May 14, 2021
Twenty-five years ago, a new actor burst onto the scene with a debut performance that impressed audiences and critics alike, leading to an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The film was Primal Fear, and the actor was Edward Norton, who displayed an incredible range as an altar boy accused of murdering a priest. The film was a showcase for Richard Gere, who played his defense attorney, but the real star was Norton. The next decade demonstrated that Primal Fear and the recognition he received was not a fluke. He went on an incredible run of films that announced that another talented actor had arrived.
As I have written many times before, I have great admiration for artists who try different things in their career and Norton has certainly done that with his film choices. He has starred in comedies, dramas, absurdist satires, period piece romances, action heists, legal thrillers, and even animated films. Most have worked, but like all actors, some didn’t (looking at his try at a superhero role, The Incredible Hulk, which was so underwhelming that Norton was replaced by Mark Ruffalo in future Marvel films featuring the character).
Regardless of success or failure, he has always been willing to try something different, even directing twice (albeit almost twenty years apart). His most recent film, Motherless Brooklyn, was a passion project of his for years. He wrote the script (adapting a novel), directed and starred in the movie about a private investigator with Tourette’s Syndrome who investigates his mentor’s murder. It’s a decent movie, mostly because of his performance and the 1950s noir look and feel of the production, but it’s a little long and didn’t resonate with audiences when it was released. He will next be seen in Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, likely to be released this Summer. This will be Norton’s fourth collaboration with Anderson, who (as I will cover in my piece on him later this year) has a habit of convincing the “best of the best” actors to appear in his films over and over again.
As we reflect on Norton’s excellent twenty-five year run, I’m going to cover my favorite performances, including my (kind of) top five. Here goes.
Against the Grain – Birdman (2014) / Red Dragon (2002)
As I was reading through Norton’s film career and whittling down my list of favorites, I was thinking about what to do with these two movies and then I had a revelation. My feelings about both of these films are kind of the opposite of the general consensus out there. Norton played a supporting role in Birdman, earning his third Oscar nomination. The film was widely lauded, winning Best Picture and Best Director for Alejandro Iñárritu, and was famous for the look and feel of a “one continuous shot” movie. I haven’t watched Birdman since it first came out and I remember thinking that the story (featuring Michael Keaton as a washed up actor facing a midlife career crisis) was pretty weird and I found the one-shot technique rather gimmicky. To be honest, I don’t even remember Norton’s performance, or that of Emma Stone, who also earned an Oscar nomination. This one just didn’t stick with me – perhaps if I revisited it, I could be convinced otherwise.
On the other hand, I really enjoyed Norton in Red Dragon, the “prequel” to The Silence of the Lambs, based on the novel of the same name. It features Anthony Hopkins reprising his role as Hannibal Lecter with Norton as Will Graham, a former FBI agent pursuing a serial killer, played by Ralph Fiennes, in a huge departure from roles he traditionally takes. The novel was previously adapted into a 1986 film called Manhunter, and featured Brian Cox as Lecter. I haven’t seen that one, but it’s on my short list to watch for comparison purposes. In Red Dragon, when Graham is contacted by the FBI to help find the killer, he reluctantly consults with Lecter (in the same jail cell we saw in Lambs), who was imprisoned for attacking Graham, effectively ending his FBI career. So, an FBI agent works with Lecter to try to find a serial killer. We’ve seen this movie, right? Well, yes and no. It does have similar plot lines as Lambs, but it is still a very effective thriller and it features a great supporting cast. At the time of its release, there was the question of “Why are we remaking The Silence of the Lambs and/or Manhunter?” And some of the critical and audience reaction was the same response. So, yes, it feels familiar, but if I can get more of Hopkins as Lecter and Norton as the hero, I’m in for the full two hours.
#5 The Score (2001) / Rounders (1998) (tie)
OK, I’m cheating a bit here. How can I pick between two films that I previously wrote about as being among my favorite movies? And as you’ll see in a moment, the next four films just had to be in my top five. As I covered in my piece on the best of 2001 a few weeks ago, The Score is an excellent heist film in which Norton stars alongside Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando. Norton plays the protegee to De Niro’s “one last job” veteran thief, as they plot to steal a priceless antique from the Toronto customs house. I like this one a lot, most of all because Norton and De Niro are so good together and you are always waiting for the double cross to come. As I previously wrote, it has some familiar plot points, but it’s still fun. Rounders, one of my favorite comfort movies is a poker buddy comedy-drama, and one of the better (and more realistic) poker films. Norton, in one of his first roles after Primal Fear, stars alongside Matt Damon in one of his first roles after winning an Oscar for co-writing Good Will Hunting, as two friends who have taken very different paths in their life since Norton went to prison a few years back. This one has it all – a good plot, great lines, and a very deep cast, including John Turturro, Martin Landau, and in an all-time performance, John Malkovich.
#4 – American History X (1998)
It takes guts to play a role that is contrary to what you are known for, and maybe even one that could come off as embarrassing or cartoonish. Every actor has that film on their resume that they probably regret. It’s hard to know if a movie is going to work just based on a script and a director’s vision of how to bring it to the screen. After his debut in Primal Fear, Norton joined the Woody Allen feature Everyone Says I Love You, a comedy-musical. Now, Allen was famously known for recruiting actors for projects without telling them much about it, so I wonder if the cast knew this was a musical before it started production. I’d love to give my opinion on this film, but you can’t find it anywhere to watch, although it received pretty good critical reviews when it was released. Why am I talking about a Woody Allen musical? Well, it showed that Norton had the courage to take a risk like starring in a musical when he’s not a singer. The film at #4 on my list showed that same courage.
