Edward Norton

Interview: Producer Edward Norton on Documentary ‘By the People: The Election of Barack Obama’

HollywoodChicago.com — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:16:55 -0700

CHICAGO – HollywoodChicago.com recently interviewed Edward Norton on the new HBO documentary “By the People: The Election of Barack Obama” along with co-directors Amy Rice and Alicia Sams. Edward Norton served as a producer.

Question: What did this campaign and this candidate do to motivate kids (like 9-year-old Lorenzo Rivera) in such a way that they would hit the phones for Barack Obama in support?

Edward Norton.
Photo credit: Dimitrios Kambouris, WireImage.com

Producer Edward Norton: It’s interesting because in some ways that’s what made us want to start this (project) in the first place. When Amy (Rice) first proposed it to us, it wasn’t a campaign film.

The idea was to chronicle this junior senator as he entered into the battle of government and politics. I think what drew us to him in the same way it drew everyone else was that he was so much younger.

Our generation – and even kids younger than us – are increasingly disengaged from politics. When Amy first put it to us, it was sort of like: “Don’t you think that for younger people it would be interesting to see what happens when that guy takes all this on?”

Part of our initial instinct about the whole thing was that (Obama) did speak to a young generation, (which) might make him an interesting prism through which to look at politics.

But I think when it became a campaign film, these (filmmakers) found a lot of people – not just young Lorenzo but (volunteers) Ronnie Cho and Mike Blake – who were very emblematic of a new generation investing itself in the Democratic process.

It’s actually what I like most about the film. I think the access to Obama is really cool as well as seeing some of the thinking of the senior staff as they go through it. But to me, Ronnie Cho and Mike Blake and those guys really represent the narrative of what actually made that campaign succeed, which is that they tapped that energy.

Question: How did you earn the trust and intimacy of these campaign operatives and particularly David Axelrod?

Director Amy Rice: Originally we gained access just from starting really early. I’ve spoken with other documentary filmmakers who tried to make documentaries about politicians and campaigns.

They said the key is that you really need to build trust with the campaign because in essence they don’t want cameras around behind the scenes. When (we) started filming, (our characters) were obviously aware of the camera. But after a while, they forget about it (especially with everything that was going on around them). They would forget about it and they trusted us.

U.S. President Barack Obama in the HBO documentary “By the People: The Election of Barack Obama”.
Image credit: HBO Documentary Films

Director Alicia Sams: With Axelrod, it was a combination of us wearing him down and Edward calling him.

When we finally interviewed him, Amy was wiring him and he sort of looked up and said: “How did I get here? I didn’t want to do this.” But at the end of the interview, he said it was actually really good to stop and reflect. I think then he saw the value of creating this historical record. We didn’t put anything on YouTube and eventually he did begin to trust us.

Edward Norton: I think a big part of it was separating (us) from the overnight media crowd. It was really (about) getting it clear in their minds that we wanted to create a record of the campaign that would not play in the election.

Question: Why release it now?

Alicia Sams: We talked with HBO about when to release it. We didn’t want to have it come out immediately. We wanted to (release it) now that it’s a year later. If you think about it, there really isn’t a good time for this movie to come out when he’s in office. With the … 24-hour news cycle, the news is (always) changing. We keep saying we’d like to fast forward 20 years from now and see how the film is perceived.

Michelle Obama (center) in the HBO documentary “By the People: The Election of Barack Obama”.
Image credit: HBO Documentary Films

Question: How were you able to capture the role racism played in the election?

Edward Norton: I think in some ways a big part of it was that Amy and Alicia got out there very early. Once (Obama) became a really viable candidate and when you could see people who were not for him start to tighten up a little bit, (it was) like they knew it was probably politically untenable to say certain things (in) certain ways.

The first time we ever talked about this movie (with producing partners Stuart Blumberg and William Migliore), we talked about this notion of having a Greek chorus in it where you balance the idea of him off of people in the public to see what the country is ready for and what it isn’t. What does his candidacy reveal about who we actually are, where we actually are and how far we’ve actually come?

I think one of the parts of the film I like the most is those cutaways to people reacting to him. I think the ones that were gotten early are very unvarnished. They’re not being racist per say, but they’re being honest about what they perceive America’s limitations to be. I think it’s great (that) you can see the tensions, prejudices and projections that people are still operating out of.

