Pages tagged “edward norton”

Release Date: June 13
Director: Louis Leterrier
Writer: Zak Penn
Cinematographer: Peter Menzies Jr.
Starring: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth
Studio/Run Time: Marvel Studios, 114 mins.

It’s a common misconception that Marvel Studios’ The Incredible Hulk is a sequel to Ang Lee’s 2003 film, Hulk. It’s not. In fact, it has nothing to do with that movie at all. Rather, it’s a franchise reboot, intended to re-launch the character under Marvel’s new in-house movie production company. But the film’s marketing efforts either failed to address the relationship (or lack thereof) with the 2003 Hulk film, or else willfully ignored any potential confusion.

Actor/producer Edward Norton is seeking a distributor for a documentary about Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, according to Variety. The as-yet-untitled documentary is being produced by Norton’s Class 5 Films and is scheduled for release in 2009.

Directors Amy Rice and Alicia Sams started shooting in 2006—long before Sen. Obama announced his intention to vie for this year's Democratic presidential nomination—when they accompanied him on a trip to Africa. The filmmakers will continue shooting for the duration of the senator’s campaign.

Although Norton and Endeavor agent Ari Emanuel (yes, he's the namesake of that Ari), who's helping the film find a distributor, are both supporters of Obama’s candidacy (Emanuel has hosted fund-raisers and Hollywood functions to support the senator and Norton has reportedly donated to his campaign), Norton told Daily Variety that the film’s purpose was not to glorify its subject.

The inspiration came as Norton, his Class 5 partners, and Rice and Sams discussed a speech Sen. Obama delivered at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. “None of us had voted for him or contributed to his campaigns,” Norton said. “None of us was saying, ‘I want to back this guy for president.’ It was more this generational experience, of seeing someone we felt represented us in a very unique and fresh way, and the desire to explore what would happen to the first person our age who staked a claim to national leadership.”

The filmmakers already have hundreds of hours of footage, but Norton said it would be difficult to estimate a production budget or timetable, as Sen. Obama’s campaign is still in progress.

Related links:
IMDb: Edward Norton
Paste news: Ed Norton Plays Two Leading Men in Grass
Paste news: Ed Norton, Brad Pitt Reunite for Play

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Tim Blake Nelson's next feature, Leaves of Grass, will star Edward Norton and...Edward Norton. This is because Norton is set to play identical twins in the film, "one an Ivy League classics professor and the other a hedonistic pot-smoking career criminal," according to Variety. Which means, despite the title of the film, we won't be seeing Norton sing of the body electric, though perhaps that's not too much of a let down.

Norton and Nelson will co-star in The Incredible Hulk, and apparently they've been getting along together quite well since Nelson wrote Grass with Norton in mind. "[He] would have been my first choice for either of these roles," Nelson told Variety. Without him, "there would have been no second choice."

"I liked it so much and felt so strongly that it was a film Tim understood to his core," Norton said. "This is exactly the kind of personal filmmaking that we set out to support."

The film will begin shooting after Norton completes his work on State of Play, which recently lost Brad Pitt as its other lead. As a result of Pitt's departure, there has been some speculation as to whether or not Play will ultimately get made now, so this could push up the production date of Grass as well.

Related links:
Paste: Norton in State of Play
Paste: The Illusionist
Tim Blake Nelson on IMDB

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