Cosmo Q&A
Before 1996, Edward Norton was just another struggling actor - albeit a Yale grad but struggling nonetheless. In just two years, the 29-year-old actor's diverse work in Primal Fear (his feature-film debut, for which he was nominated for an Oscar), The People vs. Larry Flynt, Everyone Says I Love You, and Rounders has earned him critical acclaim and commercial success. Now, Norton reveals yet another side of himself in his new film, American History X. Set in Venice Beach, California, X is the story of a white supremacist whose rage sucks his family into a tragic cycle of violence. Norton's stunning performance is sure to make him more famous than he already is, creating a struggle of a whole new kind: Can Norton be a successful actor and still have a private life? Norton speaks out about his film, his fame, and how he really feels about the lead singer of Hole.
Q: Becoming famous in such a short period of time must be difficult.
A: It's hugely corrosive. When we were doing Rounders, Matt Damon said something to me like "Oh, my God. What was it like when you went through all that Oscar stuff last year?" because he was going through all that. And I said, "You're doing the best possible thing you could be doing. You're making a movie while it's happening."
Q: What's it like to be nominated for an Academy Award?
A: It's fun, but when it's over, it disappears almost immediately - like a week afterward. Who remembers right off the top of their head who won Best Supporting Actor last year anyway?
Q: Now that you're a success, you must be offered tons of movie roles. Do you get lots of terrible one that you'd never do?
A: Oh, sure. My business partner and I sometimes talk about the hilarious scenarios that had to occur for certain films to come into being. Like somebody had to go "Okay, Weekend at Bernie's II- he's still dead!" And somebody else had to say, "I like it!"
Q: Have fans started throwing panties or sending you weird stuff in the mail yet?
A: [Laughs] No, I've managed to keep my whereabouts hidden enough that people don't know where to send me anything superweird. But I've had people hand me a script in the middle of a restaurant, which always makes me sigh a little bit, because what an I going to do with it?
Q: You're supposedly romantically linked with Courtney Love, yet you refuse to talk about her. Why?
A: I don't talk about my personal life. It only diminishes the value of my life when everything that's mine becomes fodder for people's doctor's-office reading enjoyment. It's not worth it.
Q: But isn't it unreasonalble to expect journalist not to ask?
A: Absolutely. But this conversation isn't investigative reporting. I'm excited to talk about my work, but nothing else. And certainly in the case of Courtney, it has nothing to do with me not being proud of our friendship. It has to do with the opposite - I value it so much that it's too important to sell it cheap.
Q: What does she mean to you?
A: She's a great, great friend of mine. One of my best friends in the whole world. And there's no way I'm just going to sell that out, nor will she do that to me. She's absolutely one of my favorite people I've ever known, hugely talented, and a great, great friend of mine. I'm never gonna get into that. Just because other people are interested doesn't give them the right to go into my life.
Q: Does people's interst in your personal life surprise you?
A: No, I mean, everyone has a certain impulse toward that. But sometimes they should check themselves a little bit and say, "Hey, what do I really know? And do I really care?"
Q: If you could have dinner with any four people, who would you chose?
A: The great thing is that I've gotten to do exactly that over the last couple of years with my dream list - people like Milos Forman, Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, and Dustin Hoffman.
Q: What's the best piece of advice one of your idols has given you?
A: Dustin Hoffman said a very interesting thing to me one time. He said that a lot of times the only way actors can summon the nerve to say no [to the press or to their fans] is through anger. So if you can learn to draw those boundaries without getting upset, you'll find saying no a lot easier. When you get made, they just come at you harder. I really took that in.
Q: Do you ever wish you could be an actor and not be famous?
A: That would be weird, because there's no such thing as an anonymous actor. By definition, you're sharing something publicly, and I like that. I feel very content with the work I do - it's intended to be enjoyed by people. And to the degree that that makes me known, I'm absolutely fine. After all, it's what I set out to do.
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