Acting/Filmmaking

Several people who have visited this website have expressed their desire to act. I decided to include some links and excerpts of EN's interviews where he provides insight and advice in this area. I hope that you find it useful. Please don't email me with questions, I'm not in the entertainment industry.

The Best

Getting out of my Head. This Cineaste article is the most comprehensive look at EN's acting and how he creates characters. It's best to read it in its entirety rather than cutting it up into excerpts.

Fresh Air excerpt

While discussing on this NPR radio show how he was cast in Primal Fear, EN gave these comments on auditioning.

Edward Norton:.... I think one of the worst things that can happen in an audition is when you walk into a room and there's a director and producer and they start talking to you. I mean, try to imagine going to see Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man and before the movie starts a little thing comes up on the screen and Dustin Hoffman says 'Hi, I'm Dustin Hoffman. I'm about to play this role and I hope you all enjoy the film.' And then you watched him play that character. It just punctures the bubble. I've always said whenever I've gone to classes or to places where younger actors want to ask questions and things like that, one of the things I've always said is don't let them do that to you. When you go into an audition, do not let them talk to you beforehand. It's just like cutting the legs out from under everything you're about to try to do, which is to say, fool them in the same way that you are going to fool an audience. Even when it's not such a deceptive character, even when it's not a character whose pulling such a trick on people. Even if it's just me playing, oh I don't know, like any of the characters that I've played in films. You don't want to walk in and talk and be yourself and then launch into this character because it's automatically gonna to seem more like a put-on.

Terry Gross: What would make it even worse, I think, is that you had to do a Southern accent for this.

Edward Norton: Absolutely. I have a theory about accents which is that if did a bad British accent and you walked up to someone and you were doing int and it was the first time they met you, no one would question it. Whereas, I could walk up to a lot of people right now and do an absolutely flawless British accent and by virtue of the fact that they know I'm not British they'd be saying 'Oh well, that doesn't sound right to me.' I think that people have a very relative..their critique of things is relative to how aware they are that you are doing a put on. When actors have to do an accent or anything like that if they have to go into an audition it's worst thing in the world is to talk to someone before hand and then launch into this, because in their mind there going to think,"I don't think he's doing that that well."

Yale Visit Excerpts

In a visit to the Yale Film Society, Edward Norton had the following comments to actors. For the whole article, click here

EN stressed the importance of researching a role- "People underestimate the importance of doing your homework"

"An actor, said Norton, is an 'experiential dilettante,' who must remain totally empathetic to the character he or she is playing. 'You have to be a sponge,' he noted. 'The best thing you can do is to go down as deep as you can into the character, even if you can't use all that later.'

"An actor committing to a role has to remain free of judgment, he said, and 'can't look at the character from the outside. ... If there's a moral judgment to be made, it's when you decide to take the role.'

"Describing his own philosophy, Norton said, 'The first thing to pursue as an actor is to be as pluralistic as possible.' He prefers to play opposite to type -- what he called 'pushing the limits' -- and to take on challenging roles. 'If I am scared that I can't pull [the role] off, that's the part I want,' he said, noting that he sees himself as a character actor, like his role models: Meryl Streep, Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman.

"Nonetheless, Norton stressed, an actor also has to know his or her limitations. He once decided he had to play the part of Dylan Thomas, having long admired the poet's work. When it was pointed out to him that Thomas was short and stout with a round face framed by curly black hair, Norton -- who is slightly taller than average, lean, light-haired and of sharp angular features -- had to admit he had met his limitations.

"Although he couldn't offer any 'methodology' for the aspiring actors in the Yale audience, Norton did divulge a few tricks of the trade. For instance, he suggested 'hitting into one little thing' as a way to get a handle on a character. In Primal Fear, for example, that 'little thing' was his character's stutter, noted Norton.

"'Actors borrow; great actors steal,' he quipped, by way of advising fledgling thespians to do both.

The Yale alumnus also counseled those interested in acting to try one route he used to break into the business. Before landing his role in Primal Fear, he worked reading 'cue lines' at other actors' auditions. This exposure, he said, not only put him in contact with important people in the trade, but, more significantly, taught him that talent is not the sole determining factor for landing a role."

Main Page || Biography || News || Films || Articles || Photo Gallery || Multimedia || Site Map || Website Updates

If you have new information on Edward Norton (and you can provide a verifiable and reputable source), please email me- Susan

Note: Articles and images have been posted without permission for noncommercial and nonprofit use with no intention of copyright infringement. The purpose of this reprinting is to disseminate correct information about the actors, films, and studios. I have included author names and links to sources whenever possible.