Okay, you’ve heard the rumors of the behind-the-scenes battle between Marvel and star Edward Norton over The Incredible Hulk. I’ve been getting a lot of emails asking me to explain what exactly happened. Here is what I know/have heard or gathered:
Edward Norton turned down the project when he was first approached but Marvel insisted that he meet with director Louis Leterrier, and Norton relented. At the meeting Norton offered his version of The Hulk story, and Marvel agreed to hire a screenwriter to work with him on a rewrite of Zak Penn’s draft. But no screenwriter was ever hired and Norton did a substantial page-one rewrite by himself. Anne Thompson explains: “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.” Norton added a lot of dialogue and character motivation, and Marvel agreed to shoot Norton’s draft of the screenplay.
After production was completed, Leterrier put together “an assembly” of the film, which basically included everything that was shot. The director explained to Collider: “It’s called a suicide run because it’s absolutely horrible. You want to commit suicide after you see it.”
Marvel decided they wanted make a shorter, more action-packed cut of the film, discarding a lot of the character development pieces that Norton had brought to the screenplay.
“So after this we had a meeting—just like this—like a round table where I go okay we have to find solutions. And then we were screaming stuff and everything. Maybe somebody walked in, a PA or somebody walked in, somebody who’s not used to it and we’re having a conversation and Edward was like…no, Edward’s very vocal.”
Norton was understandably pissed. He was brought onto the project under the premise that he would have considerable creative control. But the final cut was, of course, not his. Norton and Leterrier lobbied for a more nuanced cut of the film that ran about two hours and 15-20 minutes, but Marvel stuck to their guns.
“Everyone was exhausted; it was like a little burst. ‘’I’m angry with you!’’ ‘’No, I’m angry with you!’’ And me in the center saying ‘’Boys, calm down.’’ It didn’t come to blows. It was just a remark here and there, then it became public,” Leterrier told EW.
Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily ran the story on the Norton/Marvel blow up.
“The next day when the Nikki Finke…Nicky Fink or whatever her name is…article came out, Edward was right next to me. He’s like ‘you want to laugh?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, what’s up?’ ‘Read this’.”
A day later, Norton even showed up to do ADR work on the film. Leterrier told Collider that 70 minutes of deleted footage is set to be released on the inevitable Bluray release. (Leterrier describes the out-takes: “It’s like the back story. It’s more the sequel to the Ang Lee movie.”)
“I regret that [Marvel and Norton] didn’t come to an agreement where we could’ve all worked together,” Leterrier explained to Entertainment Weekly. “The press is what kept Edward and Marvel from talking to each other. [The argument] was nothing, but then it became something big.”
Norton’s script opened with a suicide scene in the Arctic. While the scene added a lot of depth to Norton’s character, giving you a greater understanding of just how much he wanted to get rid of his curse. I’ve heard that the scene is included in the video game adaptation. A couple reasons why Marvel may have exorcized the scene from the final cut:
1. It added an extra five minutes to the beginning of the film, and in effect pushed the first appearance of The Hulk to page 26/27 of the script (or about a half hour into the actual film). Hollywood’s reasoning is that with a movie titled “The Incredible Hulk”, mainstream audiences want to see Te Hulk as soon as possible. I tend to disagree. I think that one of the reasons Richard Donnor’s Superman is so great is for it’s extended origin story. It builds to the first climactic moment when you see Christopher Reeves in the Red and Blue suit. And lets not forget Jaws…
2. It undermines the moment that Penn wrote where Bruce Banner jumps out of the helicopter, not knowing if he would survive. The risk was removed from that scene.
3. Suicide is less accessible and not family friendly.
Norton’s flashback sequences were also cut from the film, including a sequence with Banner having a sit down conversation with a Doc Samson, which can be seen in the trailers. The storyline with Banner finding a serum in the Amazon and his computer conversations with Mr. Blue (Tim Blake Nelson) were some of Norton’s storyline additions that remained in the final cut.
Marvel submitted both Zak Penn’s and Edward Norton’s (under a pseudonym, Edward Harrison) drafts to the Writers’ Guild for arbitration. Penn also wrote a letter to the WGA insisting that Norton had not considerably changed his screenplay. Members of the Guild follow a formula for determining the credits. An original writer must contribute at least one-third of the final screenplay to receive credit. If subsequent writers labor on an original screenplay as script doctors, they must contribute more than half of the final screenplay to receive credit. The Guild compares the final cut of the film against both drafts, favoring story and characters over dialogue. And as I said before, most of Norton’s changes were dialogue driven. The conclusion was that Penn would get sole screenplay credit. Zak Penn’s original script was also said to include two pivotal scenes from his 16-year-old screenplay attempt: Bruce Banner jumping out of a helicopter, and the scene where Banner tries to get intimate with Betty, but his rising heart rate becomes an issue.
