Ed Norton Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I always thought those Fight Club public service announcements were all kinds of awesome -- Ed Norton talking about proper movie etiquette, and the fact that no one has the right to touch us in our bathing suit area, and Brad Pitt discussing the emergency exits and drinking your own urine. Whenever the real movie theater announcements would pop up, I'd wish it was the Ed and Brad versions instead.

But oh, the above clip completely beats the other two. Apparently this has made the rounds before, but I've never heard of it, so in case you haven't either, check out the song above. However, be warned: This is a song about penises, so if you don't want to hear Brad Pitt and Ed Norton singing about them at work, don't click! But it would be such a waste, because it's flipping brilliant. It's definitely the best twist on words that I've heard in a while. (Check out the lyrics after the jump ...)

Enjoy!

With this latest bit of news, one things for certain: Kevin Macdonald is hurting when he should be playing. State of Play already lost Brad Pitt in November. He was having a slew of issues with the director, and decided to back out of his deal, which instigated Universal to make some threats of legal action. It was particularly crappy timing for the project, since it was set to begin filming when the actor bailed. Word later came that Pitt wasn't happy with the script, and thought it needed work. Presumably not interested in waiting the strike out, Universal disagreed, so they turned to wooing Russell Crowe to replace Brad.

The production will now begin in January, and Variety reports that star #2 is backing out -- Ed Norton. This departure, however, is because of a clash in start times -- State of Play now interferes with Norton's other project, Tim Blake Nelson's Leaves of Grass. So Eddie is out, and Universal already has its replacement -- Ben Affleck. So, as it stands now, Ben will be the "fast-rising politician who is caught up in a murder conspiracy. Crowe will play a journalist who leads a newspaper's investigation into the killing. He's conflicted in that he once ran the politician's campaigns, and he is now romancing his estranged wife." Still on the cast list, at least for now -- Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright Penn, and Jason Bateman. There is the possibility that Mirren will be the next to go -- she has a potential conflict with the upcoming Love Ranch, but they're trying to work things out.

So I ask you: Should State of Play frolic away, or is it time to shelve the project?

Ed Norton's acting career has thrown him into a number of roles over the years, from scary skinheads to his most recent role, a man who turns green and busts sh*t up. But now he's onto something else, courtesy of Hulk co-star Tim Blake Nelson. Variety reports that Norton will play dual roles in the upcoming comedic thriller, Leaves of Grass -- a project Nelson wrote and will act in. I have to admit, I've been a waning fan of Norton's over the last few years, but this could just be the film to amp things up again (in the non-green sort of way).

Plot details haven't been released yet, but Ed's roles have: "Norton will play identical twins -- one an Ivy League classics professor, and the other a hedonistic, pot-smoking career criminal." This should be interesting, especially since Norton rocked at portraying inner personality conflict in Fight Club (or Primal Fear for that matter) -- this is just split personalities as two people. The actor says about the role: "The challenge of playing twins for an actor is very special, and I was very flattered that Tim sent Leaves of Grass to me. I liked it so much, and felt so strongly that it was a film Tim understood to his core, that I took it to my partners and suggested we produce it. This is exactly the kind of personal filmmaking that we set out to support.

So, Ed's also on as producer, and will take on the role once he finishes his stint in State of Play. Nelson, meanwhile, has got to be relieved. He said that if Norton had declined, "there would have been no second choice." So, are you ready to see Ed take on dual roles (again), or are you just waiting to see him go green?

You might remember our Scott Weinberg reviewing a documentary from SXSW called The King of Kong (which has since added onto the end: "A Fistful of Quarters"). He said it was "as compelling, colorful and entertaining as any of the 'human interest' documentaries of the past five years." The film, which opened in limited release this weekend, follows the quest of Steve Wiebe to get his record-breaking score on Donkey Kong recognized -- one that beats the long-established score of Billy Mitchell. There's lots of argument over the whole thing, which has continued beyond the making of the doc. Mitchell isn't happy with how he is portrayed, and four months after Wiebe beat his score, it seems he regained his title. But the kicker is that a fictional account is in the works, to be written by Michael Bacall, and the filmmakers got chatty with VH1 about who they'd like to star.

If you're wondering about what kind of movie this could be, director Seth Gordon described one scene they weren't able to catch on film, but could make it into the feature: "There was a moment recorded only on audio when Steve was approaching a record on his Donkey Kong machine in his garage. As he hopped barrels toward glory, his young son was yelling, 'Daddy, Daddy, wipe my butt,' and hitting dad with a broom. I think it will be pretty fun physical comedy."

And who do they want to play the gamers? Gordon says: "My first idea for Billy was Johnny Depp. Ed Norton I thought would be good. It's not really about the hair, it's about the eyes. It's got to be a real actor." For Wiebe, producer Ed Cunningham thinks Greg Kinnear would be good, while Gordon likes Nathan Fillion. With names like these, this could rock the pants off The Wizard! I imagine they'd have a good shot with Fillion -- he's still making his way so I imagine he'd be easier to sign, and considering the success of the doc and the possible co-stars, it would be an appealing project for an up-and-comer...not to mention the fact that I think he'd make a good gamer. I'd also love to see Depp in the role, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was too busy or uninterested. Who would you pick?

