Friday, March 29, 2024

Edward Norton’s Hulk Problems Were Always Lurking

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There’s a big hub bub going on in Marvel land.

The reason? Edward Norton has been dumped from “The Avengers” rather than reprise his role from the 2008 film “The Incredible Hulk.” Comic fans are going crazy trying to piece all this together. Norton’s reps say first Marvel was negotiating with them, then all of a sudden issued a not so nice explanation for their decision to skip it.

Norton is a smart, talented guy. But he really had a bad time with Marvel on “Hulk.” He spent hours and days rewriting Zak Penn‘s script. At the 2007 Comic Con, Norton bragged about writing the screenplay. But it was Penn who got the credit.

In the end, Norton had such a falling out with Marvel that he skipped the movie’s premiere and went off to some island to lick his wounds. He exited the promotional campaign without a contract to do sequels, although both Liv Tyler and director Louis Letterier each had them. That was two years ago. Since then two “Iron Man” movies have come and gone, but the “Hulk” has been in a sulk. And the film didn’t do so well: it made $135 million in the US and $128 million abroad.

Norton was an odd choice anyway. He’s a serious actor, and should be making films with Oscar written all over them. The next guy to play the Hulk has to be someone a little less heavy, so to speak.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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