Edward Norton released the following statement to Entertainment Weekly:
“Like so many people I’ve loved the story of The Hulk since I was a kid, so it was thrilling when Marvel asked me to write and help produce an altogether new screen incarnation, as well as play Bruce Banner. I grew up reading Marvel Comics and always loved the mythic dimension and contemporary themes in the stories, and I’m proud of the script I wrote. In every phase of production, including the editing, working with Louis Leterrier has been wonderful…I’ve never had a better partner, and the collaboration with all the rest of the creative team has been terrific. Every good movie gets forged through collaboration, and different ideas among people who are all committed and respect the validity of each other’s opinions is the heart of filmmaking. Regrettably, our healthy process, which is and should be a private matter, was misrepresented publicly as a ‘dispute,’ seized on by people looking for a good story, and has been distorted to such a degree that it risks distracting from the film itself, which Marvel, Universal and I refuse to let happen. It has always been my firm conviction that films should speak for themselves and that knowing too much about how they are made diminishes the magic of watching them. All of us believe The Incredible Hulk will excite old fans and create new ones and be a huge hit…our focus has always been to deliver the Hulk that people have been waiting for and keep the worldwide love affair with the big green guy going strong.”
EW’s sources say Norton, worried about being unfairly branded “a pain in the ass” by the press, conceded to Marvel’s cut, which even though it wasn’t what he wanted, he understood would be more commercial.
Edward Norton is supporting the film, and doing select press. Liv Tyler, Tim Blake Nelson and Louis Leterrier have contract stipulations for two sequels, if Marvel wanted to bring them back. Norton’s contract doesn’t have any such stipulations. Even if a sequel isn’t greenlit, The Hulk will return in the upcoming Superhero team-up film The Avengers. However, I’d be shocked if Norton returned to reprise the role of Bruce Banner.
June 14th, 2008 at 3:11 am
“Leterrier describes the out-takes: “It’s like the back story. It’s more the sequel to the Ang Lee movie.””
Interesting. Now that I want to see. I also don’t think he will be back for this, especially after reading this. I like Norton a lot. But this was a huge pain in the ass from people telling him one thing and then doing another behind his back. Even when they were so hard-pressed to really get him on board the project. I’m glad he’s taken the high road here and is promoting it like a professional, even though it ended badly.
The Hulk always seemed like a character that had great room to do a really sinister and human dynamic. But even then I think most people would bitch about that. I’d love to see something that’s a creative mix of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll. Since that’s what the character basically is. But in the end, the company wants to see toys and t-shirts sold. So I could never see something like what Norton really intended to do with the Hulk in a Marvel film.
Norton is such a dynamic actor, that I a project like this really dwarfs his ability.
June 14th, 2008 at 3:50 am
I think Norton will be back for the sequel, since it will be the biggest movie of his career in terms of money, then he will be able to do more independent films that he loves to do, This time he will make sure that he has screen writers credit and some control of the final cut.
June 14th, 2008 at 3:50 am
I could be wrong, but I predict that unless the revaluate their position on issues like the ones presented in this story, Marvel Productions will continue their success for another film or two then fall flat on their faces.
They understand comics, but they don’t understand film. It’s a different medium with a different language and if they continue to dilute and oppress the visions of those who speak the language fluently they will end up making bad films and driving audiences away.
June 14th, 2008 at 4:00 am
Gary,
What? The guy isn’t poor and doesn’t need this film for fame. He’s been doing the films he likes for years.
They should be fortunate he relented their offer in the first place.
June 14th, 2008 at 4:24 am
70 minutes of extra footage?! Maybe they will create a “Choose-Your-Own-Adventure” version of the Incredible Hulk movie, similar to what they did for Harold & Kumar 2. I would be more willing to watch the Blu-Ray version than the theater version.
June 14th, 2008 at 4:28 am
I actually do hope that Norton will be back for the sequel or the Avengers. It seemed he was actually fit for the role. It would suck if they just put another actor out there that barely fits with Bruce’s character.
