The Incredible Hulk remains the black sheep of the Marvel Cinematic Universe despite being one of the earliest installments in the multi-billion dollar franchise. The film marks Edward Norton’s only appearance as Bruce Banner / Hulk from the Marvel Studios. However, the film also introduced the late William Hurt’s Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross who became a major supporting player in the MCU.
During an interview, the film’s director Louis Leterrier spoke about the tumultuous production process, which was only hampered by his constant arguments with Hurt. Leterrier revealed that he once had to resort to slight violence to assert his dominance over Hurt. Here is what Leterrier revealed about not getting along with Hurt on The Incredible Hulk.
Louis Leterrier Talks Jostling With the Late William Hurt on the Sets of The Incredible Hulk
The late William Hurt, who passed away in 2022, was widely known for his MCU role as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, which originated with 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. However, Hurt seemingly did not get along with the film’s director Louis Leterrier, who spoke about frequently clashing with the Academy Award-winning actor on multiple occasions.
In 2023, Leterrier appeared on Josh Horowitz’s YouTube channel and discussed working with Hurt on The Incredible Hulk. During the conversation, Leterrier revealed that he once came to blows with Hurt while they were on a moving helicopter. He said:
“One day, he was just screaming at me, ‘You don’t know anything about actors!’ Too bad for him, he was on the giant helicopter at the end and I was in control.”
Leterrier added that he had to get into a mildly violent confrontation with Hurt after the argument. Leterrier jostled with Hurt and shook him into a wall, causing Hurt to fall down. As a result, Leterrier demonstrated that he was in control and earned Hurt’s respect. He also admitted to never having another argument with Hurt while working on the film.
Louis Leterrier Reveals Strange Argument With William Hurt Over the Size of His Mustache
During the same conversation, Leterrier also revealed some of his other heated clashes with Hurt. One of the points of contention between the director and actor was the size of the mustache sported by Hurt’s character Thaddeus Ross.
Leterrier was asked whether it was difficult to get Hurt on his side given the late actor’s intellectual approach to his characters. The director revealed that it was hard to convince Hurt about the vision for the film, which went beyond making a simple comic book movie. However, Hurt was concerned about being out-acted by his mustache in the action-heavy film.
“A lot of [‘Incredible’] is non-verbal and so, you can only do this with amazing actors. He also didn’t want the mustache to out-act him, so the size of the mustache was a discussion.”
Leterrier made the above statement, implying that getting Hurt to see his vision for Thaddeus Ross in the film was difficult. It seemingly also led to arguments about how the character was being used, with Hurt feeling like he was merely a prop in the film filled with multiple big-scale action sequences. Following Hurt’s passing, actor Harrison Ford has taken over the role of Ross in the MCU, starting with the upcoming Captain America: Brave New World.
The Incredible Hulk is streaming on Disney+.