U.S. President Barack Obama (center) in the HBO documentary “By the People: The Election of Barack Obama”.
Image credit: HBO Documentary Films

Question: It would be interesting to speak to them now after he’s been elected into office.

Edward Norton: Yeah, I actually really like that idea. I think a funny follow up would be to interview each of those people again. But to your other question, I’m happy that one of the heads of HBO (Richard Plepler) made a decision not to rush to get this out in the spring even though in some ways it would’ve been easier when the shine was still on the whole thing.

There’s something more honest about putting it out later. I think the directors were very objective. It’s following the people in his campaign and (of course) they are very jubilant when he wins, but I think the film is pretty neutral. If we had put it out in the immediate wake of the election, it would’ve felt just like a celebration.

By putting it out now when he’s facing the complications of the presidency, it does more (of) what I think we intended it to do, which is open up questions and let people have a more complicated retrospective on that moment so they can weigh against where things are now. I think it’s more thought provoking to have it out now.

U.S. President Barack Obama (center) in the HBO documentary “By the People: The Election of Barack Obama”.
Image credit: HBO Documentary Films

Question: Since this film wasn’t originally designed to be a campaign film, how would it have looked differently if he hadn’t won?

Alicia Sams: We didn’t feel like we had a film until he won Iowa. Even if he didn’t win the election, we had a story. If he hadn’t won Iowa, we would’ve probably put it on the shelf and waited and gone back and continued to follow him and see where it went.

But once he won Iowa, that story of galvanizing and organizing those people was a pretty incredible story. Wherever it went after that would’ve been really interesting to follow. It probably (wouldn’t have been as) big or popular (of) a film (if Obama hadn’t won), but (still) an interesting film (nonetheless).

Question: Does Edward’s production company plan to make more documentaries?

Edward Norton: No. (Our involvement) wasn’t an agenda to make documentaries. My two partners and I were friends with Amy. We like to work on things with people we know. It evolved more out of all of us knowing each other and having a group interest in politics and things like that. But I don’t anticipate it leading to us becoming the next great engine of documentary films.

Question: How much footage do you have of the period before the actual election? Would you consider making a companion piece about Obama’s rise as a senator?

Amy Rice: We had 62 hours of footage before his announcement day. In documentary filmmaking, those hours are basically research and development hours. I don’t know if we have enough to make…

Alicia Sams: It would be the beginning of a story with no ending.

Amy Rice: But we ended up with 770 hours in the end. I have a feeling there might be another film in there, but I’m not sure if we’re ready to talk about it yet.

U.S. President Barack Obama (center) in the HBO documentary “By the People: The Election of Barack Obama”.
Image credit: HBO Documentary Films

Question: How did you go about choosing what footage you wanted to include in the finished film?

Alicia Sams: Well, once we figured out who our characters were – obviously Obama and Axelrod were our main characters – it was a matter of making sure they all had a narrative arc. They all had a beginning, middle and end to their stories that dovetails with (Obama’s) story.

A lot of great things – (such as) one of Amy’s favorite moments (where) Barack and Michelle joke around backstage – didn’t make the film because it didn’t serve the story. That’s just the nature of making a documentary film. You have to let a lot of really great things go to make two hours work as a narrative.

Amy Rice: We also had an incredible editing team (Sam Pollard, Geeta Gandbhir and Arielle Amsalem). The big challenge was that everybody knew the ending of our story.

We had to really pick and choose which moments to include in the story that played out in the national media (and) that people wanted in the movie to situate them in time. We combined that with the Ronnie Cho stories that people didn’t know and (struck) a balance with that. That was very challenging. There were many sleepless nights during the edit.

The new HBO documentary “By the People: The Election of Barack Obama,” which is produced by Edward Norton and co-directed by Amy Rice and Alicia Sams, airs on Nov. 16, 2009 at 1 p.m. on HBO and again on Nov. 24, 2009 at 10:50 p.m. on HBO. The film also features John McCain.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief/Publisher
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com

Blu-Ray Review: ‘Pride and Glory’ Wastes Two Talented Stars in Generic Drama

BrianTT — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 08:41:25 -0700

Blu-Ray Rating: 2.0/5.0

CHICAGO – The Blu-Ray package for Gavin O’Connor’s “Pride and Glory” features shots of stars Edward Norton and Colin Farrell wielding guns on both the front and back of the case. The artistic intention is clear - Try and sell this generic, dull cop drama as an action film, as that’s the genre that takes off on the home market. Don’t buy it.