In American History X, Norton plays a white supremacist who starts to see the error in his beliefs after serving time in prison for killing two men. The film is told in flashback style, as we see how his character’s beliefs originated, and his disgusting behavior emerged as he fell under the spell of a neo-Nazi group in his community. In the current day portion of the movie, he tries to convince his old friends that he no longer wants to be a part of this world, all while looking out for his younger brother who is following in the same footsteps. Parts of American History X are pretty rough, especially the language and some of the violence. It shows the ugliness of parts of our society, which I found jarring considering the movie was made over twenty years ago and some of the themes are still raging in our society. Norton is magnificent in the film, and even though he is only playing a role, it still takes guts to play such a deplorable character. American History X was a critical success, earning Norton an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
#3 – 25th Hour (2002)
I’m not a New Yorker, but even I can tell that this is the consummate New York movie. We’re coming up on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and since that day, whenever you watch an older film or television show set in New York City, there is the inevitable question of “was this before or after 9/11?” You may see a background shot of the World Trade Center, or hear a reference to that horrific day, but usually the reminders are subtle. With 25th Hour, director Spike Lee put the city on full display, with the healing from the trauma of 9/11 as a backdrop to the story of a drug dealer spending one last day with his friends and family before going away to prison. Norton stars as Monty, the man who is contemplating his choices in life while facing the reckoning of what he has done. As he interacts with close friends from childhood (including Barry Pepper and Philip Seymour Hoffman in excellent performances) and his father, an old-fashioned bar owner played by Brian Cox, he says goodbye to whatever normal life he experienced before his arrest. Like most of Spike’s films, there are a few “in your face” moments, but most of all, I remember 25th Hour for Norton’s fine performance and for Spike paying tribute to his beloved New York City.
#2 – Primal Fear (1996)
After twenty-five years, this may seem like a “run of the mill” legal procedure film that we’ve seen many times before. And there may be something to that, but for 1996 standards, this one still holds up very well. Primal Fear reminds me a lot of Presumed Innocent (the 1990 masterpiece from Alan J. Pakula starring Harrison Ford) in that we have an unsolved murder, lawyers investigating what happened, twists and turns along the way, and an ending no one sees coming. While Richard Gere is the headline star, playing hotshot defense attorney Martin Vail, the cast in this one is very deep, starting with Norton as Aaron, the accused killer. Most movies like this feature someone begging the attorney to take the case of the wrongly-accused defendant. But Vail is so eager for the publicity and spotlight, that he jumps at the chance to jump into the fray. Facing off against the prosecuting attorney (and one-time girlfriend – isn’t that always the case?) played by Laura Linney, he desperately tries to find a way to get his client off, all while starting to believe that he is truly innocent. Vail enlists the help of a psychiatrist (Frances McDormand, in yet another strong performance) to find some reason for Aaron’s behavior. The story, like any good legal film, will keep you guessing right up until the end. Primal Fear would launch Norton’s career, and an excellent run over the next decade, including some of the movies we’ve covered already, a strong performance in Milos Forman’s The People vs. Larry Flynt, and a little film coming up next which has a few rules that you might remember.
#1 – Fight Club (1999)
OK, let’s make some soap. It has to be Fight Club at number one, right? God this movie is so fun, so original, so disturbing, and after more than twenty years is still a crazy, fun rewatch. From the dizzying opening moments when director David Fincher presents us with the tense final scene before we go back to the beginning of the story, this film is like an unpredictable train ride. Throughout the propulsive action, we start to feel the tracks rattling as the story unfolds, and by the time we get to the third act, we’ve officially gone off the rails and over the cliff, but that’s ok because the ride is exhilarating. If you prefer movies with a linear plotline and don’t necessarily like to just go with the flow, then Fight Club may not be for you. But if you are willing to let one of the best filmmakers working today, two superstar leading actors, and a batshit crazy plot take you on a wild ride, then strap in for some fun.
Norton plays our narrator (literally, his character does not have a name in the film) who becomes disillusioned with his job as an insurance claim investigator. As the cynicism of our commoditized world builds up inside him, he realizes he has to make a change in his life. Enter Tyler Durden, a soap manufacturer and salesman who turns our narrator’s life upside down by showing him a different way of life, including the establishment of an underground fight club. Durden is played by Brad Pitt, operating at the height of his movie superpower brilliance, playing Durden with the ultimate “I don’t give a f*ck” confidence. When our main characters enter the bar to officially kick off the fight club, you can feel the energy rising – check out this clip if you want a reminder. As the plot unfolds, we see that this movie is about a lot more than the titular underground club. Fight Club is a commentary on the decline of a society obsessed with acquiring things and the role that corporations play in our society. It certainly would be interesting to see how a story like this would be told in 2021. The last third of the movie features some pretty bonkers plot points, and more than a little violence, so Fight Club may not be for everyone, but to me it’s got the brilliance and originality of something like Pulp Fiction, and it all starts with the two stars. Pitt plays basically the same character throughout, but (without spoiling the plot), Norton’s character goes through quite the transformation throughout the story and definitely holds his own with Pitt’s megawatt superstardom.
As I looked back on Norton’s career, it hit me that all of my favorites were in the early part of his career, which is not to say he hasn’t done anything good since then. He was pretty good in Motherless Brooklyn and The Bourne Legacy, and has recently jumped into the Wes Anderson repertoire. So, we’ll see him later this year in Anderson’s The French Dispatch and it was just announced this week that he has signed on to join Daniel Craig in the Knives Out sequel, which should be a lot of fun. Until then, we have some great ones to revisit.
That’s all for this week. I hope you enjoyed my look at one of my favorite actor’s career. I’ll be back next week for part one of a two part Summer Movie Preview. Wait, what? Movies are back? You bet they are, and there are some great ones coming our way. Thanks for reading and if you would like to be notified of future posts, you can subscribe here.