As the speculations of Edward Norton and Marvel Studios' bickering hyphened, the star of the action fantasy film came out with a long statement to clear up the rumors.
- Apr 17, 2008
AceShowbiz - As the speculations about the disagreement between Edward Norton and Marvel Studios on "The Incredible Hulk" grew stronger, the actor finally comes out to explain about the matter. Norton's thorough statement concerning the dispute has been published through Entertainment Weekly and allegedly has been approved by both Universal Pictures and Marvel.
In the 257-word statement, the co-star of Jessica Biel in "The Illusionist" explained that the problems should have been a private creative debate, but it apparently has been blown out and misinterpreted by the media. "Every good movie gets forged through collaboration, and different ideas among people who are all committed and respect the validity of each other's opinions is the heart of filmmaking," Norton wrote in an e-mail.
"Regrettably, our healthy process, which is and should be a private matter, was misrepresented publicly as a 'dispute,' seized on by people looking for a good story, and has been distorted to such a degree that it risks distracting from the film itself, which Marvel, Universal and I refuse to let happen."
Adding to the clearing up of the situation, helmer Louis Leterrier confessed that the matter became a big one because all the three parties involved have shared equal negligence. "It's as much Marvel's fault as it is Edward's. And my fault. It's everybody's fault!," said the director. "Or no one's fault, in a way. I regret that [Marvel and Norton] didn't come to an agreement where we could've all worked together."
The rumors about the dispute between the two filmmakers and the studio surfaced when the first trailer of the much anticipated action fantasy film took a long time to be released. Speculating on that, media reported that there has been a feud between the star and the production house over the final cut of the film. It is stated that while Norton wants to present a more detailed film, Marvel required him to make the film to be a fast paced one.
Co-written by Norton, "Incredible Hulk" will arrive in the theaters on June 13, 2008. Aside from Norton, it will see Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt and some others as the ensemble cast.