“Pride and Glory” is most interesting as an example of how even a talented group of actors can go shockingly awry if the script doesn’t work. I think the very-talented Norton and Farrell both thought they were making a movie about characters with gray moral codes like Vic Mackey from “The Shield” or Bud White from “L.A. Confidential,” but they ended up making a flick with all good or bad and no degrees in between. Gray is interesting. Black and white is boring and conventional.

Pride and Glory was released by Warner Brothers Home Video on January 27th, 2009.
Photo credit: Warner Brothers

Norton is one of the best actors of his generation and Colin Farrell has made some great decisions lately, including his work with Woody Allen on “Cassandra’s Dream” and choosing a role in “In Bruges” that would win him a Golden Globe. But “Pride and Glory” was a mistake. It’s one of those screenplays that is based on nothing but ridiculous, unbelievable melodrama and that mistakes monologues for character development. We’ve seen the story of corrupt cops and the ripple effect their decisions have on their family and friends a thousand times before.

Pride and Glory was released by Warner Brothers Home Video on January 27th, 2009.
Photo credit: Warner Brothers

Four cops are gunned down in a New York drug den. Immediately, something doesn’t look right. What were the cops doing there in the first place? And why does it look like they were ambushed? Could someone have tipped off their murderers that the officers were on their way?

The investigation into that horrific night will include a severely traumatized investigator named Ray Tierney (Norton), his reckless brother-in-law (Farrell), his brother (Noah Emmerich), and his irascible father (Jon Voight). How far will Ray go into his investigation when it keeps leading him back to his own front door?

“Pride and Glory” has several flaws but most of them come back to one major problem - the screenplay. Every single line of dialogue either pushes the generic plot forward or features some cliche from the cop movie handbook. It all climaxes in a final act that is one of the most ridiculous of 2008.

Norton clearly figured out that the script was problematic at some point during production because you can literally see this excellent actor check out of the film. It’s his most half-asleep performance. On the other end of the spectrum is Voight’s scenery-chewing, ridiculous, Razzie-worthy turn.

Farrell isn’t bad but his character is so over-the-top that he can’t do much with him. O’Connor and co-writer Joe Carnahan make the mistake of turning Jimmy, Farrell’s character, into a worthless scumbag, a guy who actually holds an iron over a baby’s face to get the information he needs. “Pride and Glory” would have been much more effective if there was any gray area to Jimmy instead of just an awful human being.

“Pride and Glory” may be all blacks and whites thematically, but the Blu-Ray release is being produced by Warner Brothers, which means stunning HD. The 1080p widescreen picture is very good and the Dolby TrueHD track gets the job done. New WB theatrical releases always look and sound very good on Blu-Ray and “Pride and Glory” is no exception. It’s what we’ve come to expect from Warner Brothers.

As for special features, “Pride and Glory” includes only a comprehensive documentary calls “Source of Pride: The Making of Pride and Glory” and a digital copy of the film. With dozens of interviews and over an hour of running time, “Source of Pride” is better-than-average when it comes to featurettes. In many ways, the documentary is more interesting than the film, as it illustrates how much hard work goes into a film like “Pride and Glory,” even if the final product doesn’t turn out like they hoped it would.

‘Pride and Glory’ is released by Warner Brothers Home Video and stars Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Noah Emmerich, and Jon Voight. It was written by Joe Carnahan & Gavin O’Connor and directed by O’Connor. It was released on January 27th, 2009. The film is rated R.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

First-Look Production Still: ‘Leaves of Grass’ With Edward Norton, Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon

HollywoodChicago.com — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:40:26 -0700

CHICAGO – HollywoodChicago.com has just received a first-look production still for the comedic thriller “Leaves of Grass” in which Edward Norton stars as twin brothers.

The film recently wrapped production in Shreveport, La. “Leaves of Grass,” which is written and directed by Tim Blake Nelson (who also co-stars), is due out in 2010. Richard Dreyfuss, Keri Russell and Susan Sarandon also star in the film. The first-look production still is below.

The first-look production still of Edward Norton in the 2010 film “Leaves of Grass”.
Image credit: Glen Wilson

Here’s the plot description for “Leaves of Grass”:

In “Leaves of Grass,” Bill Kincaid – a college classics professor (Edward Norton) – is lured home from the Ivy League to the backwoods of southeastern Oklahoma by his identical twin (also Norton).