June 14th, 2008 at 5:06 am
he certainly has been doing “the films he likes” for years. He seems to have a thing about jekyll/hyde type characters:
Primal fear
The score
Fight club
The hulk
In the first two, his character only fakes another personality. To a lesser extent, his character in American History X is very different between the beginning and end of the movie too…
June 14th, 2008 at 7:31 am
thanks a bunch for posting this bit of news.
looking forward to the dvd release, and hopefully its not blu-ray exclusive 8X
June 14th, 2008 at 8:27 am
I would like to take this time in a non joking fashion to give Pete the mad phat fucken props for his most well written article. Not only informative and captivating but smooth to the flow and well versed. Almost song like. Now that all the dick sucking is over, Good job bro, great article. Your BFF.
ZL
June 14th, 2008 at 8:34 am
“It’s like the back story”
So that’s where that went! I was looking all over.
June 14th, 2008 at 8:55 am
Dugg and submitted to today’s DDD.
June 14th, 2008 at 9:37 am
All this cut footage will be on the DVD - and it will make it actually worth buying. I see this as a win-win scenario. I also think that the scene where we first see the Hulk was done incredibly well. It reminded me very much of Jaws - where you just get bits and pieces of the shark - and the reveal is very slow. I can’t disagree more with the reviews that have been negative. What film were *they* watching? The one I saw was brisk, taught, tense, poignant (yes), and complete. I couldn’t have asked for more. The final fight sequence was one of the best I’ve ever scene for a CGI fireworks finale - better than Iron Man or Transformers for that matter.
June 14th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Captain Awesome,
Its true, that he has money and fame so did Clint Eastwood in the 70s and 80s but Clint still made movies like Dirty Harry so he could Produce and Direct movies like “Play misty for me”, “Breezy”and “Bird”.
June 14th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Edward Norton sounds like a control freak.
June 14th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Wait until the box office returns come in and your fan support starts praising this one to the rafters as has already begun to happen. Marvel will pay the money. Louis and Mr. Norton will be back. And that assistant who walked into their discussion and then leaked the story to Nikki Finke is f-ing fired. For all of her “news”, Finke can be a real hindrance to the process of making films. They are not easy, nor are they simple. People who are impassioned about their projects will argue. That’s just the way it is. Can you imagine a Kubrick film in this day and age with the press and the leaking of every minute detail? Peter and Awesome, I don’t think you’re looking at this from the right perspective. You’re taking what Finke “reported” and validating it rather than letting the creative people create. Think headstrong people are hard to deal with, Awesome is the most headstrong person in these comments, but people love him. Is he a bad guy? I don’t think so, but he’s impassioned about his opinions just like Norton.
June 14th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Way to go Marvel. Way to burn your bridges before they’re even built. For me, Ed Norton is what makes the Hulk. All the smashing and roaring is all well and fine, but if I hadn’t been so invested in Banner’s character, a feat which I attribute to Norton, I really think my opinion of the film would have been significantly diminished.
First the attempted shaft of the Fav and now Norton. Don’t you realize that these people is what made your properties great? Don’t you realize that without them, your properties, not matter how iconic and classic would have never reached an audience as they have?
Marvel should be kow-towing and mea culpa-ing to the creative teams behind their latest two efforts. Iron Man and the Hulk are examples of how superhero movies should be made, and with everything looking so promising towards an Avengers release, why wouldn’t Marvel give credit and credence where it is due?
Yeah, I think Marvel will have a good, albeit short run if they keep this up. But when it comes to icons living on for decades, they’ve already begun to screw the pooch.
June 14th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
I have been a fan of Norton’s work for a long time. I see nothing wrong with his strong will for wanting to control how things are down. He has a long history of not always doing things as he was told to do them. Alot of these changes that I’ve read about ( see http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-norton13-2008jun13,0,1160194.story for some examples ) are what have made his characters so good. I really enjoyed his performance in “The Illusionist” and feel he is what made “The Hulk” enjoyable. There is nothing wrong with his creative vision and I look forward to seeing more of his work in the future.
June 14th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
I was that ‘PA or somebody’…
June 14th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
What I gathered from this is that Marvel has no interest in making a deep or meaningful movie. Marvel should team up with Lucas to create the most superficial movie imaginable.
June 14th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Interesting article Peter…..
June 14th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Wow, I can certainly see why he is so pissed. I guess I would be to. I had no idea there was so much to this story.
JT
June 14th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Control freak…
June 14th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
So… which is worse? A control freak to makes f*cking GOOD movies, or a roll-over who takes any project they give him, just so he can take home a paycheck?
Yeah, that’s what I freaking thought.
June 14th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I really, really hope marvel wakes up - I was so pumped by the end of the Hulk when RDJ walked in - Norton, Jon and the rest better come back or I’m not spending a dime on any sequel.
