Ed Norton Thinks He Knows Why The Incredible Hulk Really Failed
Star roasts Marvel!
All-in-all, there were a LOT of things that contributed to the perceived failure of The Incredible Hulk (though everyone seems to ignore the fact that it out-performed Ang Lee's Hulk and looked set for a sequel for a while), but the narrative has always swarmed around Edward Norton.
There are very much two schools of thought around the actor: one is that his over-bearing presence on the film ruined it or that he and Louis Letterier were screwed by the studio who promised them more creative control and then took it back in the edit. The second of those two stories carries the most evidence (at least in terms of testimony and precedent), but Norton's reputation has definitely taken a dent over the years.
He actually addressed the stories of him being "difficult" on the set of the film during Bruce Willis' roast on Comedy Central, taking the opportunity to roast the studio as well as his Moonrise Kingdom co-star.
The moment was caught by THR's Ryan Parker...
Ironically, Norton was brought in on the condition that he would be allowed to rewrite Zak Penn's script, but once filming and editing started, the studio essentially just cut out the new scenes he had added. So you can understand why he'd be a little pissed. In the end, his work on the final film wasn't substantial enough for him to be awarded a writing credit, which probably also didn't help his mood.
Still, at least it led to us getting Mark Ruffalo's superior version of the character in the MCU.