The world hasn’t yet recovered from Joker‘s various controversies or its incredibly successful box-office take (the best October opening weekend of all time), but Edward Norton is here to shake up your little comic book movie loving world some more. In a new interview with The New York Times, the Birdman actor gets real on a number of subjects, including his love of ride-sharing. Seriously, he calls the NYC taxi system “a cartel” that’s “run by crooks,” and he doesn’t hold back on that one. Oh, and he says some wild stuff about his previous hopes while playing Bruce Banner for Marvel Studios.
If Norton would have had his way, he would have starred in at least two more Hulk movies, both of which would have been super dark. As dark as The Dark Knight and then a followup, too? Yes, he goes there, and Norton outlines his rationale and claims that Marvel was initially into it, but then something happened:
“What Chris Nolan had done with Batman was going down a path that I aligned with: long, dark and serious. If there was ever a thing that I thought had that in it, it was the Hulk. It’s literally the Promethean myth. I laid out a two-film thing: The origin and then the idea of Hulk as the conscious dreamer, the guy who can handle the trip. And they were like, ‘That’s what we want!’ As it turned out, that wasn’t what they wanted. But I had a great time doing it. I got on great with Kevin Feige.”
Norton has previously hinted at this idea during (of all places) his Comedy Central roasting of Bruce Willis. At the time, Norton stated that he once wanted to make something “as good as the worst Chris Nolan movie,” so I guess we’re getting more elaboration now. Does anyone really want a super-dark Hulk, though? Bruce Banner’s Avengers arcs where he got all existential and full of self-loathing weren’t as enjoyable to witness for an audience that seemed to prefer his beautifully comical Thor: Ragnarok and smart-Hulk Endgame appearances more.
However, Norton’s full New York Times interview is both an engrossing and wide-ranging read. Check it out here.
(Via New York Times)
