As many of our fans may remember, Edward Norton and Marvel had a public falling out back in 2010 when Marvel said they had a ” need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit” of the rest of the cast.
Now Norton speaks out with NPR about his feelings on not reprising the role of The Incredible Hulk.
“My feeling was that I experimented and experienced what I wanted to. I really, really enjoyed it. And yet, I looked at the balance of time in life that one spends not only making those sorts of films but then especially putting them out, and the obligations that rightly come with that. There were just a lot of things—I wanted more diversity. I sort of chose to continue on my path of having a diversity of experiences. Maybe on some unconscious level, I didn’t want to have an association with one thing in any way degrade my effectiveness as an actor, in characters. I think you can sort of do anything once, but if you do it too many times, it can become a suit that’s hard to take off, in other peoples’ eyes. And if I had continued on with it, I wouldn’t have made Moonrise Kingdom, or Grand Budapest, or Birdman, because those all overlapped with [Avengers]. And those were more the priority for me, but I continue to be a fan and I’m really, really happy I got to do it once.”
According to Norton the choice was more an artistic choice, and due to scheduling conflicts, than anything else. Meanwhile Marvel seemed to choose to go in a different direction, for someone who was more of a team player. While many people really enjoyed seeing Norton in the role of Hulk, it’s apparent that he’s not regretting the decision made.
Whether or not it really was because of an artistic choice, or the need for a different type of actor, one thing is pretty obvious. Mark Ruffalo has already become a remarkable addition to the Avengers, and we’re excited to see more from him in Age of Ultron.
