Edward Norton might star in your Hulk movie and take your Hulk money, but don’t you dare ask him to make your Hulk sequels. Actors of his status and refinement don’t do sequels. They do… chapters!
At least, that’s how Norton’s talking up his probable involvement in subsequent Hulk movies. In a recent chat with Total Film (quoted via Coming Soon), Norton stroked a fake beard and pontificated, “To me, the whole thing was to envision it in multiple parts. We left a lot out on purpose. It’s definitely intended as chapter one. And I’ve not only read Proust, I’ve translated him. Into Farsi. Would you like to touch the hem of my garment?”
Okay, so Norton’s comments are pretty innocuous until he goes off on that Proust tangent; still, would it kill the immensely talented bastard to say “sequel”? It’s not like his filmography is all Fight Clubs and Down in the Valleys. He slummed profitably in Red Dragon (one of the most stunningly well-cast pieces of shit ever made), and ignored the many deficiencies of The Score‘s script just to work alongside Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando (he gets a pass on The Italian Job ‘cuz that was a contractual obligation). You’ve compromised, Ed. And no matter how much you classed up the script for The Incredible Hulk, you’re still starring in the iteration directed by the man responsible for The Transporter 2, not The Ice Storm.
So level with us, man. Tell us you committed to a couple of sequels because Universal paid you in tropical islands. And let us know how you’re going to work in Zzzax.
The Incredible Hulk smashes anew on June 13th.