Edward Norton's last movie was The Painted Veil, a film based on W Somerset Maugham's novel about the emotional distance between two repressed British poshos in the 1920s – and one of Edward Norton's next films will be all about HULK SMAAASH!!
According to Marvel Studios, the star of the next Hulk movie – titled The Incredible Hulk – will be Edward Norton. It's hoped that Edward Norton can bring many different assets to the role of the Incredible Hulk, partly by utilising the simmering anger he displayed in Fight Club, the terrifying intensity he showed in American History X and the weird gay little magician voice he did in The Illusionist.
Admit it – you saw Hulk when it was released and it disappointed you. You wanted two hours of a green monster hurling tanks into petrol stations and you got two hours of a man being sad because his daddy didn't love him. And then getting beaten up by a cloud made of sadness or something.
Hulk had none of the crazed destruction of the comic book, and it had none of the bizarre cheapo sadness of the TV show starring that policeman who sued his brother. But all the mistakes of Hulk are set to be corrected next year when dumb two-hour smashathon movie The Incredible Hulk is released.
There are so many reasons to be excited by The Incredible Hulk, but they all mainly involve the movie being deliberately made as a shamelessly ridiculous rollercoaster of angry thumping and wanton destruction of everything. The Incredible Hulk is being directed by Louis Leterrier who – thanks to helming flicks like The Transporter and Jet Li Unleashed – knows a thing or two about making movies where everything gets blown up.
And now it has been confirmed that the lead star in The Incredible Hulk will be Edward Norton, as Variety reports;
Edward Norton has been set by Marvel Studios to play Bruce Banner in "The Incredible Hulk."… "Edward Norton is a rare talent and one of the most versatile actors in the business," Marvel Studios production president Kevin Feige said in a statement. "His ability to transform into a particular role makes him the ideal choice to take on the character of Bruce Banner and the Hulk. Edward is perfectly suited to bring one of the most popular and important Marvel icons to the bigscreen in a new and exciting way."
The signing of Edward Norton seems to be continuing Marvel's new policy of getting respected actors to play the roles of their action heroes. The movie adaptation of Iron Man has already attracted Robert Downey Jr and Terrence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow – so now that Edward Norton is the Incredible Hulk, we should be able to expect co-stars like Dame Judi Dench, Kirk Douglas and the corpse of Sir John Gielgud to also sign up before too long.
The question is, though, after making so many pansy-assed intellectual films in a row, will Edward Norton be able to find the anger needed to become the Incredible Hulk? We think so, and if he can't we're more than happy to go and stir him up by discussing award-show goodie bags for a while.
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jeff says
im in this shit too.
jeremy murphy says
Norton’s choice seems at the very least inconsistent, given his much touted social awareness. but it’s downright nuts when you remember this is the celeb who enjoys dissing other celeb’s juvenile & demiGod like approach to fame, money and some wonderful pretense which just might pass for talent or even possibly effort! Good lord though wont be hard throwing these rocks in future when the scribblers can fling the very same rocks back at you. Oh dear Eddy, time to stop digging.
By the by, The Painted Veil was a not so much about repressed poshos as you parse it, but rather redemption. It was practically the only occasion where WSM went near approaching a moral conclusion. His work conversely demonstrated a dispassion for his characters, which some have wrongly associated as disdain or even dislike. In fact it allowed his characters to take on a believable credibility & depth and not mearly be the subject of his unconscious desire.making the reader form these conclusions on their own.