Greetings,
You know how there are some people in the world that you just can't not like. No matter what they may do or say, you just continue to enjoy them. In my life, there are not many of these people, but there are a few. One of them happens to be a man by the name of Mr. Edward Norton.
Now I don't know if other people are like this, but, every so often, I get "on a kick" when it comes to certain actors. By that, I mean, I perpetually like them, but when I just happen upon one of their films that I haven't seen for awhile, I am reminded of exactly why I like them. This leads to my wanting to watch as many of their films as I can right away. Well, the current Edward Norton kick that I am on just so happened to coincide with his birthday, which was yesterday. You may be wondering why I didn't do this ON his birthday. That would have been impossible, because yesterday was the final day of my Shark Week tribute, and since I have never seen him with a shark, I had to make him wait. Call it a belated birthday present.
Like most people, I was first graced with the presence of Edward Norton with his role in Primal Fear. And this wasn't just his first BIG role. No, this was pretty much the first thing he ever did in Hollywood. So you will not find any random clips on You Tube of him playing "Guy #3 in the bleachers" on some long gone eighties sitcom. I guess he lucked out on that one. Of course, if we want any embarrassing footage of him, we can always bribe his mom.
Anyway, rumor has it that he beat out over 2,000 other guys to get this part, which is a testament to the genius of whoever that casting director was. And this was a phenomenal introduction to the world. I don't get mesmerized very often, but he certainly did that to me in this movie. It's no wonder that he got an Academy Award nomination for this. Did we win? Let's talk about that a little later.
I can't give away too much with this film, because that would be rude, but Edward completely embodied the idea of a young, helpless, man child who is wounded beyond imagining. I think there is no person I've ever met who didn't, at least for a moment, just want to give him a hug. Well, no woman, anyway. Yeah, I think it was here, in this first role, that he really roped in the ladies. Because, as we all know, we women love a project. And though this may have been the first time he did this, it would not be the last.
Over the next couple of movies, we started to get used to him being a certain type of character, which was - and I say this with all the love in the world - a skinny, kinda geeky . . . whatever. First, he played a skinny, kinda geeky lawyer in The People vs. Larry Flynt and then a skinny, kinda geeky hopeless romantic in Everyone Says I Love You. And in that second one I mentioned, he got the opportunity to . . . sing? Edward should not be offended by how I said that, because everyone who "sang" in this movie got a question mark after the word. Once we got used to that, Rounders came along, where he portrayed an ex-con who was also a gambler. Now that added a bit of an edge to him, but it was merely an appetizer to what was to come next. Prepare yourselves for American History X.
This was, without a doubt, the best performance of his career, so far. It is a powerful movie with a powerful message. HOWEVER, let's get the shallowness of this discussion over and done with, and I will do so by saying three words - Edward Norton's body! He looked so incredible in this role, I don't know where to begin. I mean, considering the character he was playing, he obviously had to shave his head and get a load of crazy, fake tattoos, but all that aside, it looked like he'd packed on about 40 pounds of muscle. Pure muscle! In one scene, he's just standing in the street with nothing on but boxers and combat boots. You see nothing but abs and biceps, and I just thought, as my mouth gaped open, "What happened to my sweet, little Edward Norton? Apparently, this scary man has eaten him!". But if you put the skin head thing and all those bad tattoos out of your mind, he looked really hot! Yeah, I said it.
All kidding aside, this movie was incredible. Difficult to watch, yes, but important to watch, because it can truly affect a person and make them think hard about their life's actions. And, like I said, Edward was unbelievable here. I could point out a ton of scenes in which he took my breath away, but two stick out a lot. One is his performance at the very end, which I obviously can't give away, and another is the scene where he gets arrested. He gives this look to his brother that is absolutely frightening, and it is pure perfection. That alone should have won him an Academy Award. He did get nominated again. Did he win this time? Well, let's talk about that now, shall we?
Like I said, he got a nom for Primal Fear. He didn't win. He lost to someone who, in my opinion, made a total fool of himself at the ceremony. Another nom for American History X came, and there was no way he wasn't going to get it for this one. Well, surprise, he lost again to someone who, in my opinion, made a total fool of himself at the ceremony! Yeah, when he gets nominated again, and he will, I suggest he makes a promise to do something crazy when he wins, then he WILL win. Simple plan.
Well, that was over a decade ago and Edward has done a lot of work since then. There was Fight Club, The Italian Job and The Illusionist, among others. He was even kind enough to do a cameo in Frida. He was such a good boyfriend to Salma Hayek. Of course, I loved him as The Incredible Hulk. I totally got a Bruce Banner vibe from him. More than I have from others. I don't wanna talk about it. And let us not forget Red Dragon where he played a role that had already been portrayed by the great William Peterson. So why didn't they just get Edward Norton to replace him on CSI? Hindsight is 20/20.
Okay, now we have to discuss the bad news. Like every great actor, Edward has had his share of missteps. And these are simply my opinion. It's been a while since I've seen Keeping the Faith, but I don't recall being particularly crazy about it. Perhaps, I could give it another chance. I guess it just surprised me that he actually directed it. I would have thought he'd go more for a small but intense indie film, but it was up to him. And do I even have to mention Death to Smoochy? Please don't make me talk about it. I'm still traumatized. Again, these are just my opinions, but he clearly seems to have more checks in the plus column than the minus one.
So let's end on a positive note. Edward Norton is one of the few actors for whom I have great respect. I consider him less of a movie star and more of an artist. He seems to, for the most part, truly care about his craft, having pushed himself to the limits many times so that a story can be told to its fullest potential. I can't say enough good things about him, and I hope he continues for decades to come. And he is so adorable!
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
