'd probably scoff at the idea, there's also something a little bit mysterious about him. What lends him this air is the fact that he consistently refuses to do what most other celebrities usually do without hesitation: publicly discuss his private life.
This doesn't just mean that he won't discuss relationships (for the record, Norton has been linked to Courtney Love and Salma Hayek). What it means is that he doesn't like to talk about anything that encroaches too closely on the personal. In previous interviews, he's even shown reluctance to discuss such banalities as hobbies.
"When I serve up my own private experiences as fodder for the cheap drama of the press it leaves me with a very hollow feeling," he once explained. "Like I've given up something that is part of what makes my own life, and it's just not worth it. Too much familiarity can get in the way. It diminishes your capacity to be an empty vessel that people can fill up with different things."
It's a policy that's hard not to respect. Finally, a celebrity with a sense of dignity who doesn't want to blather on about their personal growth or share banal anecdotes about waitressing.
Dressed head to toe in stylish, but unobtrusive black, Norton's here today to talk about his latest role - which means the conversation focuses firmly on "the work", with anything more personal always couched in a theoretical and cerebral tone.
In Keeping The Faith, he plays Father Brian Finn, a hip New York Catholic priest who, along with best friend Rabbi Jake Schram (Ben Stiller), falls in love with childhood friend Anna Reilly (Jenna Elfman).
A sort of holy trinity love triangle, Keeping The Faith is a remarkably sweet and old-fashioned romantic comedy, part The Philadelphia Story and part Boys Town (see box above). Despite the eclectic roles he's played, it's also something of a departure for Norton.
"Well, it's a rabbi/priest joke, but it's also a lot more than a rabbi/priest joke," smiles Norton, who looks a lot taller and bulkier in the flesh than he appears on screen. "It's funny, but there's something more substantial going on in the film. Here are three people who are committed and serious about what they're doing and out of that grows three characters who are in a real process of exploring who they are as people. And I thought that was interesting.
"It reminded me of films that I liked, like Broadcast News or Jules Et Jim, where they show relationships between adult people over time and the way these people affect each other. While I think a film like Fight Club was kind of a needle in the eye of everything that was wrong with the 20th century, Keeping The Faith seems to be a more hopeful note to start off the new Millennium with."
Along with displaying a lighter, more comic side to Norton, the film also marks his debut as a director. "I'd always wanted to make a movie, but I was concerned that I wasn't ready to direct. But I was speaking to Warren Beatty, and he told me not to make the same mistake that he had.
"He said: 'I waited too long.
I kept producing and thinking I can't direct until my magnum opus comes along. But that's the wrong approach, because you'll wait forever and then when the time comes to do something you really care about, you won't have the experience. So if you find something you like, just dive in and direct it.' I thought that was good advice, so that's what I did."
Born in Boston in 1969, Norton's background gives some clue to his tendency toward hyper-achievement. His grandfather, James Rouse, was the urban renewal pioneer who invented the modern shopping mall, while his mother worked for a civic trust, and father was a federal prosecutor under Jimmy Carter. After studying History and Japanese at Yale, Norton spent time in Japan housing the poor, before moving to New York and quickly gaining attention on the stage. According to Norton, however, it's the pursuit of experience rather than driving ambition which motivates him.
"Acting pushes you to explore parts of yourself that you haven't explored or to investigate things in a way you might not if you felt totally comfortable with what you are doing. I think that's a fun place to be because you feel challenged and it takes you right up to the limits of your capacity."
Currently filming The Score with Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro, it seems Norton's desire for public anonymity may be a policy that will be harder and harder to maintain. But he's hoping that by the time he's a household name, it won't make any difference. "I would like to think that on some level, the more media-savvy generations are hopefully getting less and less overawed by celebrity," sighs Norton. "It would be very nice to think that some of the air was coming out of the bubble of celebrity culture. Because really, it is just absurd."
Keeping The Faith is out now
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