Since his stunning debut in Primal Fear in 1996, Edward Norton has consistently mesmerized audiences with his hypnotic presence and his power performances. He is the ordinary boy-next-door who has frequently stolen the spotlight from his more handsome co-stars, such as Richard Gere, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt. Norton is the young actor who everyone wants to workbeside. Clean-cut, ambitious and obviously charming--he's dated punk singer/actress Courtney Love and Salma Hayek--Norton's swift rise has not been without controversy. When American History X was released in 1998, the director, Tony Kaye railed against Norton's power play, which left the final editing in the young actor's hands. Naturally, directing his first feature film isn't much of a surprise, but that it is a broad romantic comedy, Keeping the Faith starring Ben Stiller, Jenna Elfman and himself, is.

When I sat down with the actor-turned-director, Edward Norton talked candidly about his career and his influences.

Edward Norton

roughcut.com's Veronica Mixon

What are you eating?

Hard candy. This is a radio interviewer's nightmare.

Quick! We can auction it on eBay.

No, I'll get it on the way out.

Most people are going to be surprised at how funny you are.

Thanks, I think.

Based on the way we've seen you on film in the past, were you waiting for this opportunity?

Nope. I did this great little musical comedy with Woody Allen that nobody saw. It was all dancing on tables and split takes. It wasn't like 'I'm going to do a comedy.' I just liked the story for Keeping the Faith. I wasn't actually originally going to be in it. My friend [Stuart Blumberg] wrote it and we rewrote it together for a long time. After it got set up, he suggested that I direct. He said, 'Well, know what will happen. They'll get somebody who won't get our Bella Abzug jokes and they'll screw it up. We'll be sitting around tearing our hair out while they shoot the wrong parts of New York. Once I was going to direct it, to be honest, I decided that I might as well be in it. And, the studio was more excited about me directing it if I was going to be in it. I thought it would be fun.

You have to admit that when people think of Edward Norton, they don't think romantic comedy. I don't tend to look at things in terms of the filmography.

What did your friends say when they heard you were directing the film?

I showed the movie to [David] Fincher. I was kind of nervous because he's the ultimate--he's the king of darkness and everything. He was like, "Oh, my God! I could never make a film like this! This is so cool." It's because people -- technicians--are terrified of achieving tone of the film. And, it is hard because it relies on the chemistry of the people you have. I think we got lucky because we cast good people.

You talked about working with Woody Allen. Did you bring any of that experience to this film?

Sure. I love the way he's always presented New York and I learned a lot from Woody--both working with him and by reading his book about cinematography. We'd talk about lens and stuff. He’d go [imitates Allen], "Long lenses are not funny. They're not funny. You're dead in the water." I understood it when we were shooting this movie. But, you learn stuff from everyone you work with and I feel that there are things that are Woody-inflected in this film and there are things that are Milos Forman-inflected.

Who are some of your influences?

I was thinking a lot about Jules and Jim and I did a little homage to it. Even though it's not a comedy, it's a perfect example of how your interest is held by three people. The sophistication of watching the characters as they go through their own dramas.

One of the things that I was happy to learn from Woody and Milos is that they're not afraid of their own influences. They cop to their influences and they don't strike a pose saying, 'I'm purely original.' They perfectly comfortable with letting their influences refract through them and become their own thing. It's interesting that certain people of my generation try to disdain anything that's not new and ultra hip. The silly thing is that there are not many things that are new and hip. This self-referential thing has become almost its own cliché. I couldn't think of any other way to do the film, other than use what I've learned from other people.

Did you have fun directing this movie?

Yeah. Fun--assuming curling in the fetal position is fun. Fun in the sense that it's a high wire act and it pulls upon your skills creatively and managerially. On a communication level, it's unparalleled challenge because more than anything you're responsible for communicating to whole bunch of other people the tone that you're trying to achieve. That's what's rewarding about it--when you can get people to work in sync with each other.

Did you have any personal revelations?

I think it was a good experience for me. It's a spiritual challenge for me to remain Zen in the face of the chaos that eventually happens in the course of a day and all of this money that's flowing straight down the toilet. You just have to cool out and accept it as part of the process. I tend to be micro-managerial, to use a phrase and, as an actor, its hard not to give line readings to other actors. But, it was good for me in terms of trying to take a deep breath and back off, and let things happen on their own before coming in over the top and saying "OK, that was miserable. Now let’s do it my way."

So, you didn't fall in love with directing?

No! No. Acting is a better job, but it's fun to direct if it's home grown and it's your own thing. If you're going to work for hire, it's much easier to act. If people could act, they would.

Did you second-guess anything about your own performance?

Sure. I think the famous line is--I think Coppola said it. "You never finish a film. You abandon it." And, it's very true, so evidentially, you just go, "OK, I'm to the point that I hate every inch of this." Nora Ephron said, "No romantic comedy should be over one hour, forty-eight [minutes]" and I said, "But, I've got these faith things in there." And, she said, "OK, you get twelve extra minutes." Twelve minutes for God. So, I figured if we could keep it around two hours, we'd be fine.

Given the movies that you made, do you think there is a misconception out there about you?

Yeah, but I don't think this is any more of a window into me than any of the other ones. This isn't going to put people onto the scent.

Of who is the real Edward Norton?

Yeah, of anything more accurate.

So, who is the real Edward Norton?

It's not relevant. It's really not. It's not relevant! It's also counterproductive to things I'm doing within this sphere to be effective.

What was it like working with Ben and Jenna?

One of the great things about Ben is that he has been a writer and director as well. It's terrific to have somebody who knows what you're going through. But, he can also come up with a funny line. He's just sharp as hell! As for Jenna, I think in real life, she's closer to being Anna than her television character.

How did you get Milos Forman?

We wrote it for him. I said to him, "Remember that cool speech that I wrote in the courtroom? You owe me and you have to be in my movie."

You dedicated your film to your mom. What did she teach you about keeping faith in yourself?