Hulk, the incredible man: the failure that Edward Norton does not forgive

It was the year 2007 when screenwriter Zak Penn
(The Avengers: The Avengers,
X Men 2) announced to the press that Marvel studies had signed with

Edward Norton

, one of the actors of the moment, to play in the new movie Hulk. The project aimed to overcome (in every sense of the word) the version that had reached the screen in 2003 in the hands of the director of
Secret in the mountains, Ang Lee. The joy, however, did not last long. Norton's exclusive condition for joining the film was to let him participate, by contract, in the script. In concrete terms, it would allow him to modify it. He already had a trajectory in this direction and it was not good. Everyone knew in his industry his obsession to change scene, or even more, to rewrite, almost, foreign books. One of the most talked about antecedents is his fight with director Tony Kaye while he was shooting
American history X (where the actor played a neo-Nazi). Kaye described Norton as a "narcissistic dilettante" and even asked not to appear in the credits because, in his opinion, his interventions had "ruined" the film.

On the set of
Hulk, the incredible man, contrary to what one might think, Leterrier and Norton immediately understood. The French director (who made his first weapons in Hollywood) subscribed to a more psychological vision of the star, who crossed out entire pages to give his father a depth that the original scenario did not ask. Now, it was Penn who was practically out of the game: although, he says, he could not do much either. Although his idea was to exploit the duality of the character, or in his own words, to show the scientist Bruce Banner a "super intelligent guy but with a lot of repressed rage" (which, according to his initial vision, Norton masterfully approached in
The combat club), things did not follow this course and the protagonist's approach was grandiloquent. In addition to the contractual clause of the actor, the screenwriter (who was working on other projects and did not attend the filming) said that the actor had a way of working "unusual ", a euphemism that reflected his mania of having changed. scenes at the same time to film them, or do long exercises of introspection with Liv Tyler.

So, things, with Marvel trying to influence to hijack the course that was taking the plot, it was time to edit. In early 2008, there was very little for the first and
The battle between Norton and the studios reached its peak and was leaked to the press. What had been filmed was far from society and she was trying to save it by cutting scenes or long dialogues and mixing them with action pictures. One of the many remaining was seen at the beginning of the film and showed Banner that he was about to commit suicide when Hulk seemed to want to save him: "The studio said that it's not going to be safe. There was no way to start a movie with a guy carrying a gun to the mouth, "Leterrier commented years later, defending the shot. "It's understandable, but in reality, it was about showing who the character was and what was his relationship with his alter ego, things that gave him more depth." Norton threatened to withdraw from any promotion of the film if the final cut did not convince him; the details of the contract, to Marvel's shame, have allowed it.

Finally, with a few minutes less, the last edition has been reached. In the middle, other conflicts had to be solved, such as the obligation for the actor to appear in the credits as scriptwriter, which was totally rejected by Penn, who at least won the battle, backed by the writers' badociation. (GAF) who lobbied on his behalf.

With an investment of $ 150 million and a lot of controversy behind,
Hulk, the incredible man It was released in theaters in June 2008 and it was a real failure. The film is a faithful reflection of these flickers and the final result has been criticized by both critics and the public. To top it off and on the contrary, that same year, Marvel launched
Iron Man, one of his bumps. But Norton Hulk was missing yet another round for the knockout.

When Marvel announced, in July 2010, that the actor would not be in the production of
The Avengers: The Avengers, the scandal has been revived. Not only because of this announcement, but also because of the way the company's president, Kevin Feige, chose to make this announcement public: "We decided not to call Edward Norton to play the role of Bruce Banner in
The Avengers: The Avengers. It is certainly not a question of money, but of the need to have an actor capable of taking charge of the creativity and the spirit of collaboration of our talented interpreters. "As if that were not enough, the text then clarified that the film" It required actors capable of deploying their work within a group "and concluded with the promise that they would soon announce who would embody the new Hulk.

Then, Norton made his release via Facebook, more shocked than belligerent. "I appreciate the huge support from the fans of
Hulk and

The Avengers
, I know this involves a disappointment for many of them and it saddens me. "And he hinted that at one point it was possible to stay the green giant, thanking Marvel for" extending the offer "and being allowed to be part of the group." Long and excellent story of Hulk. "But his manager was not willing to let the actor get arrested and issued a more recent statement, calling Feige's words" deliberately misleading "and" unfortunate attempt to leave poorly arrested "" To his client. "With details, the answer explained, in short, that Marvel had always wanted Norton
The Avengers: The Avengers but finally, in the middle of the negotiations, the company decided to call on another actor. As is well known, Marvel called Mark Ruffalo, Leterrier's first choice for the 2008 movie, which the company itself flatly rejected. At the antipodes of Hulk, the first delivery of
The Avengers: The Avengers it's still one of his most successful productions.

A few years and several movies later, in a radio interview, Norton gave a different version of what happened, taking down the victim role. "I did what I wanted and it really pleased me, and I also think of all that he left in his life to do this kind of movies." And he continued to insinuate that the decision to leave the project was actually his. "I wanted more diversity for my career." In those days, he was released
Birdman, the great film of Alejandro Iñárritu in which Norton personifies an arrogant and unbearable actor, accustomed to doing and saying what he wants on stage. A kind of parodic self-portrait that seeks to mitigate his bad reputation and which has earned him a new Oscar nomination as a secondary actor.

This year, in a
roast Bruce Willis on Comedy Central, Norton once again joked about what is undoubtedly the dark note of his career: "I did a great action film titled
Hulk, the incredible man. And you know what was wrong? I wanted a better scenario. "The last cartridge was for executives:" I thought we needed to make a Marvel movie as good as Christopher Nolan's. "