The twin is a hedonistic, pot-smoking career criminal. Kincaid finds that Plato and Marcus Aurelius have ill-prepared him for dealing with a gang of homicidal yokels.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com

Interview: Writer, Director Neil Burger Follows Iraq Soldiers on Leave in ‘The Lucky Ones’

HollywoodChicago.com — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:33:09 -0600

CHICAGO – In his short career as a writer and director, Neil Burger has taken on the John F. Kennedy assassination in “Interview with the Assassin” and the mysteries of magic in “The Illusionist,” which starred Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti and Jessica Biel.

With his new film “The Lucky Ones,” Burger tackles the dichotomy between the fighting soldiers in Iraq and a country that can’t equal that sacrifice on the home front during wartime.

Tim Robbins as Cheever in “The Lucky Ones,” which is directed by Neil Burger.
Photo credit: James Bridges

In a recent interview with HollywoodChicago.com, Burger spoke about the research he did in understanding the modern soldier, his surprising casting choice of anti-war activist Tim Robbins as one of the veterans and why he chose to relate this story while the Iraq conflict continues.

“What ‘The Lucky Ones’ shows about the situation now is the disconnect between soldiers who have given of themselves selflessly versus the self-centered attitude of the country when they get home,” Burger said.

The story involves three Iraq veterans on leave from the war. Stuck at an airport during a blackout, U.S. National Guardsman Cheever (Tim Robbins) manages to score a rental car to drive to his home in St. Louis.

He agrees to allow fellow soldiers Colee (Rachel McAdams) and TK (Michael Peña) to accompany him and then take the car to their destination in Las Vegas. Burger added: “Tim Robbins has been outspoken. That did give me pause in the sense that I didn’t want anybody to resist the movie.”

Michael Peña as TK and Rachel McAdams as Colee in “The Lucky Ones,” which is directed by Neil Burger.
Photo credit: James Bridges

Rating: 2.5/5.0

But he quickly interjected: “Tim is anti-war, but he’s also a great patriot. He loves this country and has done quite a bit of outreach with soldiers and their families. Tim liked the character and wanted to be part of the movie.”

The road trip of the soldiers also becomes a journey of conscience. All three people discover the country’s reaction to them and (in the case of Cheever) the dissolution of a marriage. Confrontations in a bar, a strange religious service and a wealthy man’s birthday party are just some of the America they encounter.

There is one particular moment in the film that Burger feels is emblematic of this country’s separated curtain between the war and modern life.

“There was one scene that happened at the wealthy guy’s birthday party,” Burger related. “Tim’s character says they were ‘just trying to stay alive over there’. The reaction from the party guest is: ‘Stay alive? No wonder we’re losing the war.’”

Director Neil Burger on the set of “The Lucky Ones”.
Photo credit: James Bridges

“I actually heard something like that,” he continued. “If the reasons aren’t presented exactly the way they want to hear it, it’s shocking how quickly people who say they support the troops or support the war are willing to condemn or alienate even the good soldiers.”

But Burger was quick to point out that the film isn’t about the physical aspect of fighting the war but the inner conflict of adjusting to the homeland away from the battlefield.

“When these soldiers come home, I learned that their feelings toward everyone saying ‘thank you! thank you!’ – as I depict in the movie – completely rubs them the wrong way,” he explained. “They would rather be told ‘welcome home’ than ‘thank you’. To them, ‘thank you’ implies ‘thank you for doing it so I didn’t have to’. They feel as if there is an emptiness behind it.”

Burger added: “Ultimately, however, the movie and the characters are less about soldiering and more about what they want as ordinary Americans who come home.”

He continued: “[They want] to have a good time and find their families and loved ones. That is when they find they’re strangers in their own land.”

RELATED IMAGE GALLERY
View our full, high-resolution “The Lucky Ones” image gallery.

RELATED READING
More film reviews from critic Patrick McDonald.

Even though the subject of the film deals with the Iraq war in the background, it’s more of a mirror to the United States culture that reacts to their soldiers coming back (similar to the World War II-era film “Best Years of Our Lives” and the Vietnam-themed “Coming Home”).

“The movie looks at America now. [It’s] a snapshot of the country now,” Burger said.