June 14th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
I think Marvel was totally right in this instance. This was the last chance for the Hulk and they couldn’t risk another drawn out disaster like Ang Lee’s Hulk. Not that Norton’s vision couldn’t have worked, it was a chance not worth taking. Marvel went for the sure thing which I think seems to have worked. Now if Norton can get over himself and continue in this character that would be great. Marvel was doing business while Norton was going for art. I think Hulk is the weakest character in comics anyway so whatever.
June 14th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
I think Marvel would be foolish to replace Norton, and we will see a more drama based Hulk in the next movie.
Norton will probably get everything he wants in the next movie. I think that people get caught up egotistically in the creative process, and the movie suffers. Marvel is a young company, that needs to mature, it needs Norton’s talent.
It would be a mistake to replace Norton, just as it was a mistake to replace Eric Bana.
June 14th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
At least we will get to the see the 70 min’s thats they cut out in the DVD version. I have yet to watch this flick and after reading this story I just might wait for the DVD release.
June 14th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
I’ve said it before, and i’ll say it again… why do studios always think they can go and fuck with a movie. Studios are not the creative teams. Just supply the fucking money and get the fuck out! Let the writers, directors, producers, and the other creative people do their damn jobs. You’ll get so much more money, which we all know is all studios is after.
I have no intention of seeing this in the theater…. and i’ll probably just wait a while after it’s out on DVD/Blu-ray. Nortons version would have been so much better.
June 14th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Actor says no to movie. Studio manages to entice him into it with promises of creative input and script changes. Actor says yes. Film is made. Studio no longer cares about promises to actor, changes final cut. Actor irritated at being had. People call actor control freak. Sounds like America.
June 15th, 2008 at 12:45 am
Team Norton.
June 15th, 2008 at 1:11 am
Is it just me, or is Edward Norton the most underrated actor today? This guy’s range is sick! He can play a Marvel comics character and then play a Thousand-year old king (Kingdom of Heaven) with leprosy and I didn’t recognize him in the film, that’s how good he was. What ever he wants, give it to him. He’s worth it.
June 15th, 2008 at 2:06 am
I am surprised people aren’t bringing up Norton’s past prima-donna behaviour on “American History X” where he fought with the director for control.
Norton’s statement shows his out of control ego “it was thrilling when Marvel asked me to write and help produce”. Ed, you weren’t asked to write the script…you demanded to rewrite it. You held a studio at gunpoint just before going to camera and demanded rewrites and control.
June 15th, 2008 at 2:12 am
I should add that I think he is a fantastic actor in terms of his performances. He is one of the all time great modern actors.
However I would hate to be his director, producer, or one of the crew!
June 15th, 2008 at 5:19 am
Donkey, for Americon History X he didn’t fight for control with the director. The director was a well-known nutjob who bailed out of post-production and wanted his name removed from the movie because he wasn’t happy with the studio. The studio was pushing him for release after more than a year, and he wasn’t even halfway done! In the end, he bailed out and Norton had to do the editing himself because he didn’t want the movie to go to shit. He certainly didn’t want the control in the first place.
June 15th, 2008 at 8:37 am
I haven’t seen this movie yet. I had gone with some friends to see the happening that night, but I plan on seeing it today.
I enjoy everything I have ever seen Norton play in and was thrilled to hear that he was involved in the writing of the movie. The argument between he and Marvel is sad to hear, I think that they could make a terrific team. As for his being a control freak, if you put your heart and soul into a project you want it to feel like it is the best possible product of that hard work is what is shown. He is on the artistic end not the financial and marketing end. I can see his side and sympathize with him because I would be the same way, but at the end of the day Marvel Studios is in it for the money. Norton is an amazing actor and I believe he is a terrific writer, but if he wants it done a specific way he needs to direct.
June 15th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
What a pleasure to read such an informative and well-written article, from a talented reporter interested only in the facts. VERY well done, sir! A black-and-white contrast to that self-worshipping, lie-mongering, slimeball skank Nicki Finke, who is a living symbol of everything wrong with the media today.
June 15th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Actually, I really want to see Norton’s take. I read somewhere that when Bruce goes up to the Arctic to kill himself, he doesn’t end up going through with it because he accidentally stumbles upon Captain America.
June 15th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Gary Quote ==> “I think Norton will be back for the sequel, since it will be the biggest movie of his career in terms of money”
Did Fight Club really do that bad? I’m sure this movie will fair well in the box office but I can’t see it topping the overall sales that Fight Club has accrued … It’s pretty much a cult classic.
