Ed Norton had an impressive series of movies during the 1990s, with Primal Fear, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Rounders, American History X and of course, Fight Club. However, after the turn of the millennium, the actor had several behind-the-scenes mishaps that hurt his reputation. Brett Ratner reportedly had difficultly working with him on Red Dragon and Norton publicly admitted that he only did The Italian Job because of contractual obligations to Paramount, which isn't exactly what a studio wants an actor to say when promoting a film. However, Norton's behind-the-scenes struggles culminated during the production of The Incredible Hulk. He agreed to star in the movie when he was given control over the script, which he continued to change during shooting. Norton was also reportedly angry that producers insisted the film be under two hours, so he did very little to promote it. Likely because of these issues Norton was replaced as Bruce Banner in The Avengers, and he missed out on a piece of The Avengers' billion-dollar box office. Norton has mainly appeared in low-budget indie films since except for a supporting role in The Bourne Legacy. Luckily for him he has become a member of Wes Anderson's reoccurring cast and will appear in his second feature directed by Anderson this year, but that connection alone can't recreate Norton's 1990s success.
Chris McKittrick is a published author of fiction and non-fiction and has spoken about film and comic books at conferences across the United States. In addition to his work at WhatCulture!, he is a regular contributor to CreativeScreenwriting.com, MovieBuzzers.com, and DailyActor.com, a website focused on acting in all media. For more information, visit his website at http://www.chrismckit.com.
