Good Morning America Interview
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Transcript
Tuesday, April 11, 2000
Charles Gibson: He has made only a handful of films, but Edward Norton's
performances really have been unforgettable. Most notably, you may remember
the calculating sociopath prison inmate of Primal Fear and the reformed
Nazi skinhead in American History X. Both got him Oscar nominations,
both well-deserved. It led to his being called nothing less than the best actor
of his generation. He's now directed his first movie, co-produced it, stars
in it. I think he probably catered it as well. Considering the darker roles
that he is noted for, this is somewhat of a surprise. It's a light comedy,
it's called Keeping the Faith and Edward Norton is joining us this
morning. It's a great pleasure to have you with us.
Edward Norton: Thank you
CG: It's the first time we've had a chance to talk. It's a very strange question
to start with, but are you a movie star?
EN: Oh, I don't know. I still look at the people I consider movie stars
and I think I'm of a different species, sort of.
CG: How different?
EN: I don't know. I think of movie stars as those people who are kind of iconic who come to represent kind of
a consistent set of virtues for us that we go back to again and again, you know. I tended to try to change
what I'm doing each time.
CG: Well, I think about that when I watch you in movies. There are people who I consider stars and I
am very conscious always, no matter what role they're playing, that I'm watching them
and I get the sense that you would rather sublimate yourself and not have me notice you.
EN: It's what they used to call character acting back in the days when you were either Clark Gable or you were a character actor
People like Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro and [Robert] Duvall that whole great generation of actors came along and kind of flipped that expectation, I think,
changed people's idea of what a leading man could be. When people like that started playing characters as leads in movies, it
opened the door for people like me.
CG: Well, then you make this transition, very young, to directing your first movie..
EN: Yeah.
CG: and you make this transition, do you want that same kind of situation for the actors that you direct?
EN: Yeah, yeah definitely. Definitely. The good directors that I've worked with create an environment that's
conducive to people contributing, you know, and feeling comfortable, kind of throwing a lot of stuff
against the wall, and trust, really. You just have to create an environment of trust where your cast and
your crew and everybody puts some trust in you. Since it was my first time,
my secret was to get a lot of people that I had worked with before in one capacity or another, so I had...
CG: People who might trust you
EN: (laughs) Yes, exactly. Exactly. So I wouldn't get beat up too badly.
CG: A quick clip from the movie. You play a priest.
EN: Yes.
CG: Ben Stiller's the rabbi.
EN: That's right
CG: You both fall in love with the same woman
EN: Jenna Elfman.
CG: You say that, a priest and the rabbi falling in love with the same woman and everybody must blink. After a number of years, she gives you a call. Here's the clip.
EN: Yeah.
[Clip from Keeping the Faith where Brian (Edward Norton) tells Jake (Ben Stiller) that
he just got a call from their old friend Anna (Jenna Elfman). The last line of the clip is
Jake saying, "I wonder why she called you," and Brian doing a double take.]
(Laughter from Gibson and offscreen)
CG: As you watch this movie, it's really lyrical the way you shot New York.
EN: Yeah.
CG: You make New York look beautiful.
EN: I've lived here for ten years, so I..
CG: Aspiring actor here?
EN: Oh yeah, oh yeah.
CG: Waited tables here?
EN: Oh yeah, oh yeah. All kinds of places. In fact, some of them are in the movie.
CG: I understand you shot in back in your old neighborhood.
EN: Yeah, I've lived on the upper West Side for a lot of years. My friend Stuart Blumberg,
who wrote the screenplay, and I lived on West 78th and Broadway when we first moved there
so that was definitely our neighborhood. H&H Bagels and Zabar's and that whole area
so we tried to give it that feel that real New Yorkers have, that it feels like a
neighborhood.
CG: Pinching yourself, I was back here as a struggling actor, now I'm acting, leading
in this movie?
EN: Well, I've never really left here. So for me, all the phases that I have gone
through have taken place here. But that's why I wanted to make a New York movie. I love it
here. To me, it's the most romantic city. And we wanted to kind of put our spin on it.
CG: Well, the city has never looked better.
EN: Thank you.
CG: Keeping the Faith the movie.
EN: Thanks a lot.
CG: Thank you for coming. All the best with this.
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