Eric Cartman ==> “I do what I want to do!”
… I’m pretty sure Ed Norton feels the same way. At the very least we can agree that money is not the reason Norton is still working.
June 15th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Cammie, that is not how I heard it.
Don’t try to portray Ed Norton as the hero coming to save “American History X”. The director left the picture and wanted to be “Alan Smithee’d” partly because of Ed Norton’s actions.
June 15th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
I think that Edward Norton will be back but he will most likely insist on at least co-writing it and more control on what’s in the final cut. But he really likes this character and marvel has stated that they want to keep the same actors, so I don’t really see him not returning. Plus if there really is 70 minutes of extra footage, I wonder if they could cut it into an origin story for the DVD. For what I’ve heard of the cut out stuff, you could use the footage of the his talk with Dr. Samson as a backbone in the style of Hulk: Grey and maybe have Edward Norton record short narration type stuff. I think it would be a good way to set up the film and make it all work well. Of course not all of the footage could work in this manner, but it would be interesting if they tried.
June 15th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
I’ve read that the 70min of footage will ONLY be on the BluRay version.
See the method to their madness.
June 16th, 2008 at 3:58 am
Excellent reporting and fact gathering Peter. You certainly waded through a lot of material and presented a clear picture of what happened.
June 16th, 2008 at 5:28 am
Hulk,
“Fight Club” maxed a little over 100 million and it also starred Brad Pitt, Norton is not a box office draw, the other hits that he was in was mostly due to his co stars like Matt Damon, Robert De Niro and Richard Gere. As far as topping overall sale that “Fight Club” accrued it will due that by next weekend , also were not just talking about one movie, were talking several which equals billions of dollars , its hard to turn that kind of money down no matter how rich you are.
June 17th, 2008 at 1:22 am
I hate how it seems people are trying to fault Norton for being a perfectionist- it really isn’t a bad quality if he’s willing to go to such lengths for his art.
It’s easy to forget that the entire process of film-making is an art and I think Marvel has…or maybe they never knew.
Edward Norton is getting shit where shit is not due. =\
June 17th, 2008 at 6:30 am
I really dont think keeping the suicide scene ‘removes the risk’ from the helicopter scene. remember how he thinks he might be cured at this point? what that scene would have showed us is that banner cant kill himself without turning into the hulk instead, making the helicopter leap a tactical attack with an element of risk. instead, everyone just wonders what jumping to his death is going to prove, then wondering why he didnt die. If I didnt happen to see it in a comic once id have no idea that normally bruce banner cant really die.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:57 am
“I really dont think keeping the suicide scene ‘removes the risk’ from the helicopter scene.”
I totally agree. Remember that the previews contain the helicopter scene - followed by Hulk’s fist coming out of the crater created. It’s not the first time a preview has given away an important chunk of the plot line. That’s why I really liked the preview to AI.
June 18th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Marvel should be ashamed of itself, what a bunch of lame-asses who obviously know nothing about quality story-telling. I’ll definitely be pulling this one down off the Net in lieu of giving any money to these jackhole!
June 26th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
edward norton is defiantely one of the best actors we have today. he is extremely versatile and his art is sincere and creative. he deserves to do what he wants in his movies. especially in this movie. he actually cares about the hulk and has the story on lock down. he understands the complexity of the story. a man that is running from himself and having to learn to deal with something he truly hates. constantly searching for a cure. hiding from the government. he cant be with the one he loves and can never live a normal life. he cant even have sex. nortons script was probably the most accurate to what the hulk is in a real world setting. bruce attempting suicide would have been perfect. im sure his script is better than the one that we got to see. i thouroughly enjoy the movie and the elements were on point and norton did a great job as usual. but all this is is the studio wanting to make as much money as they can. dont offer someone something so important if you arent going to deliver. marvel will fail if they do not understand that action is not the main factor its giving a character depth and making him/her believable in a real world setting. i hope norton comes back. hes a g and always will be.
June 26th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
How is he a g? Stop making an ass of yourself with dumbass shit like saying he’s a g. He’s an actor, not a gangster, got it?
Anyway, I think Norton will come back for the sequel. Again, there was never a fight or any Norton vs. Marvel, it was totally blown out of proportion by the media who just wanted to make a paycheck. Ed is a big fan of the Hulk in general so he’ll be back.
June 26th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
I was amazed how Norton looked so much like Bill Bixby, uncanny.
Great movie, top 5 of the yerar!