He concluded: “We used to have a collective psychology and a sense of national purpose. That has been lost in recent years. The war is a depressing situation and people tend to turn away from depressing things. But this has long-term consequences for the overall moral health of the country.”

“The Lucky Ones,” which opened everywhere on Sept. 26, 2008, is written and directed by Neil Burger and features Tim Robbins, Rachel McAdams, Michael Peña, John Heard and Molly Hagan.

By PATRICK McDONALD
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

‘The Incredible Hulk’ Jacked Up on CGI Roids, But Medusa’s in His Face

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 23:01:00 -0600

CHICAGO – Technology has done double-edged service and disservice to the legendary Hulk superhero character from Stan Lee’s Marvel Comics.

In peering at the CGI-created ripped body of nothing remotely reminiscent of Edward Norton, the 2008 film iteration of “The Incredible Hulk” has a leg light years up on Lou Ferrigno’s character in the 1978 television series of the “The Incredible Hulk”.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

Then, Ferrigno only had the luxury of makeup. The rest was the real deal. On the other hand, Ferrigno – who treats 2008 audiences in a gasping reveal when he appears in a brief cameo in the new Louis Leterrier-directed feature film – is still the soul, spirit and most critically the face of the green-skinned behemoth.

Read Adam Fendelman’s full review of “The Incredible Hulk” in our reviews section.

View our huge, high-resolution “The Incredible Hulk” image gallery.

Aside from Ferrigno’s brief face time, he also lurks notably in the background as Norton’s voice when he gets royally pissed and transforms into the Hulk. When Norton fumes past his human limit, honing in on the Hulk character’s technologically enhanced face is awkwardly unrealistic and utterly painful.

It’s like gazing into the eyes of the sea nymph Medusa whose monstrous face could threateningly turn onlookers to stone.

While Hollywood’s big-budget technology department both strikes out and smashes a homerun with its revamped and roided-up Hulk character, Tim Roth’s altered ego gets the just-right royal treatment.

When Roth becomes the Abomination to rival the Hulk, the abominable baddie is so disgustingly repulsive and out of such reality whack that his CGI renovation plays perfectly.

The unbridled force of rage known as The Hulk on the streets of New York in an all-new, explosive and action-packed epic of one of the most popular superheroes of all time in “The Incredible Hulk”.
Photo credit: Rhythm & Hues

A monstrous new adversary known as The Abomination faces off with The Hulk in an all-new, explosive and action-packed epic of one of the most popular superheroes of all time in “The Incredible Hulk”.
Photo credit: Rhythm & Hues

Read Adam Fendelman’s full “The Incredible Hulk” review.

Universal Releases Two New High-Resolution Production Stills For ‘The Incredible Hulk’

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 08:09:55 -0700

Universal Pictures on Thursday released two new high-resolution production stills for “The Incredible Hulk” as part of its 2008 preview.

The film, which is slated to open on June 13, 2008, stars Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth and William Hurt. The new photos are below. You can click on them for high-resolution versions.

Here’s the film’s official synopsis:

“The Incredible Hulk” kicks off an all-new, explosive and action-packed epic of one of the most popular superheroes of all time.

In this new beginning, scientist Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) desperately hunts for a cure to the gamma radiation that poisoned his cells and unleashes the unbridled force of rage within him: The Hulk.

Living in the shadows – cut off from a life he knew and the woman he loves (Liv Tyler) – he struggles to avoid the obsessive pursuit of his nemesis (William Hurt) and the military machinery that seeks to capture him and brutally exploit his power.

As all three grapple with the secrets that led to The Hulk’s creation, they are confronted with a monstrous new adversary known as The Abomination (Tim Roth) whose destructive strength exceeds even The Hulk’s own.

One scientist must make an agonizing final choice: accept a peaceful life as Bruce Banner or find heroism in the creature he holds inside.

Major Plot Spoilers Surface For ‘The Incredible Hulk’

HollywoodChicago.com — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 15:15:21 -0600

Major plot spoilers surfaced on Tuesday to “The Incredible Hulk,” which stars Edward Norton and Liv Tyler.

This information comes from a Latino Review scooper who also revealed George Miller as the director of “Justice League of America” and Heath Ledger’s role as the Joker in “The Dark Knight”.

Latino Review says the scooper has read the first draft of the film. Warning: spoilers are ahead.

Be spoiled.
3:32 p.m. update: IESB.net has also published a new spoiler-heavy report on this film.