In his new memoir, Putting the Rabbit in the Hat, Brian Cox has unflinchingly presented his take on the roles he lost, the actors he thinks are overrated, the films he regrets not choosing, and the one director he loves above all else. And in all of his well-examined and tersely-worded observations of Hollywood’s best and brightest, one name takes up the reader’s attention, and not simply because he’s one of the most lauded and recognized talents of this generation.
Brian Cox Talks Behind-the-Scenes Facts About Ed Norton
The freakishly brilliant and ingenious Edward Norton has accumulated a separate fanbase for his appearance in the notorious MCU film, The Incredible Hulk. And the movie which exists on the fringes of Marvel’s mainstream continuity has long harbored a debate that advocates for the return of the actor after Marvel elected to get a recast, and less controversial version of the Hulk, via Mark Ruffalo.
However, Brian Cox’s memoir sets a few things straight, one of which includes giving the MCU fandom closure on why having Norton as Hulk would have been an error with SnyderVerse-level implications. While speaking about director Spike Lee and working on 25th Hour with him, Cox reveals:
“I’ve never known a director to be so diplomatic. Ed Norton was in the film and he’s a nice lad but a bit of a pain in the a**e because he fancies himself as a writer-director. He and I had this scene set in the bar owned by my character. Spike set it up immaculately, but Ed came in and was saying, “Now, I’ve done some work on the script and I’ve got a few ideas and I’d like you to think about them. I’ve rewritten a few things in there…”
Spike was like, “Oh, good, let me see.” He had a look at Ed’s notes and then said, “Well that’s very interesting. Okay, so what we’re going to do now is…” and put Ed very firmly in his place.
It was done beautifully. Seamless. It was taking Ed’s points on board but making sure Ed knew that we were doing things his way. And the fact that he did it without upsetting Ed, who after all does have a reputation for being a little volatile, was really quite an achievement.”
This excerpt from Cox’s memoir reads as a precautionary label for franchises choosing to work with Norton. And even though the dying breed of artists of the caliber of the Fight Club actor can be charted on a steeply declining graph, actors and performers like Edward Norton are singularly made for projects that take one’s breath away with their power of inimitability and for being uniquely irreplaceable masterpieces, and not the repetitive appearances that are demanded within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Edward Norton’s Controversial MCU Film & Its Legacy
The Incredible Hulk was released in tandem with Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man. The pair of 2008 projects were only the spark that would later give rise to the raging fiery torch that the fandom keeps lit for the Marvel universe 14 years down the line. However, while all Marvel initiatives have been justly placed within the MCU over an extended arc, the cast and arc of The Incredible Hulk remained largely forgotten, with the exception of General Ross.
If not for Thunderbolt Ross, the 2008 film would be considered entirely out of the mainstream continuity, making RDJ’s post-credits scene in the movie a total fluke, capable of mention only in the footnotes of Marvel’s history. However, it now looks like the industry is serving to set a few things right by bringing in Tim Roth, Tim Blake Nelson, and reportedly Liv Tyler, in MCU’s upcoming narrative.
In the entirety of the tug-of-war that Edward Norton’s film, The Incredible Hulk, has played with Kevin Feige’s MCU, one fact has been made insistently clear over the years — Mark Ruffalo was a necessary and a welcome surprise.
Source: Putting the Rabbit in the Hat; GQ