We're here, literally crammed like a sardine into some of the first few rows at the Marvel Studios panel, and they've hit the ground running by introducing the talent right away. No fancy speeches or anything.

The Incredible Hulk just started shooting, so we unfortunately won't have any footage or pictures coming your way, but they did manage to bring Liv Tyler and Ed Norton down from the set. Woot! The questions are from the moderator, IGN's Eric Moro.

• So where does The Incredible Hulk fit into the movie mythology? "This is a part one, and it's the beginning of a whole new Hulk saga."
• Why another Hulk movie? "Because he's The Incredible Hulk!" Well, that tells me a lot. "We also won't have a Hulk that is three different sizes."
• Edward, you're contributing more than acting to the film, what else are you doing? "Well, you're making me be immodest ... I came into this and I wrote the screenplay. I was a Marvel kid growing up, and I used to subscribe to a lot of the books. Remember when they used to come in plastic with the little piece of scotch tape on the back? This story has almost limitless potential in it to be remade and redone. It's a really classic modern mythology."
  
• Liv, Betty Ross definitely isn't a damsel in distress ... what's your take on the character? "Well, I haven't started shooting yet, so I'm a bit out of the loop, but I used to love the television show and I'd watch it with my mom. In this film, we're searching for a cure for him."

Those who were hoping that Jennifer Connelly -- pretty much the one good thing about Ang Lee's 2003 film Hulk -- would somehow make the nimble transition into playing Betty Ross again in the complete re-do version now being prepped can stop their fantasizing. 29-year old Liv Tyler has been cast as Ross, the long-time love interest to Ed Norton's Dr. Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk, which will begin shooting in Toronto this summer. As noted in The Hollywood Reporter, the Ross character has been a fixture of the Hulk comic since 1962; she is a fellow scientist who works with Banner to help him tame the beast within, not always successfully. The HR story also has plot details to reveal: the film will open with Banner and Ross estranged from each other, "but with the pursuit of the Hulk heating up and Banner on the run trying to cure his condition, Ross finds herself swept back into his life."

This casting move, coupled with her leading role in the upcoming horror film The Strangers -- a new still from that film was released today, by the way -- suggests Tyler's stock as a leading lady is very much on the rise, which is a trend I support. As for director Louis Letterier, I'm one of those poor, unfortunate souls who still hasn't seen either The Transporter or its sequel Transporter 2, so I'm in no position to comment on whether he deserved to be handed the keys to a high-interest franchise like this, but here's hoping this team that's being assembled makes something interesting out of it. Norton and Tyler are both intriguing actors, and I can imagine that at the very least they'll find some nice angles for their characters, whether the movie as a whole works or not.

After what could be called a self-imposed studio feature film hiatus, controversial director Tony Kaye seems poised to finally return to more mainstream filmmaking. According to Production Weekly, Kaye is currently negotiating to take over directing duties on the Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson starrer Black Water Transit. The film, adapted from the Carsten Stroud novel by Live Free or Die Hard scribe Doug Richardson, was to be directed by Samuel Bayer but "creative differences" caused Bayer to leave the project and the offer went out to Kaye.

This film marks the first re-teaming of Willis and Jackson since the third Die Hard film and tells the story of successful businessman Jack Vermilion (Jackson) who is trying to help his son after he is arrested on drug trafficking and armed robbery charges. In his desperation, Vermilion makes a deal with the feds to trade them something in exchange for leniency for his son. He hatches a desperate plan to ensnare Earl Pike, a hard-nosed soldier with CIA ties (Willis) and get him to commit a crime and be arrested by the feds . Unfortunately, his plan backfires leaving several people dead, Vermilion wanted for murder and Pike out for revenge.

The film sounds interesting and its good to see Kaye getting another chance at a studio film. Kaye, whatever his perceived difficulties, is probably no more difficult than any other creatively driven director or actor in Hollywood. His problems during and after American History X and with Ed Norton more than likely sprung from a desire to make the best film possible and not from being "difficult" just for the heck of it. It wouldn't be the first time directors and stars clashed over "creative differences." Shooting is expected to start in April on location in New Orleans.

It took me a long time to appreciate the western. I had no interest in John Wayne or "The Man with No Name" or gunfights at high noon. It all seemed a bit hokey to me. I think the first time I actually gave it fair attention I was in my mid-20s, when I pretty much forced myself to watch the classics, such as The Searchers, High Noon, Stagecoach and The Wild Bunch.

The same is or would be true for most people of my generation. The western has little significance to anyone born in the last 35 years, not just because the genre was pretty much invisible from the mid-70s to the early 90s and has been scarce still since, but also because its conventions have become more clichés than standards, and because new perspectives on its subject matter have weakened its glorification. Today films set in the same time period are more likely to be categorized as and have the appeal of historical fiction rather than that dead brand of "cowboys and Indians."